ENVIRONMENTAL ASIESSMENT GUNNlSON TRAVELINTERIM RESTRICTIONS Portions of Gunnison. Hinsdale, Delta, Montrose, and Saguache Counties Colorado AUGUST, 2000 Responsible Officials: USDA FOREST SERVICE USDI BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT Robert L. Storch, Forest Supervisor Barry Tollefson and Allan Belt Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre & Gunnison RepresentingGunnison and Uncompahgre National Forests BLM Field Offices 2250 Highway 50 216 N. Colorado Avenue Delta, CO 81416 Gunnison, CO 81230 For more information please contact: Jim Dawson, Project Leader/District Ranger Gunnison Ranger District 216 N. Colorado Avenue Gunnison, CO 81230 970-641-0471 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I Purpose Need/Proposed CHAPTER II Alternatives, Including the Proposed Action CHAPTER Ill Monitoring.. CHAPTER IV List of Preparers/Publics Contacted Bibliography APPENDICES MAPS 1.) Road and Trail Inventory- Gunnison Analysis Area: East Half 2.) Road and Trail Inventory- Gunnison Analysis Area: West Half CHAPTER I I NTRODUCTION PROPOSED ACTION PURPOSE ANDNEED *DECISIONS TO BE MADE*sCOPINC/~SSUES I INTRODUCTION This Environmental Assessment (EA) documents the public involvement and environmental analysis for a proposal to restrict travel on the Gunnison National Forest, including the Gunnison and Paonia Ranger Districts, as well as portions of the Public Lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Uncompahgre and Gunnison Field Offices. This EA was prepared jointly by the Forest Service and BLM. Map 1 is a vicinity map and Map 2 portrays the area affected. Also, attached to this EA is a ‘/2 inch-to-the-mile scale map indicating the affected area and showing inventoried roads and trails (see Transportation section of Chapter 3 for discussion). In this EA. the Travel National Forest System lands (managed by the Forest Service) and public lands (managed by BLM) being considered wl!! he referred te Area as the Gunnison Travel Analysis Area, abbreviated GTAA. __ PURPOSE AND NEED FORTHE PROPOSAL /PROPOSED ACTION Much of the GTAA is open to motorized and mechanized vehicle travel off established roads and trails. Outside of Wilderness areas and other restricted areas, off-route wheeled-vehicle travel is currently allowed on over 1.5 million acres (72%) of the 2.2- million acre GTAA. I 1 Forest Service I BLM I Total I Acres in GTAA 1.524,489 651,646 2,176,135 Acres open to travel off 960,546 603,884 1,564.430 roads and trails Percent of lands open to 63% 93% 72% travel off roads and trails During scoping we called this our “green to yellow” proposal because open travel areas on the Gunnison National Forest (NF) and BLM-Gunnison Field Office lands are shown on the current Gunnison Basin Area Visitor Map in green and restricted areas are shown in yellow and pink. The map does not differentiate between open and restricted areas for lands managed by the BLM-Uncompahgre Field Office. A large transportation system, Gunnison Interim Travel Restrictions EA -I- The Proposed Action Where not already restricted, the Forest Service and BLM are proposing to eliminate cross-country, off-route travel by all wheeled modes of travel; that is, to limit all OHV (ATVs, motorcycles, and four-wheel-drives) and mountain bike use to existing, established routes on the Gunnison National Forest and specified BLM areas. Current use of existing established roads and trails would be allowed to continue. Map 2 shows the area where new travel restrictions would apply. A more detailed definition of “existing routes” is provided in the following pages. This proposal, if implemented, would be Interim Direction, until such time as route-by- route travel planning is undertaken. The proposal would NOT affect: 0 Congressionally designated areas, such as the West Elk, Raggeds, and Powderhorn Wildernesses and the Fossil Ridge Recreation Management Area. (These are already restricted-travel areas.), Private or State lands, 0 Areas where travel is currently restricted to specific designated roads and trails through previous travel- or resource-management decisions, 0 Existing roads or trails, or 0 Snowmobiles, snowcats, and other over-the-snow travel. NOTE TO READER: Acronyms and terms you may not be familiar with are defined in the Glossary (Appendix A). Gunnison Interim Travel Restrictions EA -3- 10 0 10 r I I DECISION5 TO BE MADE The primary decision that will be made is: Should travel by motorized and mechanized vehicles be restricted to currently existing routes, and prohibited off of these routes, in areas of the GTAA where this use is currently allowed? Secondary decisions needed in response to issues raised in public scoping and considered in the analysis are: Should the mode of travel allowed on existing routes be restricted to existing modes of travel for each respective route (i.e., ATV use not allowed on single- track routes, jeeps not allowed on current ATV routes, etc)? If proposed restrictions are imposed, should motorizedmechanized travel off route be allowed for the purpose of retrieving downed big game’? For what distance from existing routes should motorized access be allowed for the purpose of accessing dispersed camping sites? 