Do cows have to be Everywhere? 

See final paragraph for USFS November 4, 2022 decision.

Much of our public lands that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Forest Service (FS) are divvied up into grazing allotments; primarily for cattle or sheep. Grazing allotments are in wilderness, mountains, valleys, and deserts across the west. Both agencies prioritize grazing over other land uses. A 2019 Congressional report states that in 2017, the BLM managed 154.1 million acres out of 245.7 million acres for grazing and the FS managed 93 million out of 192.9 million acres for grazing. Prior to 1905 and for decades afterwards, every acre of USFS land was grazed. Still, very few allotments are left vacant or closed. 

In 2018, the Bridgeport office of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest announced they were considering reopening three sheep grazing allotments to allow cattle grazing. They had been grazed by sheep for decades, but were closed in 2004 and 2006 in order to protect the endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep from pneumonia that can be transmitted from domestic sheep to wild sheep. Switching from sheep to cattle will have different impacts on the land and require different management approaches, which prompted this project.

In 2019, the Forest Service made a formal announcement of the project and then just recently amended it to include a change to the Toiyabe Land and Resource Management Plan  (LRMP). The change to the LRMP adds only one sentence. However, it has huge implications and undermines the purpose of the LRMP. It states that these three allotments would be exempt from the rules in the LRMP that require stock water troughs to be out of riparian areas and a certain distance from sage grouse leks, for one lessee.  

Besides setting a very dangerous precedent of making exceptions to the rules, the question is, are these allotments suitable for cattle and is this the best use of the land? The project area is the front country of the Sierra Nevada in the north Mono Basin to the Bridgeport Valley: Dunderberg Peak, Kavanaugh Ridge, and Monument Ridge west of the Bodie Hills. It includes Upper Summers Meadow at 7,200 feet, Sinnamon Meadow at 8,200 feet and Dunderberg Peak at 12,379 feet. This is a mosaic of a variety of habitats: aspen groves, riparian streams and springs, tarns and an alpine lake, forest, sagebrush, meadows, fragile alpine grasses, and more. It has been healing from sheep grazing for the past 15 years. This wonderful and diverse habitat. It supports mule deer, bighorn sheep, butterflies and bees, pikas and sage grouse. It is also good habitat for several endangered species: the yellow-legged frog, the Yosemite toad, and the Sierra Nevada red fox. It can easily be degraded by 800-1,293 wandering cow/calf pairs.

By the Forest Service's definition, land is suitable for cattle grazing if it is on slopes less than 40%, is within 1 mile of a perennial water supply, and can produce 200 lbs. of forage per acre. Much of these three allotments is on steep slopes or above timberline where there’s not enough forage. However, there are two large meadows and some benches on the slopes of small grassy areas and sagebrush that meet the criteria. One of the large meadows is on private land and already grazed. The remaining amount of suitable land is not extensive. Why couldn’t it be left for wildlife and recreational uses? 

There are three main ecological issues with cattle grazing the suitable areas:

1)    The land that is suitable for grazing, the meadows and sagebrush, are habitat for sensitive wildlife including the Bi-state Sage Grouse, Sierra Nevada red fox, pronghorn, and mule deer. They would be crowded out by a herd of cattle and the meadows would be grazed to a few inches eliminating cover for the sage grouse. Grazing would also eliminate the pollinator wildflowers that support butterflies and bees. 

2)    Cattle wander and will not be fenced in. There would be no fencing to stop the cattle from wandering into Tamarack Lakes, the residential area in Virginia Canyon, standing in the many streams and springs, sitting under the aspen trees, or grazing the sensitive alpine meadows above timberline. The Forest Service is assuming the cattle will not wander into sensitive areas and does not propose fencing to prevent this. If the cattle are fenced in, it puts the imperiled Bi-state sage grouse at risk. Even when fencing is flagged, sage grouse fly into it and die especially if they are gathering near fencing. Flagging reduces mortalities by 57%, but doesn’t eliminate it. The lessee is proposing range riders to manage the cattle, but they won’t be on site 24/7.

3)    Springs and streams throughout these allotments will be damaged. This is the headwaters of Virginia Creek. There are several unnamed springs and tarns and several creeks coming from the snow runoff: Dunderberg, Dog, Deep, Cameron, Green, and Wilson creeks. These springs and streams support riparian habitat and wetlands that support biodiversity and provide climate refugia. Cattle will be drinking from these streams, standing in them, and crossing them. That will severely impact the ecological services of the land and reduce the biodiversity of these riparian corridors. The streams in the Cameron Canyon allotment are the source of stock water.

It is the Forest Service’s policy to not close allotments. Section 10.54 of the Forest Service Allotment Management Handbook states, “Rarely should allotments be closed for any reason, because a decision to issue or not issue a grazing permit is easier to manage, than adding or removing an area designated at the forest planning level as available to livestock grazing.” Allotments can be vacated more easily, but not indefinitely.  However, the 2016 Bi-state Sage Grouse Forest Plan Amendment (RP-G-01) does recommend not renewing allotments as opportunities arise: "In bi-state DPS habitat, consider closure of grazing allotments, pastures, or portions of pastures, or managing the allotment as a forage reserve as consistent with maintaining sage-grouse habitat based on desired conditions as opportunities arise under applicable regulations, where removal of livestock grazing would enhance the ability to achieve desired bi-state DPS habitat conditions."

The Forest Service has prepared a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment, although it has not acknowledged the climate change impacts for this project. This project area is critical to the survival of wildlife and many species of plants in the face of climate change.  The Range of Light Group is proposing to keep them vacant or closed to protect the Bi-state Sage Grouse and the pika and to maintain habitat for several Endangered Species: yellow-legged frog, Yosemite toad, Sierra Nevada red fox, Lahontan cutthroat trout, and more. This project area is a critical climate change refugia with its east facing slopes, high elevation, streams and springs. It is a wildlife corridor for mule deer and pronghorn. If we want to preserve nature for our grandchildren, then we need to save places like this. There are some places where cattle just don’t belong. 

The Forest Service agrees. The Final decision came out November 4, 2022 to not open up the old sheep grazing allotments to cattle. I know some dispersed campers will be happy.

See Sierra Club’s policy on grazing on public lands here.

Lynn Boulton