California Program Office 980 Ninth Street, Suite 1730 | Sacramento, California 95814 | tel 916.313.5800 www.defenders.org August 5, 2019 Jan Cutts District Ranger Bridgeport Ranger District HC 62 Box 1000 Bridgeport, CA, 93517 Via email to: [email protected]; comments-intermtn-humboldt-toiyabe- [email protected] Re: Scoping comments on Bridgeport Southwest Rangeland Project Dear Ms. Cutts; Thank you for the opportunity to submit scoping comments on the Bridgeport Southwest Rangeland Project. Scoping comments included in this letter are submitted by Defenders of Wildlife (Defenders) on behalf of its 1.8 million members and supporters in the U.S., including 279,000 in California. Defenders is a national non-profit environmental dedicated to protecting all wild animals and plants in their natural communities. To this end, Defenders uses science, public education and participation, media, legislative advocacy, litigation, and proactive on-the-ground solutions in order to impede the accelerating rate of extinction of species, associated loss of biological diversity, and habitat alteration and destruction. Project background The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Bridgeport Ranger District is preparing an environmental assessment (EA) for proposed cattle grazing on the existing Cameron Canyon, Dunderberg, Summers Meadow, and Tamarack grazing allotments in Mono County, California, which comprise 19,360 acres of federal land. The allotments include a portion of the Hoover Wilderness where livestock grazing is allowed since it was an existing use prior to enactment of the Wilderness Act and its designation in 1964. National Headquarters | 1130 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036-4604 | tel 202.682.9400 | fax 202.682.1331 | www.defenders.org The project area includes designated critical habitat for the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep (SNBS), which was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1999. At that time, the Forest Service began consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on domestic sheep grazing authorizations on these allotments due to the risk of disease transmission from domestic sheep to SNBS. As a result of the consultation, the grazing permits were allowed to expire and were cancelled in 2014 due to the high risk of disease transmission and its impact on survival of SNBS. The grazing permitees appealed the decision to cancel the grazing permits in 2014 and entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. Forest Service in 2015. The settlement agreement stipulated that the U.S. Forest Service would conduct an environmental analysis of the effects of converting the allotments for use by domestic cattle and issuing permits to the affected grazing permittees which have filed applications for permits to graze domestic cattle. However, the settlement agreement does not commit the U.S. Forest Service to issue grazing permits, and it retains its authority to not issue permits based on the outcome of the environmental analysis. Scoping comments Scoping comments from Defenders on the proposed Bridgeport Southwest Rangeland Project are as follows: 1. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) – Range of Alternatives: NEPA requires federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service to “rigorously explore and objectively evaluate” a range of reasonable alternatives to proposed federal actions.” See 40 C.F.R. §§ 1502.14(a) and 1508.25(c), including the mandatory alternative of no action. Reasonable alternatives analyzed should be those based on resource occurrence and sensitivity, with a goal of avoiding or minimizing impacts by modifying the extent and location of a proposed project size and location accordingly. 2. Toiyabe National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP), as amended: The Toiyabe LRMP includes amendments stemming from the 2004 Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment (SNFPA) and the 2016 Greater Sage-grouse Bi-State Distinct Population Segment Forest Plan Amendment (Bi-State Amendment). The amended LRMP provides management direction, goals, objectives and desired future conditions for all lands and resources within the Toiyabe National Forest, including sensitive species and their habitats, and water quality. The environmental analysis for the proposed project should clearly state the management direction, goals, objectives and desired future conditions for all lands within the grazing allotments, their listed and sensitive species and habitats, their current condition and trend, as National Headquarters | 1130 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036-4604 | tel 202.682.9400 | fax 202.682.1331 | www.defenders.org well as water quality and water quality objectives from the Lahontan Basin Plan of the State Water Quality Control Board. Of note, critical habitat for three federal listed species is found in the analysis area, and habitat for the bi-state DPS of greater sage grouse is also found in the analysis area. As the agency is aware, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service was ordered by a federal court to re-consider its decision not to list the bi-state sage grouse and will do so by October 1, 2019. 3. Impact Analysis: Although the U.S. Forest Service concluded that all LRMP goals, objectives and desired conditions had been met when the domestic sheep permits were cancelled in 2014, the effects of cattle grazing are well documented to be different than those of domestic sheep on meadows, wetlands, riparian areas and near water sources, and thus the analysis must be specific to cattle-grazing. Unless excluded from or actively herded, cattle typically occupy meadows, wetlands and riparian areas where they obtain forage, water and shelter; and their much larger size and weight compared to domestic sheep results in greater hoof pressure on soils. This increased hoof pressure has the potential to cause higher soil compaction, higher precipitation runoff and soil erosion. These potential impacts should be thoroughly analyzed in the environmental analysis. Cattle grazing could also directly damage Threatened Yosemite toads, poses risks to the Endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep and may adversely impact sage grouse habitat, including lekking areas. The environmental analysis should include an analysis of the proposed project on surface waters and their quality both within and downstream of the subject grazing allotments. The analysis should be based on the water quality objectives and beneficial uses as stated in the Lahontan Basin Plan. The Notice of Proposed Action for the project identifies issues that have been raised by the public during previous scoping opportunities. We note that for nearly all those issues, including those involving potential for adverse impacts to sensitive species and their habitats, and water quality, the U.S. Forest Service responded that, “Grazing management under the proposed action, reflecting Forest Plan and other management direction, would preclude notable adverse impacts…” By assuming such adverse impacts would not occur or be negligible simply because the Toiyabe LRMP would prevent them from occurring is inappropriate and inconsistent with the abundance of documented adverse impacts from cattle grazing to subalpine meadow, stream and spring habitats. That is akin to assuming that motor vehicle speeds would not exceed the legal limit simply because speed limit signs are in place on streets and highways. The impact analysis must also consider the capability of the U.S. Forest Service to monitor and enforce mitigation measures designed to prevent and minimize adverse impacts to listed and other sensitive species and their habitats, as well as meadows, wetlands and riparian habitat favored by cattle. Furthermore, relying on range-riders to herd cattle away from these areas National Headquarters | 1130 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036-4604 | tel 202.682.9400 | fax 202.682.1331 | www.defenders.org would likely require their services on a full-time basis throughout the proposed grazing season and in sufficient numbers to be effective. Based on Defenders’ experience in the field in cattle grazing allotments, we doubt the U.S. Forest Service has the capability and the livestock operators have the means to deploy range-riders sufficient to ensure that goals and objectives for all biological resources would be met. The impact analysis should be based on impacts observed on similar active grazing allotments in the Eastern Sierra Nevada having Endangered, Threatened and sensitive species, especially those with meadows, wetlands, streams and riparian habitats. Lastly, the purpose of analyzing the impacts of a proposed federal action through an environmental assessment is to determine if the adverse impacts remaining after applying mitigation measures would be significant. If so, then an Environmental Impact Statement would be required. Given the abundant evidence of significant impacts resulting from cattle grazing in the higher elevation habitats of the eastern Sierra Nevada, including meadows, wetlands, water quality, as well as habitats for species listed under the Endangered Species Act, Defenders recommends that the U.S. Forest Service prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed grazing project. 4. Mitigation Measures: If the Forest Service decides to proceed with authorizing cattle grazing in these allotments, an extensive array of mitigation measures designed to avoid and minimize impacts will be required. Such measures should not simply include adaptive management based on monitoring and subsequent corrective actions.