USFS Plan Would Allow Grazing
But Reduce Pecos River Camping

SANTA FE — Anti-grazing activists are hopping mad over a new U.S. Forest Service plan to manage the national "Wild and Scenic" section of the Pecos River.

The proposal would curtail camping, but allow grazing to continue unabated.

Last October, Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to force the U.S. Forest Service to come out with a management plan for the disputed river segment. They got the plan, but it wasn't the one they wanted.

The activist group contended at the time that the agency had to prohibit grazing to comply with the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Congress designated 11 miles of the East Fork and the uppermost 20.5 miles of the Pecos as "wild and scenic" rivers in 1990, a designation bitterly opposed in many other areas for fear that it would allow busy-bodies to gain control over river use.

Forest Guardians proved the "scenic river" opponents right on the Pecos, using it as an excuse to launch yet another of the radical group's anti-grazing lawsuits.

The resulting Forest Service plan turned the tables on the meddlers, however, recognizing people, not cattle, as the greatest threats to the river's character. It proposes to cut riverside camping by half or more.

But Forest Guardians is nothing if not persistent. The group said it would sue over the plan as long as the Forest Service allows cattle to graze on the upper 13.5 miles of the Pecos.

``They won't let you and me camp within a quarter-mile of the river, but any day of the week cows can graze, defecate and trample plants up and down the river corridor,'' squalled John Horning of Forest Guardians.

``To me, that's an example of the Forest Service's pro-ranching bias,'' he said. ``I don't see how they can justify that.''

Ranchers pay a range rider to steer herds largely away from the Pecos' sensitive riverside willows and grasslands. The Forest Service said its studies of riverside plants and water quality don't show significant harm from grazing.

Most riverside areas where cattle graze meet standards for forest management, said Forest Service Pecos District ranger Dan Crittenden.

The plan says eliminating grazing ``would offer a minor improvement to riparian (riverside) plants and riparian-dependent species, including availability of cover for small mammals and additional forage for grazing wildlife.''

On the other hand, it said, ranchers who hold grazing permits ``would be adversely impacted by the elimination of grazing along the river in the (13.5-mile) wild section of the corridor.''

``They would become dissatisfied with increased government regulations on their traditional lifestyle, and income would be reduced from the need for additional herders, water sources and other expenditures to keep cattle entirely out of the riparian area, or they may need to reduce cattle numbers,'' the plan said.

Crittenden said he sees no reason to end grazing along the river in the absence of hard evidence of ecological damage.

``I think we're on solid ground for litigation on grazing,'' he said.

Ecological damage on the Pecos is mostly near popular camping areas in the lower, seven-mile recreational section north of Terrero, the Forest Service has said. People have trampled plants and have driven across riverbeds there, it said.

Campsites closest to the river are at or above capacity almost every weekend from spring through fall, the plan notes.

The Forest Service is taking comments on the plan through March 29. It plans to issue a final version by June 25.