Sangre De Cristo Conservation Area Land Protection Plan
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Land Protection Plan Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area Colorado and New Mexico August 2012 Prepared by San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex 8249 Emperius Road Alamosa, CO 81101 719/589 4021 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6, Mountain-Prairie Region Division of Refuge Planning 134 Union Boulevard, Suite 300 Lakewood, CO 80228 303/236 8132 CITATION for this document: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2012. Land Protection Plan, Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area, Colorado and New Mexico. Lakewood, CO: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 172 p. Contents Abbreviations . v Chapter 1 — Introduction and Project Description . 1 Purpose of the SCCA . 1 San Luis Valley Refuge Complex . 3 Alamosa and Monte Vista NWRs . 3 Baca NWR . 4 Issues Identified and Selected for Analysis . 4 Public Review of and Comments on the Draft EA and LPP . 5 National Wildlife Refuge System and Authorities . 6 Related Actions and Activities . 6 Habitat Protection and the Easement Acquisition Process . 7 Conservation Easements . 7 Chapter 2 — Area Description and Resources . 9 Physical Environment . 9 Geology . 9 Minerals . 9 Water and Hydrology . 9 Climate . 10 Biological Environment . 10 Plant Communities . 10 Wildlife . 13 Cultural Resources . 17 Prehistory . 18 Early History . 19 Political Boundaries, Land Grants, and Public Lands . 21 Native Peoples . 23 Settlement . 23 Summary of Known Historic Resources . 24 Socioeconomic Environment . 25 Socioeconomic Profile . 25 Land Use and Ownership Changes Surrounding the Refuge . 28 SCCA Land Conservation Efforts . 30 Water Law . 30 Chapter 3 — Threats to and Status of Resources . 33 Threats to Resources . 33 Development . 33 Fragmentation . 34 Invasive Species . 34 Water Resources . 34 Cultural Resources . 34 IIii Land Protection Plan, Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area, Colorado and New Mexico Climate Change . 34 Effects of the SCCA on the Natural and Human Environment . 35 Chapter 4 — Project Implementation . 37 Land Protection Options . 37 No Action . 37 Conservation Easements under SCCA (Proposed Action) . 37 Project Objectives and Actions . 37 Easement Terms and Requirements . 37 Contaminants or Hazardous Materials . 38 Acquisition Funding . 38 Protection Priorities . 38 Species-Habitat Mapping Methodology . 38 Landscape Prioritization . 39 Evaluation of Easement Potential . 45 Ecosystem Management and Landscape Conservation . 45 Incorporating Science and Strategic Habitat Conservation in the SCCA . 47 Socioeconomic Considerations . 48 Public Involvement and Coordination . 48 Scoping . 48 Public Review of the Draft EA and LPP . 49 Distribution and Availability . 49 Literature Cited . 163 Glossary . 171 Appendixes Appendix A. Environmental Assessment ..............................................................51 Appendix B. List of Preparers and Reviewers ..........................................................65 Appendix C. Species List of the San Luis Valley Conservation Area .........................................67 Appendix D. Public Comments .....................................................................107 Appendix E. Finding of No Significant Impact .........................................................143 Appendix F. Environmental Action Statement .........................................................147 Appendix G. Environmental Compliance Certificate ....................................................149 Appendix H. Director’s Approval ...................................................................153 Appendix I. Section 7 Biological Evaluation ...........................................................155 Contents III FIGURES Figure 1. Boundary and Location of the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area. ...................................2 Figure 2. Southwestern Willow Flycatcher and Lewis’ Woodpecker Habitat. ..................................40 Figure 3. Canada Lynx Habitat. .......................................................................41 Figure 4. Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout Conservation Populations. ............................................42 Figure 5. Gunnison Sage Grouse Habitat ...............................................................43 Figure 6. Sage Thrasher Shrubland Habitat. ............................................................44 Figure 7. Spatial Conservation Prioritization.. ...........................................................46 TABLES Table 1. Population statistics for the counties in Colorado and New Mexico that contain the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area (SCCA). .........................................................................25 Table 2. Income, education, unemployment, and poverty rates for counties in Colorado and New Mexico that contain the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area (SCCA). ...........................................26 Table 3. Percentage employment by sector for counties in Colorado and New Mexico that contain the San Luis Valley region ..........................................................................26 Acronyms BLM Bureau of Land Management CCP Comprehensive Conservation Plan CWCB Colorado Water Conservation Board EA Environmental Assessment LPP Land Protection Plan NEPA National Environmental Policy Act NAWCA North American Wetland Conservation Act NRCS Natural Resource Conservation Service NWR National Wildlife Refuge SCCA Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area SLVCA San Luis Valley Conservation Area USFWS US Fish and Wildlife Service USGS United States Geological Survey WRP Wetland Reserve Program Chapter 1 — Introduction and Project Description “The Sangre de Cristo Mountains…have the Anthropogenic factors, including agriculture, changes glamour of lost history – dim memories of in fire regime, and climate change, have changed the Indian bands, of French explorers and Span- historic vegetation of the San Luis Valley. Low hu- ish troops; they have the spell of the remote, man population density associated with the largely the mystery of recesses that are little known; agricultural economy of the valley have enabled the they are the kind of mountains one’s imagi- San Luis Valley and central Sangre de Cristo Moun- nation builds.” tains to maintain significant portions of their biological – Albert Ellingwood after completing the value, particularly for migratory birds. However, ris- first ascent of Crestone Needle, 1916 ing agricultural costs, including those resulting from the recent State of Colorado requirement to augment Rising as a singular wall of rock to heights of over surface flows to offset the impacts of ground water 14,000 feet from the surrounding valleys and plains, use, have led to an unsettled agricultural economy. the Sangre de Cristo Mountains strike an impres- The risk of second home development in the already sive and poetically inspiring profile. They are also heavily subdivided Costilla County continues, and the southernmost range of the Rocky Mountains, and would substantially reduce the quality of that habitat thus mark a transition from the intermountain west to for sagebrush-dependent species. Significant residen- the ecosystems of the short grass prairie and desert tial development or unsustainable logging practices in southwest. Through the Sangre de Cristo Conserva- the Sangre de Cristo Mountains would also degrade tion Area (SCCA; Figure 1), the U.S. Fish and Wild- that habitat for threatened and endangered species. life Service (Service) hopes to permanently protect The SCCA will conserve a network of vital wild- an important piece of these mountains. life habitat through up to 250,000 acres of voluntary As with many of the mountain ranges of the western conservation easements. The SCCA acquisitions will United States, much of the Sangre de Cristo Moun- focus on the protection of sagebrush habitat as well tains are conserved in perpetuity as National Forest as riparian corridors and associated uplands. land. However, the central portion of the range, from Planning for the SCCA began as a component of the Blanca Peak in Colorado to northern Taos County in proposed San Luis Valley Conservation Area (SLVCA), New Mexico, is entirely private. While there are some for which a draft Environmental Assessment/Land very large ranches protected by conservation ease- Protection Plan (EA/LPP) was released in May 2012. ments in this portion of the range, there are still large The Service has chosen to decelerate planning for the gaps. This region has been identified as an important SLVCA to more effectively incorporate its goals with corridor linking populations of federally threatened those of the ongoing Comprehensive Conservation Canada lynx in northern New Mexico with the larger Plan (CCP) process for the San Luis Valley National population in the Rockies. In addition to the montane Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Complex. The SLVCA LPP, forests and alpine areas of the mountains themselves, should be completed sometime in or before 2014. In the western slope of these mountains borders the San the interim, the Service recognizes the conservation Luis Valley, a large intermountain valley bounded by need and opportunity on the west slope.