U. S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management San Luis Valley Public Lands Center 1803 W. Hwy. 160 Monte Vista, CO 81144 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT RECORD NUMBER: CO-500-2005-016-EA PLANNING UNIT: San Luis Resource Area PROJECT NAME: San Luis Resource Area Travel Management Plan SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ACTION The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes travel management actions to manage access on public lands in the San Luis Resource Area (SLRA) that provide for appropriate levels of administrative and public access while sustaining the health and diversity of public land resources. These proposed actions are: 1) Modify “Area” designations; 2) Designate a route system through the specific designation of routes; 3) Address other goals and objectives that were identified through public scoping; and 4) Identify a travel management policy. The primary purpose of this Travel Management Plan (TMP) is to re-evaluate the transportation system and design a travel system that meets national and state BLM policies. The proposed action would improve soil, vegetation, hydrology, water quality, wildlife habitat conditions, and modify recreation setting and character throughout the project area by implementing travel management policies that will result in the reduction of route densities. Reclamation of closed routes that have a low potential to naturally revegetate will be prioritized based on their impacts to soils, hydrology, vegetation, water quality, and wildlife resources. Modification of “Area” Designations BLM proposes to modify public land designations in the SLRA from the Area #1 (Appendix 01A) designation of “open” and “limited” to a clearly defined “limited” category. Area #1 in the RMP was that area remaining outside of WSA and ACECs which were given the other area designated numbers. Motorized and mechanized off-route (cross-country) travel would be eliminated except in two small previously disturbed open areas. Those areas previously identified as closed areas would remain as closed areas. The SLRA consists of three categories of off-highway vehicle (OHV) “Area” designations that are used by BLM to manage vehicular use. “Off-Highway Vehicle” vs. “Off-Road Vehicle”: S-1 For many years, the term off-highway vehicle (OHV) has been used by the public, industry, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) interchangeably with the term “off-road vehicle” (ORV). However, the term ORV has a legally established definition in the Presidential Executive Orders and the BLM’s related Title 43 Code of Federal Regulations 8340.1 Throughout this document the term “OHV” will be used, partly because it is a more commonly used term, but primarily because the regulations address all motorized vehicles which use roads and trails on BLM administered public land, and are not limited just to “off-road” vehicles. “Open” areas are locations on public lands without limitations or restrictions to full use and travel by OHVs (including cross-country travel). For the public lands administered by the BLM in the SLRA, Area #1 is designated open to OHV unless otherwise designated in a decision document. “Closed” areas are locations on public lands where no use or travel by motorized vehicle is allowed. The San Luis Hills Wilderness Study Area (WSA) is the only BLM-managed closed area in the SLRA and is closed to mechanized travel due to its status as a WSA. Sand Castle WSA, an area formerly administered by BLM, is now administered by the National Park Service (NPS) as part of Great Sand Dunes National Park. The Park Service has this area closed to motorized travel. “Limited” areas are public lands with some form of limitation or restriction for the full use of and travel by OHVs and mechanized conveyance (e.g., seasonal limitations due to crucial big game wintering and birthing periods, closed to cross-country motorized travel, or spring closure for road stability). Three Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs): Blanca Wetlands Habitat Management Area, McIntire Springs property, and the Trickle Mountain OHV area are in the limited category in the SLRA. The SLRA RMP identified 10 distinct areas in the SLRA under the jurisdiction of BLM (see Appendix 1A for map). Table Summary-1 describes the size of each management area and the travel management designation Table Summary-1: SLRA RMP Areas SLRA RMP Area Area Name Acres Designation 1 43 CFR 8340.0-5 states: As used in this part: (a) Off-road vehicle means any motorized vehicle capable of, or designed for, travel on or immediately over land, water, or other natural terrain, excluding: (1) Any nonamphibious registered motorboat; (2) Any military, fire, emergency, or law enforcement vehicle while being used for emergency purposes; (3) Any vehicle whose use is expressly authorized by the authorized officer, or otherwise officially approved; (4) Vehicles in official use; and (5) Any combat or combat support vehicle when used in times of national defense