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“Growler” Airfield Operations at the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Complex Document for Public Distribution

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“Growler” Airfield Operations at the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Complex Document for Public Distribution June 2018 Section 106 Determination of Effect for the EA‐18G “Growler” Airfield Operations at the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Complex Document for Public Distribution The Navy has released this document summarizing consultation efforts with respect to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) for the increase in EA‐18G “Growler” aircraft and airfield operations at NAS Whidbey Island. This document has been amended to include formatting corrections, removal of mapping of archaeological sites, which are not for public distribution (Appendices H and K) and references to independent non‐governmental entities. Public comments on the Section 106 consultation are accepted at any time. Written comments can be sent to the Navy to Kendall Campbell, Cultural Resource Program Manager at NAS Whidbey Island, via email at [email protected] or through the mail at 1115 W. Lexington Drive, Oak Harbor WA 98278. 1 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY: MAY NOT BE RELEASABLE UNDER FOIA June 2018 Executive Summary The United States (U.S.) Department of the Navy (Navy) is continuing consultation and conducting an identification effort and determination of effect under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) for the increase in EA-18G “Growler” aircraft and airfield operations at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island. The results of the Navy’s identification effort and determination of effects are reflected in the following document. In addition, this document summarizes consultation efforts for this undertaking under NHPA per 36 CFR 800 and presents information requested during previous consultations through correspondence and meetings conducted between October 2014 and October 2017. The Navy has determined that the proposed undertaking is a “Historic Properties Adversely Affected”. The increased frequentness of noise exposure results in adverse indirect effects to characteristics of the Central Whidbey Island Historic District that currently make it eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Although the effects are intermittent, the proposed undertaking would result in an increased occurrence of noise exposure affecting certain cultural landscape components in the historic district—specifically, the perceptual qualities of five locations that contribute to the significance of the landscapes. The Navy finds no other adverse effects to historic properties from the proposed undertaking. This documents describes how the Navy applied the criteria of adverse effect to historic properties within the area of potential effects (APE) and assessed whether the proposed undertaking may directly or indirectly alter the characteristics that qualify the property for inclusion in the NRHP in a manner that would diminish the integrity of the property. As defined in consultation, the APE comprises four components: • On-installation Direct Effect Areas: Areas on the installation where historic properties could be directly affected (i.e., by ground disturbance, demolition, or alteration). o On-installation Indirect Effect Areas: Areas within the installation bounded by the 65 decibel (dB) day-night average sound level (DNL) noise contours where historic properties could remain physically undisturbed but potentially subject to effects from the introduction of visual, atmospheric, or audible elements that occur when aircraft are seen or heard flying in the vicinity. • Off-installation Indirect Effect Areas: Areas off installation within operational areas bounded by the 65 dB DNL noise contours and potentially subject to effects from the introduction of visual, atmospheric, or audible elements to the setting that occur when aircraft are seen or heard flying in the vicinity. • Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve (ELNHR) To minimize the adverse indirect effects of the proposed undertaking, the Navy would continue to implement current policies that are in place to minimize auditory, visual, and atmospheric effects of flight operation on the surrounding community, including the following: • Implementing flight path noise abatement patterns that direct inter-facility flights away from land and directing pilots to keep aircraft above minimum flight altitude standards set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). 3 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY: MAY NOT BE RELEASABLE UNDER FOIA June 2018 • Publishing flight operations on a weekly basis to assist the public in making informed decisions about their activities. • Utilizing Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) during Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) training to ensure flight pattern integrity and proper sequencing of aircraft is maintained. • Restricting ground operations and aircraft maintenance. • Restricting high-power jet aircraft turns prior to noon on Sundays and daily between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. • Working with local municipalities to adopt appropriate land use zoning through the Navy’s Air Installations Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ) and Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative (REPI) programs. • Training pilots to familiarize them with rules and noise abatement procedures, and instill attitudes that support positive community relations. • Continually reviewing operational procedures to identify potential operational changes that reduce noise while supporting safe, effective, and economical mission execution. • Participating in bi-annual community leadership forums to discuss issues between the installation and the local community. • Monitoring airfield operations and striving to mitigate potential operational impacts during academic testing periods and important community events such as the Penn Cover Mussel Fest. • Continuing to work with the Whidbey Camano Land Trust to collaborate on the purchase of conservation easements that serve to preserve the historic and scenic integrity of the cultural landscapes by lessening changes that affect the integrity of the Central Whidbey Island Historic District. In addition to the above-mentioned measures to avoid and minimize adverse effects on historic properties in the Central Whidbey Island Historic District, the Navy offers the following mitigation measures as a starting point to consultation on resolution of adverse effects on historic properties under 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 800.6: • Installation of informational kiosks and/or panels at entry points to the ELNHR at locations where the undertaking has adverse indirect effects to perceptual qualities that contribute to the significance of the ELNHR’s contributing landscapes. • Increased support to the REPI and encroachment management programs at NAS Whidbey Island for continued partnerships in acquiring conservation easements. • The Navy proposes to enter into a cooperative agreement with the ELNHR to collaborate on a project to improve the efficacy and efficiency of online ELNHR historic property inventories. This agreement will ameliorate inconsistencies and update the ELNHR and Washington State historic property inventories and GIS databases for properties located within the ELNHR. 4 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY: MAY NOT BE RELEASABLE UNDER FOIA June 2018 1 Introduction The Navy proposes to continue and expand its existing Electronic Attack community at NAS Whidbey Island by operating additional Growler aircraft as appropriated by Congress. The Navy needs to effectively and efficiently increase electronic attack capabilities in order to counter increasingly sophisticated threats and provide more aircraft per squadron to give operational commanders more flexibility in addressing future threats and missions. The need for the proposed undertaking is to maintain and expand Growler operational readiness to support national defense requirements under Title 10, United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 5062. Due to the complexity of the proposed undertaking, the Navy has conducted robust consultations with the Washington (WA) State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation (ACHP), American Indian Tribes, representatives of local governments, and other interested parties. The Navy initiated consultation on October 14, 2014, and has continued consultation through correspondence and in-person meetings from June 2016 through October 2017. Key consultation steps have included correspondence and meetings to establish the proposed undertaking, to define the APE, to discuss the identification effort and methods, and to present an inventory of historic properties within the APE. In the fall of 2017, the Navy paused the identification and consultation effort in anticipation of changes to the scale and scope of the proposed undertaking that would potentially alter the APE and require revisions to the inventory. Since the October 2017 consultation, the Navy has modified the proposed undertaking to account for changes to projected operational needs including a decrease in the projected number of pilots required in each squadron, a reduction in the total number of operations proposed, and the inclusion of additional operational scenarios under each alternative. These changes have resulted in revisions to the APE and revisions to the inventory. 5 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY: MAY NOT BE RELEASABLE UNDER FOIA June 2018 2 Proposed Undertaking The U.S. Navy proposes to expand existing EA-18G “Growler” (Growler) operations at NAS Whidbey Island’s Ault Field and Outlying Landing Field (OLF) Coupeville (Figure 1). The purpose of the proposed undertaking is to continue and expand the Navy’s existing Electronic Attack
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