UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Land Management Burns District Office Andrews Resource Area Finding of No Significant Impact Riddle Ranch Potable Water Well Environmental Assessment DOI-BLM-ORWA-B000-2016-0002-EA INTRODUCTION Andrews Resource Area, Burns District, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) to analyze installation of a potable water well at the Riddle Brothers Ranch National Historic District (Riddle Brothers Ranch). The Comprehensive Recreation Plan (CRP) EA-Decision Record (DR) completed in 2015 included provisions for providing reliable, potable, pressurized water at the caretaker cabin on the Riddle Brothers Ranch. The purpose of this EA is to provide reliable potable water to the Riddle Brothers Ranch for fire prevention and suppression at the caretaker cabin complex, and to provide reliable potable water to the caretaker and the general public. The need to provide reliable, potable water at the Riddle Brothers Ranch complex is a result of the Steens Act which designated the Riddle Brothers Ranch National Historic District. Additionally, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandates potable water be available in work sites that employ individuals. Provision of reliable, potable water is also required to meet the goals and objectives in Appendix P of the Steens Mountain Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers (WSR) Cooperative Management and Protection Areas (CMPA) Resource Management Plan (RMP). Riddle Brothers Ranch does not meet the definition of public water systems that are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the State of Oregon. A public water system is defined as one that provides water to at least 25 people any 60 days of the year. However, BLM Manual 9184 requires that Bureau-operated drinking water systems be operated and monitored as if they are public water systems. In addition, OSHA regulations require that potable water is provided in all places of employment for drinking, washing of the person, cooking, washing of foods, washing of cooking or eating utensils, washing of food preparation or processing premises, and personal service rooms. Food preparation and personal service rooms are kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms. OSHA defines potable water as “water which meets the quality standards prescribed in the US Public Health Service Drinking Water Standards…or water which is approved for drinking purposes by the State or local authority having jurisdiction.” The US Public Health Service and the State have adopted EPA’s drinking water regulations. These regulations are applicable to all places of employment. Seasonal firefighters and campground hosts are considered employees and the places they work and are quartered are considered places of employment. A temporary, portable water tank has been used at Riddle Ranch to supply potable water to the caretaker. The portable tank is filled from the well located at the grey house and then hauled to the caretaker’s cabin by BLM personnel. Potential contamination of the portable tank and the logistics of transporting the water to the caretaker’s cabin are concerns that are addressed in the proposed alternative. The temporary portable water tank does not provide public potable water access. The CRP EA included provisions for providing potable water at the caretaker’s cabin on the Riddle Brothers Ranch. The CRP analyzed installation of a pipeline from an existing well a half mile from the ranch complex. An engineering analysis of site conditions after the CRP DR was signed made a determination that the pipeline route would be too difficult to implement because of the rocky conditions. Implementation of the plan to bring potable water to the caretaker’s cabin could require drilling a well. The proposed well would provide potable water for the caretaker through the recreation season, as well as for the recreating general public visiting the historic site. The well would also provide some protection to the site’s historic structures from wildfire by keeping the area green. The well would be near the caretaker’s cabin located at the end of Cold Spring Road at the Riddle Brothers Ranch house. The cabin is accessed from Steens Mountain Loop Road a quarter mile west of South Steens campground in the Steens Mountain Wilderness. Distance from Burns, Oregon to the caretaker cabin is 100 miles. SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED ACTION The proposed action is to drill a well near the caretaker’s cabin at the Riddle Brothers Ranch. The well would be drilled in the upland vegetation area on the west side of Cold Spring Road near the existing vault toilet. No petroleum-based drilling fluids would be used. The well casing would extend to the bottom of the well and terminate with a well screen. Drilling fluid would be captured in a pit dug near the drilling site to allow the sediment to settle. After the fluids have seeped into the surrounding soils, topsoil will be backfilled into the pit