Chautauqua Lake Herbicide Treatment Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
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CHAUTAUQUA LAKE HERBICIDE TREATMENT DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT LEAD AGENCY: ELLERY TOWN BOARD PREPARED BY: RUPP BAASE PFALZGRAF CUNNINGHAM, LLC SPONSORED BY: CHAUTAUQUA LAKE PARTNERSHIP FEBRUARY 2018 DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT (DSEIS) CHAUTAUQUA LAKE HERBICIDE TREATMENT LOCATION: Chautauqua Lake Chautauqua County, New York DATE February 5, 2018 LEAD AGENCY: Ellery Town Board P.O. Box 429 Bemus Point, New York 14712 Contact: Rebecca Haines, Town Clerk Telephone: 716-386-3465 STATEMENT PREPARED BY: Rupp Baase Pfalzgraf Cunningham, LLC 1600 Liberty Building Buffalo, NY 14202 Chautauqua Lake Partnership P.O. Box 81 Lakewood, NY 14750 Date of Acceptance of the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement: February 8, 2018 Date of Public Hearing on Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement: March 1, 2018 Deadline for Submission of Comments: March 12, 2018 i OTHER DSEIS PREPARERS/ CONSULTANTS: SOLitude Lake Management P.O. Box 969 Virginia Beach, VA 23451 Wendel Centerpointe Corporate Park 375 Essjay Road, Suite 200 Williamsville, NY 14221 DK Water Resource Consulting LLC 45 Red Brook Circle Wolfeboro, NH 03894 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Appendices ....................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................................. ix List of Acronymns .......................................................................................................................... xi 1.0 Introduction and Project Background .......................................................................... 1 1.1 Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Project/EIS Background ................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Project Description and Mapping ............................................................................... 9 1.4 Project Purpose, Need, and Benefit .......................................................................... 10 2.0 Environmental Review of Project Pursuant to SEQR .................................................. 12 2.1 Legislative Intent of SEQR ............................................................................................ 12 2.2 Identification of Involved and Interested Agencies ............................................... 12 2.3 Summary of Public and Agency Involvement ......................................................... 14 2.4 Steps in the Environmental Review Process ............................................................. 15 2.5 Reasons Supporting and Objectives of the Preparation of a DSEIS ..................... 18 3.0 Environmental Setting .................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Hydrology and Water Resources ............................................................................... 21 3.1.1 Groundwater ......................................................................................................... 21 3.1.2 Surface Water ....................................................................................................... 23 3.1.3 Water Quality ........................................................................................................ 24 3.2 Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecology ................................................................................. 26 3.2.1 Aquatic Vegetation ............................................................................................. 27 3.2.2 Wildlife / Rare Threatened and Endangered Species .................................... 35 3.2.3 Wetlands ................................................................................................................ 46 3.3 Agricultural Resources ................................................................................................. 47 3.3.1 Farmland ................................................................................................................ 49 3.3.2 Agricultural Practices and Irrigation from the Lake ......................................... 49 3.3.3 Present Use of Herbicides in the Watershed ..................................................... 50 iii 3.4 Land Use and Zoning ................................................................................................... 51 3.4.1 Regional and Town Land Use Patterns .............................................................. 51 3.4.2 Existing Land Use ................................................................................................... 52 3.4.3 Zoning ..................................................................................................................... 53 3.5 Open Space and Recreation .................................................................................... 54 3.5.1 Parks and Recreation ........................................................................................... 55 3.5.2 Other Open Space Resources and Public USes .............................................. 57 3.6 Historic and Archaeological Resources ................................................................... 58 3.6.1 Historic Resources ................................................................................................. 60 3.6.2 Archaeological Resources .................................................................................. 60 3.7 Water Supply and Infrastructure ................................................................................ 61 3.7.1 Public Water Supply ............................................................................................. 61 3.7.2 Wastewater Disposal ............................................................................................ 63 3.8 Community Plans ......................................................................................................... 65 3.8.1 Municipal Plans ..................................................................................................... 65 3.8.2 County and Regional Plans ................................................................................ 65 4.0 Potential Environmental Impacts ................................................................................. 67 4.1 Descriptions of Products.............................................................................................. 67 4.1.1 Aquathol® K .......................................................................................................... 67 4.1.2 Renovate 3 ............................................................................................................ 69 4.1.3 Navigate (2,4-d) ................................................................................................... 71 4.2 Hydrology and Water Resources ............................................................................... 73 4.2.1 Surface Water Resources .................................................................................... 73 4.2.2 Herbicide Dilution / Drift ....................................................................................... 74 4.2.3 Groundwater ......................................................................................................... 77 4.3 Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology ................................................................................. 78 4.3.1 Vegetation (Aquatic) .......................................................................................... 78 4.3.2 Wildlife .................................................................................................................... 79 4.3.3 Wetlands ................................................................................................................ 97 iv 4.4 Agricultural Resources ................................................................................................. 98 4.5 Open Space and Recreation Facilities .................................................................... 98 4.6 Historic and Cultural Resources ............................................................................... 100 4.7 Water Supply and Infrastructure. ............................................................................. 101 4.7.1 Public Water Supply ........................................................................................... 101 4.7.2 Private Water Users ............................................................................................. 101 4.8 Unavoidable Adverse Environmental Impacts ...................................................... 102 4.8.1 Impacts to Water Column ................................................................................. 102 4.8.2 Impacts to Plant Biomass ................................................................................... 102 4.8.3 Impacts to Fish and Fish Spawning .................................................................. 103 4.8.4 Impacts to Invertebrates ................................................................................... 103 4.8.5 Impacts to Human Use of Lake ........................................................................ 103 4.9 Cumulative Impacts