MOUNTAINS TO MESAS Conservation Management Alternative For Protecting Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Health on the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forest (GMUG) Proposed for the GMUG Forest Plan Revision June 2005 Developed by citizens & scientists in Western Colorado in collaboration with: High Country Citizens’ Alliance Sheep Mountain Alliance Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project Western Colorado Congress Western Slope Environmental Resource Council

---

---

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest (GMUG) hosts some of the most spectacular natural features in the Rockies, such as Grand Mesa, the largest flat-topped mountain in the world; Dry Mesa Dinosaur quarry, where the world’s largest dinosaur bone fossils were found; and Bridal Veil Falls, the tallest waterfall in Colorado. Spanning an 8,500-foot elevation range between the Continental Divide mountains in the east and Colorado Plateau mesas in the west, the GMUG also encompasses great ecological diversity and species richness. The GMUG includes the Uncompahgre Plateau and Grand Mesa, which flank the confluence of the Gunnison and Colorado Rivers. The three Forests include ten designated Wilderness areas (nineteen percent of the combined Forest)—large areas of land vital to landscape-scale wildlife connectivity in the southern Rocky Mountains. Recently, the GMUG National Forest Service has begun Forest Plan revision, a process that every fifteen years establishes management direction and limitations. Forest Plan revision will affect important aspects of these public lands: the future of roadless areas, recreation, species viability, forest health, logging, livestock grazing, and water quality, among others. Given the significance of this revised Forest Plan, Mountains to Mesas (M2m), a coalition of conservation organizations within the GMUG area consulted with citizens and regional scientists via interviews and surveys to formulate this conservation management alternative (CMA). M2m’s CMA is based on current conservation-biology approaches, with the goal of restoring and preserving the natural character of the GMUG Forest, as well as promoting sustainable resource use. This CMA provides for multiple uses on the Forest lands, including recreational activities, motor vehicle use, ecologically-sensitive grazing, silviculture, and other resource extraction, recognizing that these uses are subordinate to the primary objective of this alternative, which is sustainable ecological management. Conservation planning on the GMUG is critical to ecosystem health and function, both of which are intrinsically valuable, but are also essential for multiple human needs, from clean water to recreation. Of particular concern is the increasing fragmentation of the forests due to roadbuilding and timber cutting; degradation of ecosystems through the suppression of natural processes, such as wildfires; and loss of biodiversity, evidenced by the drastically-declined populations of Canada lynx, Gunnison sage grouse, Colorado River cutthroat trout, and boreal toad. These concerns are interrelated, as overexploitation, habitat destruction, and impacts of exotic species are the most significant causes of modern extinctions (Langner and Flather 1994). M2m presents a comprehensive plan that combines sustainable local resource use with the necessary tools to implement a management system that will prevent and reverse the above-mentioned negative impacts to the GMUG Forest. These management recommendations are based on the most current scientific research and species data. As ecosystem information and conservation methods and opportunities change, GMUG Forest management will need to be appropriately modified. M2m’s alternative follows conservation principles endorsed by environmental organizations and scientists of neighboring National Forests areas, including the San Juan, the White River, and the Rio Grande National Forests, with the intent to promote “a vast, connected landscape where native species thrive and natural ecological processes maintain a healthy balance,” an intact Southern Rocky Mountain ecoregion (Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project 2004). Adhering to these established principles of conservation biology, M2m’s plan recognizes the importance of large core wild areas, functional connectivity across the landscape, and the vital role of keystone species and processes, especially large carnivores (Soulé and Noss 1998, Soulé and Terborgh 1999). Hence, this alternative is a prescription specifically for the GMUG region within the larger ecological context. A. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE M2m CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVE The primary goal of this alternative is to protect and restore the native biological diversity of the GMUG. A secondary goal is to promote sustainable interactions between the human society and the natural environment of the GMUG. In circumstances in which there is insufficient information available to gauge the impacts of an action, deference must be given to protecting native biological diversity. The following fundamental objectives lend themselves toward these goals (Noss and Cooperrider 1994) and form the basis from which this alternative was developed: • Represent, in a system of protected areas, all native ecosystem types and successional stages across the natural range of variation. • Protect and restore viable populations of all native species in natural patterns of abundance and distribution. • Protect and restore ecological and evolutionary processes, such as disturbance regimes, hydrological processes, nutrient cycles, and biotic interactions. • Manage landscapes and communities to be responsive to short-term and long-term environmental change and to maintain the evolutionary potential of the biota. • Prevent further landscape fragmentation and restore connectivity between core reserves. • Control and eradicate exotic species. • Encourage human uses that are consistent with conservation of native biodiversity, and discourage those that are not.