These reviews and comments provide you with information you can use for your own comments to the Forest Service, BLM or other land management agencies.
Motorized Recreation Impacts - Describes the impacts to air, land, water, wildlife and quiet recreationists, including noise and behavioral aspects. This is extracted from detailed comments on the six Utah BLM Resource Management Plan Environmental Impact Statements circa 2008.
Utilization and Grazing Systems - This brief synopsis reviews the science on livestock grazing regarding appropriate use levels, the need for rest, the application of grazing systems and their effectiveness. Both uplands and riparian areas are included.
Updating the Animal Unit Month - This analysis and report updates government information on the weights and forage consumption of cattle and sheep grazing on public lands, shows that current forage allocations by the Forest Service and BLM grossly underestimate consumption by todays larger animals. For cattle, it shows that consumption is double that allocation and should result in a halving of current stocking rates.
Livestock and Water Quality - This report reviews the contribution of livestock and agriculture pollution to our Nation’s waters, how the various attributes such as watersheds, stream flow, sedimentation, dissolved oxygen, nutrients are affected by livestock, particularly cattle. It discusses diseases involved, and presents a case study of local watersheds and streams in the Bear River Range, Utah.
Aspen Management - This review presents information on the factors involved in aspen decline, the importance of aspen to water storage, the role of livestock in aspen decline and conifer invasion. There is an annotated bibliography of the pertinent sources provided as well.
Vegetation/Fuels Management - This report addresses many of the fallacies our public lands agencies buy into with regard to vegetation projects intended to decrease wildfire risk and enhance wildlife habitat.