Peloncillo Mountains restoration plan nears final approval
Peloncillo FireScape
U.S. Forest Service· Coronado National Forest, Douglas Ranger DistrictU.S. Forest Service project page ↗
Forest ServiceWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
The groups on this fight
4 groups work Arizona
By footprint, from the same match the STAND matchmaker runs; none is linked to this decision in our record yet. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Center for Biological Diversity
Works Arizona: tucson-based litigant that in 2003 pressured BLM to order Grupo Mexico/Asarco to remove an illegal pipeline, powerline, and road crossing the monument near the Silver Bell mine..
- Grand Canyon Trust
Works Arizona: intervened in federal court to defend the monument designation against the Arizona Legislature's lawsuit.
- Sierra Club
Works Arizona: the Grand Canyon Chapter has been co-plaintiff with Western Watersheds Project in the monument grazing litigation, including the 2021 case that produced the 2024 restricted-grazing plan..
- Western Watersheds Project
Works Arizona: sued BLM over monument grazing in 2008, 2013, and 2021, winning the August 2023 NEPA ruling that forced the December 2024 plan restricting grazing to short seasons in above-average precipitation years..
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
The Forest Service is close to approving large-scale vegetation and fire treatments across 85,129 acres in the Peloncillo Mountains.
What’s at risk
Only people and organizations who submitted written comments during the earlier public participation period are eligible to file an objection. At stake are 85,129 acres in the Peloncillo Mountains, where the project would authorize prescribed fire, hand and mechanical thinning, selective herbicide use, and watershed alterations including erosion control, planting, seeding, and reforestation.
If this goes through
If approved without successful objection, the Forest Service would proceed with all proposed treatments across the Peloncillo Mountains ecosystem on the Coronado National Forest.
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
In the agency’s own words
Ecosystem restoration treatments including prescribed fire, prescribed cutting (hand thinning, mechanical treatment), selective herbicide use, and watershed improvement (erosion control, planting, seeding, reforestation) on approximately 85,129 acres in the Peloncillo Mountains.
Did the agency answer?
3 issues are on this record. The agency has not published its decision document yet, so each one stays pending until the agency answers.
Issues on the record, awaiting the decision
- PendingThe herbicide risk table in Table 6 is based entirely on a 1992 risk assessment calculated for aerial application, yet the document explicitly states no aerial application is proposed.
The herbicide risk table in Table 6 is based entirely on a 1992 risk assessment calculated for aerial application, yet the document explicitly states no aerial application is proposed. The footnote to Table 6 acknowledges this mismatch, saying 'No aerial applications are proposed as a part of this project' and that ground-based spot treatments 'would therefore have lower estimated exposure rates,' but the document never actually calculates ground-based exposure rates for any listed species. For species like the Chiricahua leopard frog (MALAA determination), New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnake (MALAA), or swale paintbrush (endangered, listed January 2025), relying on aerial-scenario numbers to justify low-risk conclusions is an unreasoned leap. The agency should either produce site-specific ground-based exposure estimates for each listed species or explain in quantitative terms why the aerial-application numbers are conservative enough to be used as a substitute.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own analysis, quote verified against the document
- PendingThe project area's elevation is stated to range from about 4,570 feet to 6,647 feet, measurable with a GPS or altimeter.
The project area's elevation is stated to range from about 4,570 feet to 6,647 feet, measurable with a GPS or altimeter.
- PendingThe document describes New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnake habitat as steep rocky canyons with intermittent streams or talus slopes at specific elevations.
The document describes New Mexico ridge-nosed rattlesnake habitat as steep rocky canyons with intermittent streams or talus slopes at specific elevations.
The reporting behind this
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