emergencies. S-2 Table Summary-1: SLRA RMP Areas SLRA RMP Area Area Name Acres Designation #1 San Luis Valley General 389,279 Open with seasonal closure for critical winter wildlife habitat (except for those areas in an ACEC or WSA) #2 Trickle Mountain (containing Trickle Mountain ACEC) 44,521 Limited #32 Sand Castle WSA (Sand Castle ACEC and WSA) 3,595 Closed #4 Blanca (containing the Blanca Wetlands ACEC) 9,147 Limited #5 Elephant Rocks (containing Elephant Rocks ACEC) 1,852 Limited #6 La Jadero Canyon (containing La Jadero Canyon ACEC) 3,632 Limited #7 Los Mogotes (containing Los Mogotes ACEC) 33,456 Limited #8 San Luis Hills (containing San Luis Hills ACEC and WSA) 28,713 Limited in the ACEC; Closed in the WSA #9 Rio Grande River Corridor (containing Rio Grande River 2,640 Limited Corridor ACEC) #10 Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad Corridor (containing 3,824 Limited Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad Corridor ACEC) The proposed action would change the area designations for most of Area #1 from “open” to a category of "Limited to Designated Roads and Trails”. The exceptions to this change in Area #1 designation would be two small “open” areas, the Manassa Area of 179 acres and the Antonito Area of 81.9 acres (see Appendix 24). These unnamed areas would retain the “open” area designation. The proposed action would not change the designation of the remaining nine travel management Areas (TMAs). The San Luis Hills WSA was closed to motorized and mechanized use under the SLRA RMP and will remain closed under this TMP. The remaining eight areas in the San Luis Valley (listed in Table Summary-1) under the jurisdiction of BLM that were designated in the SLRA RMP as “limited” areas due to their ACEC designations will remain “limited”. Designation of Specific Routes and a Route Network For “Area #1”, the proposed action would further establish designated travel routes for administrative and public uses, and define the types of uses that are permitted on each route. The second proposed action under this TMP would designate a system of roads and trails as open (open/mitigate open), limited (limited/mitigate limited), and closed for the project area. These proposed actions would modify the acres listed in the RMP, thereby modifying the amount and percentages of area, miles, and routes to be managed. The proposed route network under this TMP would provide 1,037.9 miles of routes managed by BLM designated as open or limited (see Actions Common to All Action Alternatives). There would be 650.9 miles of routes open to the public for motorized uses. Ninety miles would be designated for non-motorized routes, and 2 Area #3 was the Sand Castle ACEC and a WSA. This area became part of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and is no longer under BLM administration. Therefore, this area will not be designated in this TMP and discussion of the area will be minimal. S-3 296.6 miles of routes would be limited to authorized motorized use. There would be 19.3 miles of routes in the limited category available for public non-motorized uses under the proposed action. The public would have available for recreational vehicle use during the winter months approximately 619.3 miles of existing motorized BLM routes and one open area for snowmobile use. The development of a designated travel management access system would modify the current use of “open” area designation allowing cross-country travel and user-created routes in Area #1 on 389,279 acres (75% of the resource area) to limited on designated routes. This would eliminate open cross-country travel and the potential for additional user-created routes which would occur under the “no action” alternative (Alternative A). The proposed route network would close approximately 31% of existing routes. Seasonal restrictions were implemented through planning actions in some ACECs including Trickle Mountain OHV, Blanca Wetland, McIntire Property, and Rio Grande Corridor. This TMP delineates and defines specific route designations (i.e., in addition to the change of “Area #1” designation from open to limited). These specific route designations are categorized into five categories: Open, Mitigate Open, Limit, Mitigate Limit, and Closed. The word “mitigate” is an indication during the route analysis that the ID Team identified by route that BLM had a responsibility and needed to follow up with redesign, modification, or monitoring of a route. Notes were taken to assist in prioritization of future work on some specific routes. “Open” routes are routes on public lands without limitations or restrictions to full use and travel by OHVs. “Mitigate Open” leaves the route open as defined above, but identifies that some form of management action above the custodial maintenance to improve the route should impacts be present and/or monitoring specific actions we planned would be taken by the BLM to maintain or improve the route should impacts be present or arise in the future (i.e., if identified through adaptive management monitoring).