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San Juan National Forest

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USDA Forest Service
San Juan National Forest
15 Burnett Court
Durango, CO 81301
(970) 247-4874

Telephone for the
Hearing Impaired
(970) 385-1257

Proposed Projects

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See a separate page for information about the Northern San Juan Basin Coal Bed Methane Project.

Northern San Juan Basin Coalbed Methane Project Record of Decision [PDF, 57 pages, 410 KB]

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NEW 1/12/2009

A scoping letter and scoping package includes maps and descriptions of vegetation management proposals in the Aspen Forest Health and Restoration Project area on the Dolores Public Lands located north of Hwy 160 and south of the Dolores River, northeast of Mancos, CO. This project is being developed under the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003. The public is encouraged to read the project proposal information below, visit the office or call to discuss the proposals, and provide written comments. Comments may be used to refined proosals, add project design or monitoring, or identify alternate actions. After comments are received, an Environmental Assessment (EA) will be prepared. At the time the EA is available, this project will be subject to a pre-decisional objection period. Only those individuals and organizations who have submitted specific written scoping comments will have standing to object at that time.

Scoping letter [PDF, 2 pages, 40 KB]

Scoping Package Describing Proposd Actions [PDF, 9 pages, 90 KB]

Aspen Forest Health and Restoration Project map [PDF, 1 page, 95 KB]

Caviness Area Proposals map [PDF, 1 page, 982 KB]

Haycamp Area Proposals map [PDF, 1 page, 748 KB]

Rampart Area Proposals map [PDF, 1 page, 1.16 MB]

Spring Creek Area Proposals map [PDF, 1 page, 1.16 MB]

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On December 2, 2008 Acting Columbine District Ranger Levi Broyles made the decision to approve Alternative 2 of the Sauls Creek Fuels Reduction Project Environmental Assessment (EA). The decision authorizes mowing and thinning on approximately 2311 acres east of Bayfield for the purposes of mitigating fire behavior and increasing forest diversity and resilience. Appeal rights are described in the Decision Notice.

Environmental Assessment [PDF, 67 pages, 617 KB]

Decision Notice [PDF, 10 pages, 789 KB]

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Travel Management

On December 2, 2008 Pagosa District Ranger Kevin Khung made the decision to approve Alternative 2 of the Pagosa Travel Management Analysis Environmental Assessment (EA). The decision makes various changes to the District's current travel management direction which are describe in detail within the EA and summarized in the Decision Notice. Appeal rights are described in the Decision Notice.

Environmental Assessment [PDF, 132 pages, 4.10 MB]

Decision Notice [PDF, 12 pages, 1.23 MB]

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On October 28, 2008 Pagosa District Ranger Kevin Khung made the decision to approve Alternative 2 of the Rito Blanco Forest Health and Fuels Reduction Project Environmental Assessment (EA). The project will conduct forest health and fuels reduction activities on approximately 4,071 acres of ponderosa pine, mixed conifer and aspen forests. Appeal rights are described in the Decision Notice.

Environmental Assessment, Part 1 [PDF, 159 pages, 6.98 MB]

Environmental Assessment, Part 2, Appendix A [Pdf, 63 pages, 1.20 MB]

Decision Notice [PDF, 16 pages, 965 KB]

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The Columbine Ranger District has concluded the public comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Hermosa Landscape Grazing Analysis. The DEIS analyzes and discloses the estimated environmental effects of permitted livestock grazing in the landscape. The Proposed Action includes the use of adaptive management tools and monitoring to adjust livestock grazing so that resource conditions are moving towards stated desired conditions. A decision on the project is forthcoming.

View the DEIS [PDF, 138 pages, 1.91 MB]. For project information or to obtain a hard copy of the DEIS, please call Cam Hooley, Project Leader, 970-884-1414, or Rowdy Wood, Rangeland Management Specialist, 970-881-1416.

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The Dolores Public Lands Office has released the Torrey Pines 3D Seismic Project Environmental Assessment (EA) [PDF, 111 pages, 3.19 MB] for public review and comment. Bill Barrett Corporation filed a Notice of Intent with the BLM on February 6, 2008, with the BLM to conduct an exploratory three-dimensional seismic survey of the proposed Torrey Pines project area. The proposed project area encompasses approximately 22 square miles (13,905 acres) of BLM and private surface in the Disappointment Valley on the north and south sides of Highway 141 about four miles east of Slick Rock, Colorado, in San Miguel County.

