Comanche National Grassland Preliminary Plan Development Workshop
- Anne Boswell Taylor
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
By Norman Kincaide
The United States Forest Service Pike and San Isabel National Forest and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands office held preliminary plan development workshops at City Hall, Elkhart, Kansas, April 20, 2026, Minnick Building, Baca County Fair Grounds, Springfield, Colorado, April 21 and McBride Hall, Otero College, La Junta, Colorado, April 22. Ryan Nehl, Forest and Grassland Supervisor, and Beth Davis, Forest Service Land Management Planner, gave introductory comments before the breakout sessions were initiated at these sessions.
These workshops were to establish draft vision statements called: Desired Conditions, for the future of the Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. They are supported by understanding current conditions, management challenges and the distinctive roles and contributions that the plan area provides. This plan vision, along with what was identified as needing to change from the 1984 plan, will become the purpose, need and part of the proposed action to initiate plan development and the intent to develop an environmental impact statement, officially starting the next phase of plan development.
Desired conditions describe what the plan area should look like in the future, socially, economically and ecologically. These statements serve as long-term aspirations that help guide every management action. The Need to Change statements identified what was missing from the current plan. In contrast, Desired Conditions describe the long-term vision. From the need to change statements there is a need to create plan components that maintain or enhance ecosystem grassland health while maintaining ecosystem integrity and supporting permitted livestock grazing and forage production. This integrates the best possible available scientific information on grassland and fire ecology, ecological resilience and rangeland health to inform adaptive management strategies. Desired conditions will also accommodate and plan for new and emerging technologies to meet resource goals.
Desired conditions concepts direct management of the grasslands to sustain healthy, resilient prairie ecosystems that support responsible livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, soil conservation, protected watersheds, and high-quality recreation opportunities. They also provide a spectrum of ecological services that contribute to the health, safety, stability and well-being of the communities within the plan area. These concepts also facilitate the flow of goods and services to support future and existing industries. The plan area connects people with nature across the national forest by providing opportunities for volunteering, education, and scientific learning that support diverse value systems and evolving lifestyles of area residents and visitors.
Desired conditions objectives are concise, measurable, and time-specific that define the expected rate of progress toward desired conditions and must be based on reasonably foreseeable budgets. They function as increments on the journey toward desired conditions, indicating when key steps should be achieved. Every objective must be realistic, measurable and tied to a specific timeframe.
The 1984 rangeland management plan evolved from a prescriptive approach to adaptive management that allows flexibility to respond to short and long term changed conditions to maintain rangeland health and grazing uses.
With these criteria for desired conditions in mind, four breakout sessions were offered: Active Management (fire and fuels, energy and minerals, range and grazing, air quality); Habitat Management (wildlife, plants, soil, habitat for at risk, species of conservation concern and endangered species); Water Resources (water quality, availability, wetlands, riparian areas, fisheries, municipal water and ground water dependent systems); Human Use and Heritage Resources (recreation activities, developed and dispersed recreation, cultural and historic, access, scenery, and socioeconomics).
One Habitat Management session at McBride Hall included Andee Leininger, Leininger Ranch, La Junta, a certified range management professional and Trent Sharon of the Bella Ranch, who offered their opinions on desired conditions. Species of conservation (SCC) concern were not being considered based upon realistic studies. Identify species that actually exist in the grasslands to achieve a balance between working lands management and SCCs. Some species on the prairie lie dormant for years if not decades. Only when environmental conditions are conducive to generation do these species appear on the landscape. They grow, bloom, propagate, seed out, then lie dormant until conditions are favorable again. This does not mean they are a species of conservation concern. They have their own time table for regeneration that cannot be hurried by active management.
An actual management plan for prairie dogs must be developed, since eradication is not a viable alternative. Therefore, prairie dog management must be in balance with rangeland forage management. This requires the containment prairie dog populations to prevent spreading of colonies and control plague. These efforts must be coordinated between deeded property and federal allotments to reduce, contain, and actively manage prairie dogs on the grasslands. Let the plague perform its natural reduction of prairie dog populations.
Responsible grazing reduces fuel for wildfires. Active conifer control (juniper and cedar) was also a desired condition for habitat management. Desired conditions must conform to reality on the grasslands, i.e., the availability of resources for management within the constraints of Forest Service budget and personnel.
A large note sheet from an Active Management session at McBride Hall held: Were more wind and solar projects coming to the region? There needed to be support for ranchers on grazing. Every permit needed to be evaluated as the holders are stewards of the land. Grazing associations must be more closely associated to coordinate management. There was broader concern of wildlife groups (NGOs) affecting grazing rights. There was fear of land trusts extending from private lands to federal allotments, thus compromising grazing as a forage management tool. Managing prairie dog populations was also an issue in this session. Grazing was considered the only sustainable income from the grasslands that is returned to the local communities through livestock markets and related businesses.
During a Water Resources session at the Minnick Building, Forest Service personnel were not well versed on Colorado surface water appropriations and the difference between surface water rights and ground water development. Neither were individuals representing the Native Plant Society. All of the water flowing from Colorado has already been appropriated and prioritized for municipal, agricultural or recreational purposes and out of state commitments: California, Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico and Nebraska. There is no more water to fulfill the fantasy land vision of individuals (who do not live, work or rely on the Grasslands for a livelihood) for a Wild & Scenic Purgatoire River with beavers, constant stream flow and a dedicated prairie dog picnic area. Nor is it reasonable to aspire to such outcomes. Water cannot be diverted from current use, like from Trinidad State Lake, to create a perennial flow on the Purgatoire River to accommodate a Wild & Scenic River designation.
One individual referenced House Bill 26-1340 that could be used to enhance the grasslands: “Revegetate or Dry Farm Formerly Irrigated Agricultural Land, requires a water right owner who changes the use of their water right in water division 2 from agricultural irrigation purposes to another beneficial use on or after January 1, 2027, to engage in revegetation or a conversion to dry land farming with effective erosion control and weed management on the formerly irrigated land.” This bill does not apply to federal rangeland or range that was never irrigated for crop production. There would have to be a surface water right associated with agricultural land to fall under this bill.
Kelsy Price, Forest Service and Raul Alonso, Forest Service, moderated the Human Use and Heritage Resources session at McBride Hall, where Dave Donnell addressed issues with tourists and hunters. Donnell had issues with a small number of visitors to the grasslands who do not respect the land and the increased use of all-terrain vehicles which can damage the prairie landscape. Overall, most visitors are respectful during their visits to Pickett Wire and Vogel Canyons. Allotment owners expressed frustration with not being able to manage roads on their allotments. Over time two-track roads across allotments become rutted and consequently widen these tracks. Ranchers would like the opportunity to grade these tracks to avoid these rutted conditions.
The information compiled on large note sheets from this workshop will inform the development of desired conditions and other plan components. There will be opportunities over the next four months to see segments of what the Forest Service is working on. In late summer or early autumn, official notification of intent to develop an environmental impact statement and the initiation of plan development will be published in the Federal Register. Two documents will be part of this notification, the Need to Change and the Preliminary Plan, which will include the input provided by the workshops. The plan vision will lead to plan strategy, focusing on objectives, suitability, identifying priority watersheds, proposed and possible actions. Plan strategy leads to plan tactics of standards and guidelines. Which finally leads to plan alternatives and a monitoring program, which includes alternative management approaches and monitoring program indicators. Ryan Nehl hoped a Cimarron and Comanche revised management plan would be finalized sometime in 2027.
Sources
Forest Service Workshop Handout
Forest Service Workshop Slides
Workshop Session Note Sheets
Workshop Session discussions
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