GM-6. Build livestock control fences and alternative water sources where needed to meet natural resource objectives. Fence construction and maintenance will follow guidance provided in BLM’s Handbook on Fencing No. 1741-1.
GM-7. Retiring livestock grazing from an allotment will be considered when lands are devoted to a public purpose that precludes continued grazing. Allotment boundaries may be adjusted to allow for such use.
GM-8. Inventory and/or monitoring studies are used to determine if adjustments to permitted use levels, terms and conditions, and management practices are necessary in order to meet and/or make significant progress towards meeting the Arizona Standards for Rangeland Health and other management objectives.
GM-9. Implement grazing management changes as needed to produce riparian areas that are in or making progress toward proper functioning condition.
GM-10. Rest-rotation, deferred-rotation, seasonal or short-duration use, other management systems, or no grazing may be implemented where needs are identified through monitoring. Monitoring will be used to assess the effectiveness of changes brought about by the new management practices.
GM-11. Range improvements needed for proper management of the grazing program will be determined and completed, including repair and/or installation of fences, cattle guards, water developments, and vehicle routes needed to access improvement areas.
GM-12. Vehicular access to repair range improvements by the grazing permittee or lessee is considered administrative access. Use of vehicle routes closed to public use, but limited to administrative uses, will be allowed to maintain or repair range improvements. Off-route vehicle use will require prior authorization unless the needed access is to resolve an immediate risk to human health, safety, or property.
GM-13. One-time travel off designated routes to access or retrieve sick or injured livestock would be authorized as an administrative use for transporting the animal to obtain medical help.
GM-14. Management practices to achieve DPCs will consider protecting and conserving known cultural resources, including historical sites, prehistoric sites, and plants of significance to Native American people.
GM-15. Apply management actions outlined in the Arizona Standards for Rangeland Health and Guidelines for Grazing Administration (Land Health Standards) to recognize and correct potential erosion problems that could degrade other resources, with prioritized emphasis on sites that might directly affect species that have been listed as threatened, endangered, or candidate by the USFWS.
GM-16. Implement ephemeral range designation, where suitable, for managing vegetation and ecological processes as determined through the Arizona Land Health Standards (Land Health Standards) allotment evaluation process.
BLM may designate those areas for ephemeral grazing by applying criteria established in the Special Ephemeral Rule. In applying the rule, all the following criteria must be met at the same time:
The area is within the hot desert biome.
Annual precipitation is less than 8 inches.
The land produces less than 25 pounds/acres of desirable perennial forage.
The land contains less than five percent composition of desirable perennial forage plants.
The area is below 3,500 feet in elevation.
Total forage production is highly unpredictable, and forage is usually available only for a short time.
The growth depends upon abundant moisture and other favorable climatic conditions.
The area lacks potential to improve the current ecological conditions and produce a dependable supply of forage by applying intensive rangeland management.