Environmental Assessment [PDF, 111 pages, 3.19 MB]

News Release [PDF, 1 page, 63KB]

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Travel Management

The Columbine Ranger District/Field Office has conducted public scoping for the Beaver Meadows and Sauls Creek Travel Management areas of the San Juan National Forest. The process will designate a system of roads and trails for summer motorized vehicle use in these areas. Public scoping input will be used to generate a range of alternatives for inclusion in an Environmental Assessment, which will later be released for public review and comment.

View the preliminary alternatives designed for scoping, but note that these will likely be altered in the EA, in order to reflect public input received during scoping.

Preliminary alternatives [PDF, 5 pages, 92 KB]

Alternative 1 Map [PDF, 1 page, 7.44 MB]

Alternative 2 Map [PDF, 1 page, 7.49 MB]

Alternative 3 Map [PDF, 1 page, 1.98 MB]

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The Columbine Ranger District/Field Office released a pre-decisional draft Environmental Assessment [PDF, 79 pages, 8.10 MB] for the Animas City Mountain Fuels Reduction Project in the fall of 2007. Comments are being analyzed at this time, and information regarding this project will be posted as it becomes available.

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On May12, 2008, Steve Beverlin, Manager, Dolores Public Lands Office, signed three Decision Notices and Findings of No Significant Impact (DN/FONSI) approving the Cherry Creek Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Railroad, La Plata and Gold Bar grazing allotments. The DN/FONSI includes the selection of Alternative 4 – Proposed Action with slight modifications, which authorizes continued livestock grazing while incorporating adaptive management strategies in order to move existing resource conditions towards desired conditions for the Railroad, La Plata and Gold Bar allotments. The decision is based on cooperative efforts between the grazing permittees, Dolores Public Lands Office personnel, and interested publics throughout the analysis process.

The project area includes the Railroad, La Plata and Gold Bar C&H allotments. The three allotments comprise approximately 12,300 National Forest acres. The analysis area lies between 7,700 and 12,000 feet in elevation. The entire area is within the Cherry Creek drainage and is bordered by the East Mancos River on the west, Caviness, Madden and Parrot peaks on the north, and La Plata Canyon on the east.

Cover [PDF, 1 page, 200 KB]
Final Environmental Assessment [PDF, 94 pages, 763 KB]
Gold Bar Allotment DN/FONSI [PDF, 7 pages, 47 KB]
La Plata Allotment DN/FONSI [PDF, 8 pages, 49 KB]
Railroad Allotment DN/FONSI [PDF, 7 pages, 62 KB]
Area and Vicinity map [PDF, 1 page, 184 KB]
Alternative 2 - Current Management map [PDF, 1 page, 2.94 MB]
Alternative 3 - Grazing at Analysis Capacity map [PDF, 1 page, 2.95 MB]
Alternative 4 - Proposed Action map [PDF, 1 page, 2.95 MB]
Unnamed Spring and Riparian Areas map [PDF, 1 page, 2.95 MB]

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Travel Management

On April 1, 2008, Steve Beverlin, Manager, Dolores Public Lands Office, signed the Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact (DN/FONSI) [PDF, 17 pages, 138 KB] for the Mancos-Cortez Travel Management Plan (MCTMP). The DN/FONSI includes the selection of Alternative C with modifications (referred to as Modified Alternative C). The selection of Modified Alternative C complies with the Forest Service’s 2005 Travel Management Rule (36 CFR 212) and with BLMs current motor use policies by restricting motorized cross-country travel throughout the analysis area and designating routes open for summer motorized and non-motorized uses on approximately 157,000 acres of federally owned public lands. The DN/FONSI identifies a total of 179 miles of recreational trail opportunities, of which, 60 miles are exclusively designated for non-motorized uses. In addition, implementation of Modified Alternative C also addresses other issues such as dispersed camping and parking for day use.

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The Columbine Ranger District/Field Office has conducted public scoping on the proposed Hermosa Land Exchange. The proposal is to exchange 265 acres of National Forest land north of Tamarron Resort for 330 acres of privately owned inholdings at Hermosa Park, Mitchell Lakes, and an inholding in the Weminuche Wilderness.

The District is now in the process of analyzing the input that was received, generating alternatives in response to issues, and writing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). It is anticipated that the Draft EIS will be released for public comment in the early summer of 2009.

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USDA Forest Service, San Juan National Forest
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Page last modified January 12, 2009