Some grazing allotments could be affected by the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) revised resource management plan(RMP) for the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in northern New Mexico.
According to the draft proposal, an amendment to the 2012 RMP is necessary to preserve the monument’s objects, as mandated by former President Barack Obama’s proclamation when the monument was established. It will address new information and changed circumstances since the monument’s designation, including surveys of seeps, springs, cultural resources and wildlife corridors.
Public demand for more trail-use opportunities, especially near Taos and Questa, has also grown. The amendment will ensure the protective management of the Cerro del Yuta and Rio San Antonio wilderness areas and consider designating lands with wilderness characteristics, the agency said.
BLM is considering two alternatives after consulting with relevant agencies, Tribes and a public scoping period. The first alternative would continue management under the existing RMP and maintain the two areas of critical environmental concern (ACEC), the 222,000-acre Taos Plateau ACEC and the 21,000-acre Lower Gorge ACEC.
Alternative B, the proposed action, builds on the 2012 Taos RMP to enhance the protection of monument objects while supporting multiple traditional land uses. It seeks opportunities for co-stewardship of public lands and waters with Tribal nations and aims to protect cultural and aquatic resources in collaboration with livestock-grazing permittees. Habitat management would focus on a landscape scale, considering relationships between large and isolated wildlife populations.
Livestock grazing would be used to manage vegetation in the Ute Mountain area outside wilderness boundaries. Additionally, cultural landscapes within the monument would be identified and refined as more information became available, while the Cerro del Yuta and Rio San Antonio wilderness areas would be managed under the Wilderness Act.
According to the agency, 62 allotments with 16,626 permitted animal unit months are located on 205,328 acres of BLM-administered land.
Unlike Alternative A, the proposed alternative would permit livestock grazing north of the Cerro del Yuta Wilderness Area to promote seed propagation, reduce unwanted grasses and encourage new growth for wildlife. This approach benefits both the livestock-grazing program and wildlife by managing caespitose grasses. Additionally, range improvements would support continued multiple uses, including traditional activities like grazing.
The BLM dismissed an alternative that would have eliminated livestock grazing on BLM-administered lands within the monument. Instead, they opted to follow existing laws, regulations and policies for issuing and administering grazing permits. The BLM decided management of monument objects could occur through measures like avoidance and minimization without completely eliminating grazing and only closed two of the initially identified 10 vacant allotments after further review.
“This would reduce the potential for adverse effects on cultural resources from livestock grazing within these allotments, compared to Alternative A,” BLM wrote.
Under the proposed alternative, solar and wind development would be excluded, and the agency would close over two miles of primitive road in Cerro del la Olla. It would also close
areas above 8,200 feet in elevation. BLM would modify existing recreation management and designate three new special recreation management areas to better manage high-use areas within the monument.
Compared to Alternative A, this approach aims to reduce unauthorized roads and trails, minimizing the risk of damage or vandalism to monument objects, including cultural resources, the agency said.
BLM is accepting comments through Oct. 10 and a copy of the draft RMP can be found at tinyurl.com/229xfutf. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
