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Grasslands Plan Revision

The Cibola National Forest of the USDA-Forest Service manages the Kiowa, Rita Blanca, Black Kettle and McClellan Creek National Grasslands, located in portions of northeast New Mexico, the Texas panhandle, and western Oklahoma (see Vicinity Map). The Kiowa-Rita Blanca Ranger District office is in Clayton, New Mexico and the Black Kettle Ranger District office (which includes McClellan Creek) is in Cheyenne, Oklahoma.

The National Grasslands were transferred to the Forest Service in 1960 to continue management under the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act (Title III 1937) aimed at ecological recovery following the devastating “dust bowl” era in the Great Plains. They are to be administered under regulations at 36 CFR 213 to “promote sound and progressive principles of land conservation and multiple use . . . and sustained-yield management of the forage, fish and wildlife, timber, water, and recreation resources. . . . and to maintain and improve soil and vegetative cover…”.

The current Cibola National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (1985) contains limited management direction specific to the Grasslands. We would like the revised plan to address the unique roles and contributions of our Grasslands, and define the desired conditions and management objectives specific to the Grasslands.