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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing a plan amendment for livestock grazing in the Sonoran Desert National Monument near Phoenix, AZ.
The proposed amendment would make six allotments available for brief periods of grazing depending on forage availability and allotment-specific analyses. There are five alternatives being presented in the proposed plan. Alternatives range from allowing zero animal unit months (AUMs) to as many as 4,232 AUMs.
Background
The monument was designated as such by President Bill Clinton in 2001 and excludes grazing south of Interstate 8 but includes grazing north of the interstate if grazing is compatible with protecting monument objects.
In 2020, BLM issued a resource management plan amendment specific to livestock grazing and a legal challenge to the amendment prompted this next phase.
The environmental assessment on the proposed amendment analyzes the compatibility and potential impact of grazing on allotments that extend into the monument south from Goodyear and Buckeye, east of Gila Bend and west of Maricopa, with I-8 as the southern border.
If the allotments were found compatible with monument objects, grazing environmental assessments would be conducted on each allotment to determine the appropriate terms and conditions, including the number of AUMs.
The five proposed alternatives include no action, maximum acreage, no grazing, reduced grazing and ephemeral-only alternatives. BLM’s preferred alternative is Alternative E, the ephemeral-only use alternative, which would make grazing available on portions of all six allotments in the monument north of I-8.
Livestock grazing in the preferred alternative would range from zero AUMs annually to ephemeral use only. The ephemeral classification includes grasslands that do not produce enough forage to sustain year-round grazing but may briefly produce sufficient ephemeral (annual) forage to accommodate grazing.
When compared to the no-action alternative, there would be a reduction of up to 3,318 AUMs per year across all six allotments. The alternative would be a reduction in the potential maximum perennial AUMs from historically authorized 8,703 AUMS to zero perennially authorized AUMs.
“However, no livestock grazing will be permitted on the portions of the six allotments within the (monument) until the BLM first completes implementation-level (National Environmental Policy Act) analysis, on an allotment-by-allotment, or group of allotments, basis,” the agency noted.
A 30-day protest period opened on Oct. 4 and will close Nov. 4. All protests must be submitted in writing. How to submit comments can be found at tinyurl.com/mrxtpzn2. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
