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This report discloses effects to rangeland resources as a result of the Klamath National
Forest’s proposed action to reauthorize cattle grazing on the Ash Creek, Hornbrook and
East Beaver grazing allotments on the Oak Knoll Ranger District. The three allotment
project area covers 85,644 acres. Of these acres 48,423 are National Forest System (NFS)
lands and 36,241 are in private ownership. There are 3,855 acres on National Forest
System lands within the project area that have been determined to be capable and suitable
for grazing.
The proposed action was presented to the public for comments and as a result of the
scoping process one issue was identified as significant. The significant issue was cattle
drifting from the East Beaver allotment over the Siskiyou Crest onto the Rogue River
National Forest. There is no quantitative long-term data available on the environmental
impacts KNF cattle may be having on the resources on the RNF, though incidental drift
and utilization has been documented. A strategy (Siskiyou Crest Rangeland Management
Strategy) has been effectively used to deal with the incidental use by drift cattle for
several years. However, there is currently no monitoring included in that strategy to
assess impacts, therefore this Proposed Action recommends including additional
monitoring and mitigation to address cattle drift onto the RNF.
To determine the effects on rangeland resources from the reauthorization of grazing on
the Ash Creek, East Beaver and Hornbrook allotments the ecological condition and trend
data of vegetation in capable and suitable rangelands is examined to determine if the
alternatives will meet or move toward Desired Conditions. In addition the issue of cattle
drift was also addressed for each alternative. Three alternatives were analyzed for this
proposed action. Alternative 1 is the No Action/No Grazing, Alternative 2 is the
Proposed Action and Alternative 3 is the Current Management situation.

source:executive summary