Invasive Species Management Environmental Assessment
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United States Department of Agriculture Invasive Species Management Environmental Assessment Forest Service MAY 2011 Shawnee National Forest Alexander, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Saline, Union and Williamson Counties, Illinois Responsible Official: Hurston A. Nicholas, Forest Supervisor Contact Person: Matthew Lechner, Natural Resources Program Manager Shawnee National Forest Supervisor’s Office 50 Highway 145 South, Harrisburg, IL 62946 (618) 253-7114, Fax (618) 253-1060 [email protected] This document and supporting documents can be found on our website: http://fs.usda.gov/goto/shawnee 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1 – Purpose of and Need for Proposed Action ........................................ 3 Background ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Purpose of and Need for Action ....................................................................................................... 6 Proposed Action ............................................................................................................................... 6 Decision Framework ........................................................................................................................ 7 Public Involvement ........................................................................................................................... 7 Issues .............................................................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 2 – Alternatives ....................................................................... 8 Common to All Alternatives: Prevention and Education .................................................................... 8 Alternative 1 – No Action .................................................................................................................. 8 Alternative 2 – Proposed Action ....................................................................................................... 9 Herbicide Treatments…………………………………………………………………………………..…..11 Alternative 3 – Four-Point Treatment Action without Synthetic Herbicides...................................... 12 Actions Common to the Action Alternatives .................................................................................... 15 Alternatives Eliminated from Detailed Study……………………………………………………………..18 Comparison of Alternatives ............................................................................................................ 18 Chapter 3 – Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences ....................... 19 Human Health and Safety .............................................................................................................. 22 Botanical Resources ...................................................................................................................... 27 Watershed Resources .................................................................................................................... 35 Wildlife Resources ......................................................................................................................... 40 Wilderness Resources ................................................................................................................... 45 Heritage Resources ....................................................................................................................... 46 Disclosures .................................................................................................................................... 48 Appendix – Response to Comments ......................................................................... 50 References .......................................................................................................... 86 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status (not all prohibited bases apply to all programs). Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720- 5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. 2 Chapter 1 – Purpose of and Need for Proposed Action The Forest Service has prepared this environmental assessment in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and other applicable federal and state laws and regulations. It discloses the direct, indirect and cumulative environmental effects expected to result from the proposed action and alternatives to the proposed action. The document is organized into three parts: Chapter One. Purpose of and Need for the Proposed Action: This section includes information on the purpose of and need for the project and our proposal for achieving that purpose and need. Chapter Two. Alternatives: This section provides a description of the proposed action and the alternatives that were developed based on issues raised during scoping. Chapter Three. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences: This section describes the effects of implementing the proposed action and the alternatives. Additional documentation, including working papers with detailed analyses of project-area resources, maps of the areas with invasive species proposed for treatment, modeling, data and scientific references, is filed in the project record, located at the Shawnee National Forest Supervisor’s Office, 50 Highway 145 South, Harrisburg, Illinois. Background Invasive species problem: The Shawnee National Forest (Forest) has numerous and abundant populations of invasive plant species that pose an increasingly serious threat to plant and animal community health and diversity. Our employment of integrated pest-management principles—Setting Action Thresholds, Identifying and Monitoring Pests, Prevention, and Control—for the prevention/ eradication of invasive species has lacked all the tools available for responsible control. Prevention measures have been inadequate to stop the spread of the most invasive species. We have tried mechanical and manual control methods with varying degrees of minimal success. As we see many areas of the Forest infested and overcome by invasives and recognize the potential loss of biodiversity caused by their establishment, we know the “action threshold” has been crossed. Invasive species can have serious adverse impacts in unique habitats such as barrens and seep- springs. These trees, shrubs and vines can thrive in areas where they would be kept out by fire. These species can take up space that could be used by other native species and even cause springs to go dry by de-watering the fragile ecosystems. Non-native invasive plant species, displaced from their original ranges, often lack natural controls like disease, predators, parasites, or climate. They tend to out-compete and eventually replace native species. Not only do non-native invasive species compete with natives for resources, they can cause the loss of habitat and food for wildlife, alter soil structure and chemistry, modify fire regimes, alter plant succession, hybridize with natives to compromise local genetic diversity, and replace and possibly lead to the local extirpation of native plant species, including threatened, endangered and sensitive species. Field surveys and inventories of invasive species have been conducted in designated natural areas on the Forest for over 20 years and locations of non-native invasive species on the Forest have been recorded for decades. In 2004, we entered into a cooperative agreement with Southern Illinois University to develop a systematic database of existing inventory records of invasive species sites on the Forest. Over 1600 sites of non-native invasive species infestation have been identified, involving over 65 different species. Database management being a continuous effort, inventory information as of January, 2010 has been used for this analysis. These data are the best available scientific information regarding the type and extent of invasive species on the Forest. 3 Although over 65 non-native invasive species are currently found on the Forest, a few are highly invasive and pose a measurably greater threat to natural resources. The project interdisciplinary team identified four species that pose an increasingly serious threat to rare species or communities on the Forest. These four species had been mapped and categorized as highly invasive during past field surveys: Amur honeysuckle, Chinese yam, garlic mustard and kudzu (Figure 1). This determination was based on published scientific information, consultation with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and other resource experts, and/or field observations of current conditions on the Forest. These four species have characteristics that permit them to rapidly invade and dominate new areas and out-compete other vegetation for light, moisture and nutrients. Garlic mustard Kudzu Chinese yam Amur honeysuckle Figure 1. Examples of invasive species infestations in southern Illinois.