The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking input on a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the former Hammond allotments on Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon.
“While environmental impact statements (EIS) are not typically needed to analyze the authorization of a grazing permit and development of AMPs (Allotment Management Plan), these specific AMPs are unique due to their history of litigation, along with related political and social concerns,” BLM wrote.
BLM is considering five alternatives within the Hammond, Mud Creek, Hardie Summer and Hammond Fenced Federal Range (FFR) allotments located within the Andrews Management Unit and partially within the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area.
The proposed action, as outlined in the EIS, addresses requests for issuing 10-year-term livestock grazing permits for the allotments. This includes considering grazing preference assignments, adjusting pasture and allotment boundaries and reallocating animal unit months (AUMs) as needed. Additionally, it seeks to reduce fine fuel biomass in certain allotments through biological thinning.
Alternatives
The five alternatives in consideration are as follows:
• Under Alternative 1, grazing permits would be issued with terms and conditions identical to the 2004 permit, which expired in 2014. This approach would maintain the existing allotment and pasture boundaries and authorized AUMs at previously permitted levels. No new developments, such as fences or water sources, would be authorized beyond those already in place, and supplemental hay feeding would not be permitted in any of the allotments.
• Alternative 2, developed by BLM in response to scoping requests for grazing preference within the Bridge Creek Allotment (BCA), would issue permits with site-specific terms and conditions. Based on monitoring data, weather conditions and forage availability, grazing durations and livestock numbers would be managed adaptively, ensuring annual AUM limits are not exceeded. Grazing would be modified as necessary within permit terms to meet resource objectives, with utilization thresholds set at 50% for native key forage species and 60% for desirable nonnative species.
• Alternative 3 was developed in coordination with an applicant for grazing preference. This alternative is similar to Alternative 2. However, the terms and conditions to require the permittee to provide reasonable administrative access across private and leased lands to the BLM for the management and protection of public lands would not be included. Additionally, the condition outlining a gradual increase in AUMs on the Hammond Allotment, focused on pastures with predominantly crested wheatgrass forage, would also not be included.
• Under Alternative 4, BLM would permit grazing at half the AUMs analyzed in Alternative 1, with a more restrictive season of use prohibiting grazing from March through July to protect sage grouse nesting, brood-rearing and redband trout spawning. Upland grazing utilization would be capped at low levels, streambank alteration would be minimized and a minimum stubble height would be maintained on upland and riparian species. No new range developments would be constructed and supplemental hay feeding would not be allowed.
• BLM considers Alternative 5 the no-action alternative. The agency would not issue 10-year grazing permits for the Mud Creek Allotment or the BLM-managed portions of the Hammond, Hardie Summer and Hammond FFR allotments.
Background
According to BLM, the allotments have remained largely ungrazed since 2014, when the agency decided not to renew livestock grazing in the four allotments and removed the grazing preference from the associated base property. Hammond Ranches appealed the decision, and in January 2019, then-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke instructed the BLM to reissue the grazing permit under a categorical exclusion to the ranch. Later that year, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon vacated the reissued permits and remanded them to the agency for further action.
In 2020, the BLM began an environmental assessment to evaluate alternatives for livestock grazing in the area. After receiving multiple protests against the proposed decision, the Interior secretary issued a Notice of Final Decision on Jan. 19, 2021. According to the draft EIS, this decision apportioned forage within the BCA, assigned grazing preferences and authorized range improvements.
However, the decision faced appeals from several environmental groups and was rescinded on Feb. 26, 2021. In December 2021, the agency initiated the public scoping process for the draft EIS by issuing a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register and sending scoping letters to interested parties.
In 2023, a BLM interdisciplinary team assessed the Hammond, Mud Creek, Hardie Summer and Hammond FFR allotments to evaluate conformance with the Oregon and Washington Standards for Rangeland Health and Guidelines for Livestock Grazing Management. While earlier assessments in 2020 found some standards unmet, the updated 2023 findings showed that livestock grazing under the pre-2014 permit was not a causal factor where standards were not achieved. However, the agency found that unauthorized grazing in the Krumbo Creek Pasture of the Hammond Allotment contributed to unmet standards.
The planning documents can be viewed at tinyurl.com/26msyc24. The agency is accepting comments until Feb. 24 through the “participate now” option or by emailing BLM_OR_BU_BCA_AMP@blm.gov. BLM will host a virtual public meeting on Feb. 13 at 5 p.m. PST. For more information and to register for the meeting, please visit bit.ly/BridgeCreekMeeting. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