and it will be re-seeded with native grasses. A pitless adapter would connect the well to a pipeline to the caretaker’s cabin. Electrical panels and a pressure tank would be installed inside, or next to the cabin. Solar panels would be upgraded on the existing solar system to power the well pump. A single frost-free water tap would be installed on the outside of the building to provide water for visitors and the caretaker. Pipeline is estimated to be approximately 203 feet in length and trenched at a minimum of two feet below grade. FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT The Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) regulations provide that the significance of impacts must be determined in terms of both context and intensity (40 CFR §1508. 27). An analysis of the context and intensity of the selected alternative follows. 2 Context: In accordance with CEQ regulations found at 40 CFR §1508. 27(a), the significance of an action must be analyzed in several contexts such as society as a whole (human, national), the affected region, the affected interests, and the locality. Significance varies with the setting of the proposed action. For instance, in the case of a site‐specific action, significance would usually depend upon the effects in the locale rather than in the world as a whole. Both short and long term effects are relevant. The BLM has determined that the context of the selected alternative is the 1,120 acre Riddle Brothers Ranch National Historic District within the Burns District. Intensity: The following analyzes the intensity of the selected alternative utilizing the ten significance criteria described in CEQ regulations found at 40 CFR §1508. 27(b): The CEQ's ten considerations for evaluating intensity (severity of effect): 1. Impacts that may be both beneficial and adverse. The EA considered potential beneficial and adverse effects. Project design elements (PDE) and required design features (RDF) from the Oregon Greater Sage-Grouse (GRSG) Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment (ARMPA) were incorporated to reduce impacts. None of the effects are beyond the range of effects analyzed in the Steens CMPA/Andrews Management Unit (AMU) Proposed Resource Management Plan (PRMP)/Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) (2004) and the Oregon GRSG PRMP/FEIS (2015) to which the EA is tiered. WSRs: The well will be placed outside of the bed or banks of the river in an area dominated by upland vegetation. Sediment and drilling fluids will be captured to prevent co-mingling with waters from the WSR. Recreation: The well provides a beneficial use to the caretaker and visitors to the complex and for fire prevention activities. 2. Degree to which the proposed action affects public health and safety. The proposed well provides reliable, safe access to potable water at the caretaker’s cabin for both the caretaker and visitors. A pressurized water system also provides irrigation to keep the surrounding grassy area green and less prone to fire. A pressurized system also provides a level of fire suppression that has not been present at the caretaker’s cabin. 3. Unique characteristics of the geographic area such as proximity to historic or cultural resources, park lands, prime farmlands, wetlands, WSRs, or ecologically critical areas. The well location is within the Riddle Brothers Ranch National Historic District. Another unique characteristic within proximity to the Riddle Brothers Ranch is the Little Blitzen WSR that flows through the complex. The Little Blitzen WSR is also part of the Redband Trout Reserve. 3 4. The degree to which effects on the quality of the human environment are likely to be highly controversial. No unique or appreciable scientific controversy has been identified regarding the effects of the proposed action or alternatives (or no action alternative). 5. Degree to which possible effects on the human environment are highly uncertain or involve unique or unknown risks. The analysis has not shown there would be any unique or unknown risks to the human environment nor were any identified in the CMPA/AMU PRMP/FEIS (2004) or the GRSG PRMP/FEIS (2015) to which this proposal is tiered. 6. Degree to which the action may establish a precedent for future actions with significant impacts or represents a decision in principle about a future consideration. This project neither establishes a precedent nor represents a decision in principle about future actions. Example: The Steens Act provided a unique opportunity to conserve, protect, and manage the long term ecological integrity of the CMPA. In addition, range improvements, implementation of allotment management plans, and issuance of 10-year grazing permits are ongoing and expected actions as outlined in the CMPA RMP/ROD and as analyzed in other EAs. No long term commitment of resources causing significant impacts was noted in the EA or RMP. 7. Whether the action is related to other actions with individually insignificant but cumulatively significant impacts.