HomeMy WebLinkAbout20061572.tiff United States Forest Pawnee 660"O"Street
USDA Department of Service National Grassland Greeley,CO 80631
Agriculture Voice: (970)346-5000 TDD: (970)346-5015
Web: www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf
Fax: (970)346-5014
File Code: 1910-6
Date: June 5, 2006
Dear Neighbor:
The Pawnee National Grassland (PNG) is proposing to continue the use of prescribed fire on the
Grassland. The project area includes all 193,000 acres of the Grassland, located approximately
35 miles northeast of Greeley, Colorado, in Weld County. The PNG has been conducting
prescribed burning on the Grassland for about 13 years. As the PNG District Ranger, I feel that
it is time to reassess the use of prescribed fire on the Grassland and to get input from the public
on the future of the prescribed fire program on the PNG.
The purpose of this project is to develop management strategies that utilize prescribed fire as a
tool to improve conditions for wildlife, fuels, rangeland, and botanical resources. These include:
• Improve short-grass prairie wildlife habitat, by implementing a mosaic of vegetation
structure, species composition, and successional stages across the unit;
• Restore the natural fire regimes to prairie grass;
• Improve rangeland forage by increasing the palatability of grasses for livestock and
wildlife; and
• Experiment with reducing fuel loads of prairie grass to minimize impacts of wildfire on
local landowners and communities.
The PNG serves a critical role in ecosystem function as grassland wildlife habitat. For instance,
the nesting habitat and forage habitats of bird species such as the chestnut-sided longspur,
McCown's longspur, lark bunting are affected by the height and developmental stages of native
short grasses. The mountain plover, for instance, is obligated to build nests in flat sites with
exposed soft bare soil and very short native grasses for brood protection. The burrowing owl is
obligated to occupy short grass prairie sites with nesting and roosting sites in burrows abandoned
by mammals, such as black-tailed prairie dog. The structural and successional stages of prairie
ecosystems affect the forage habitat of the ferruginous hawk. In addition, the seed predation
patterns of some short grass prairie rodent species are correlated with the size and abundance of
seeds produced by native short grasses, such as buffalo grass. Other wildlife species dependent
upon short-grass prairie lands include the swift fox and the black-tailed prairie dog.
Historically, short grasses dominated the PNG, but in the early 1900s these lands were plowed or
homesteaded and later seeded with non-native grass species. Currently,the PNG is interspersed
with private property and state land. Some of the private land is part of the Conservation
Reserve Program(CRP). CRP lands contain grass species which exhibit higher rates of fire
spread and higher fire intensities than those of native short grasses. The historic fire regime,
natural grazing regimes, and ecosystem function were altered with these changes in land use
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pattern. Consequently,the species composition, structural stages, and successional stages of
grasses may be in departure from historic natural range of variability.
Most areas of the PNG are permitted for livestock grazing. In some areas, such as those
dominated by crested wheat grass, there is a need to improve the palatability of forage for
livestock grazing. Prescribed fire is one tool available for meeting this purpose.
To meet the purpose and need of this project, as the PNG District Ranger, I propose to make
decisions on the use of prescribed fire as a tool to improve short-grass prairie wildlife habitat;
restore natural fire regimes; improve rangeland forage habitat for livestock and wildlife; and
experiment with reducing fuel loads of prairie grass to minimize the impacts of wildfire on local
landowners. Actions proposed in the decision would include:
1. Develop a site-specific implementation plan to use prescribed fire as a tool to
improve wildlife, rangeland, botanical, and fuel resources for the entire PNG.
2. Identify in this plan the number of acres to be burned annually.
3. Determining the locations of where burning would occur.
4. Developing the temporal criteria for when burning would occur.
5. Defining the situations or locations where burning would be avoided.
Scoping is an important part of the Forest Service's analysis process to identify issues related to
this proposed action. For this reason, I encourage you to take the time to consider our proposal
and submit your specific comments to Lara Duran at 3063 Sterling Circle, Suite 1,Boulder, CO
80301. An additional opportunity to submit comments will be made available during a public
meeting scheduled for June 22, 2006, at the Ault School Administrative Building located at 210
West First Street,Ault, Colorado.
To have your comments considered, and to allow us to stay on schedule,please mail, call, or e-
mail your comments by July 3, 2006. Note that comments received in response to this letter,
including names and address of those who comment,will be considered part of the public record
and are available for public inspection. I expect to make a decision on this project by December.
If you would like additional information about this project or would like to submit verbal or e-
mail comments,please contact Lara Duran at 303-245-6413 or laraduran@£s.fed.us.
Sincerely,
STEVEN CU` Y
`'Cei'-r District Ranger r'
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