0 Which specific m.onitoring rneiswes shsu!d be imp!zmmted? Consistency with Forest PIan/BLM RMP and Current Visitor Maps The Proposed Action and Action Alternatives are consistent with the overall management direction set forth in the GMUG Forest Plan. The Forest Plan is being implemented as required by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA, P.L. 93-378) and the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA, P.L. 94-588). The Forest Plan provides the framework for the actions proposed here. If the Proposed Action or an Action Alternative were selected, a Supervisor’s Order would be written to implement the travel regulation changes. The Proposed Action and Action Alternatives are also consistent with the Uncompahgre and Gunnison RMPs, which were amended to include the requirement that BLM management activities comply with the standards for land health. Not all the BLM lands in the GTAA have been assessed for landscape health under the BLM’s Standards and Guidelines procedures; these assessments would be scheduled over time. If the Proposed Action or an Action Alternatives were selected, the Uncompahgre and Gunnison RMPs would need to be amended. The Proposed Action and Action Alternatives are not consistent with the current Gunnison Basin Area Visitor Map. If the Proposed Action or an Action Alternative were selected, the map would need to be updated to reflect the new travel regulations. No revision would be necessary if the No Action Alternative is selected. Gunnison Interim Travel Restrictions EA - 13- I I Scoping (40 CFR 1501.7) is an important part of the environmental analysis process for determining the scope of issues to be addressed and for identifying the environmental issues related to a proposed action. Scoping letters detailing the proposed action were mailed to over 800 individuals and interest groups in February 2000. The list included grazing and special-use permittees, outfitter-guides, water users, and private landowners, as well as individuals who had expressed an interest in travel management. News releases were sent to newspapers in communities surrounding the GTAA. Legal notices of the proposed action were published in the Crested Butte Chronicle and Pilot, the Gunnison Country Times, and the Delta County Independent. From this initial scoping effort more than 120 comments were received. In addition, BLM published a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register on March 30, 2000 requesting comments on the proposal. Approximately 55 comment letters and e-mail messages were received. Issues Public comments received during scoping were used to help determine issues related to the proposal. Other information used to determine the issues included Interdisciplinary Team meeting discussions, management requirements, Forest Service monitoring information, and past agency and public comments related to travel management. Issues were broken down into four basic categories: A) Key issues leading to the development of the Proposed Action - These issues were identified after reviewing public and agency (i.e., Forest Service, BLM) comments, and monitoring information. B) Key issues used to develop alternatives to the Proposed Action - These issues were identified after reviewing comments received during scoping. C) Issues suggesting the focus of the analysis of effects of alternatives - These issues were identified from both public comments and the Interdisciplinary (ID) Team. These issues describe the environmental (and social and economic) factors affected by the proposed action and alternatives. D) Issues beyond the scope of this analysis or beyond agency control - These are issues that did not fall within the bounds of the analysis, that could not be addressed at this level of analysis, or over which the agencies have no control. Gunnison Interim Travel Restrictions EA - 14- A. KEY ISSUES LEADING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROPOSED ACTION: 1) Adverse resource impacts caused by unrestricted off-route vehicular use - Existing travel management direction allows off-route travel by both full- sized and off-highway vehicles, including mountain bikes, on much of the GTAA. The result has been an increase in off-route travel and the development of unplanned and unauthorized routes. Land managers and the public have expressed concern that unrestricted use and the proliferation of unauthorized routes impacts vegetation, soils, water