Environmental Assessment for the Castle Dome Bypass Road Project Draft Environmental Assessment Date: May 8, 2019 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Kofa National Wildlife Refuge 9300 E. 28th Street Yuma, AZ 85365 928-783-7861 Table of Contents Proposed Action 3 Background 3 Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action 5 Alternatives Considered 5 Alternative A – No Action Alternative 5 Alternative B – Proposed Action Alternative (Blue Bypass Route) 5 Alternative C – Red Bypass Route 6 Alternative D – Green Bypass Route 6 Alternative(s) Considered, But Dismissed From Further Consideration 7 Affected Environment 8 Environmental Consequences of the Action 9 Cumulative Impact Analysis 9 Mitigation Measures and Conditions 23 Monitoring 24 Summary of Analysis 24 Alternative A – No Action Alternative 24 Alternative B – Proposed Action 24 Alternative C 24 Alternative D 25 List of Sources, Agencies and Persons Consulted 25 References 25 List of Preparers 26 State Coordination 26 Tribal Consultation 26 Public Outreach 26 Figure 1. Kofa National Wildlife Refuge map which identifies the refuge boundary, 27 current roads, wilderness areas, and hunt units 27 Figure 2. Castle Dome Mountain area access map annotated with current and past access 28 to the Castle Dome Mountain area via motorized vehicle 28 Figure 3. Map of alternatives for the Castle Dome Bypass Road Project EA 29 APPENDIX 1 30 2 Environmental Assessment for Castle Dome Bypass Road Project This Environmental Assessment (EA) is being prepared to evaluate the effects associated with this proposed action and complies with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in accordance with Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR 1500-1509) and Department of the Interior (43 CFR 46; 516 DM 8) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) (550 FW 3) regulations and policies. NEPA requires examination of the effects of proposed actions on the natural and human environment. Proposed Action The Service is proposing to construct a bypass road to reroute the existing Castle Dome Road around three private inholdings on Kofa National Wildlife Refuge (Kofa NWR or refuge). Castle Dome Road currently crosses three private inholdings. Due to concerns with vehicular traffic and dust, the landowner has closed the road to through public access. The proposed action would restore safe and efficient visitor access to areas in the refuge, facilitate refuge management activities, and conciliate concerns by the adjacent private landowner. The Proposed Action would occur in the southwest portion of Kofa NWR (T4S, R19W, sect. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 33, 34, 35, 36, and T5S, R19W Sect 3 and 4), Yuma County, Arizona. A Proposed Action is often iterative and may evolve during the NEPA process as the agency refines its proposal and gathers feedback from the public, tribes, and other agencies. Therefore, the final Proposed Action may be different from the original. The Proposed Action will be finalized at the conclusion of the public comment period for the EA. Background National wildlife refuges are guided by the mission and goals of the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS), the purposes of an individual refuge, Service policy, and laws and international treaties. Relevant guidance includes the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966, as amended by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, Refuge Recreation Act of 1962, and selected portions of the Code of Federal Regulations and Fish and Wildlife Service Manual. Kofa NWR, which encompasses 666,641 acres, was “reserved and set apart for the conservation and development of natural wildlife resources” by Executive Order 8039 on January 25, 1939. Initially, the Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) jointly managed the area as the Kofa Game Range with the recovery of declining desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis mexicana) populations as a management focus. On February 27, 1976, an amendment to the National Wildlife Refuge Administration Act (P.L. 94-223) awarded sole jurisdiction to the Service and changed the name to Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. The mission of the NWRS, as outlined by the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act (NWRSAA), as amended by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.), is: 3 “to administer a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management and, where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.” In 1990, Congress designated 547,719 acres of Kofa NWR, over 80 percent of the refuge, as wilderness through the Arizona Desert Wilderness Act. The Wilderness Act of 1964, as amended, established the National Wilderness Preservation System and mandates that wilderness areas be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such a manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness. For refuges that encompass wilderness, the purposes of the Wilderness Act are additional purposes for the wilderness portion of that refuge (603 FW 2 2.6). Over 75,000 people visit Kofa NWR each year to enjoy recreational activities, including hunting, wildlife observation, photography, hiking, and camping. The remote and rugged character of the refuge, particularly the designated wilderness areas, provides challenging and satisfying outdoor experiences in the vast expanse of the picturesque Sonoran Desert. Visitors can access the interior of the refuge on approximately 360 miles of road. The speed limit on all roads is 25 miles per hour. All are primitive roads and approximately 90 percent are only accessible with 4- wheel drive, high clearance vehicles. Only 3.8 miles are maintained to be passable in a standard passenger vehicle. An additional approximately 20–30 miles may be passable in a high- clearance 2-wheel drive vehicle. Of the refuge’s six main entrances with visitor information kiosks, the entrance at Castle Dome Road, in the southwest corner, is the closest to Yuma (Fig. 1). For many decades, visitors traveled this primitive road in 2-wheel drive, high ground clearance vehicles from the entrance for 14 miles to reach the Castle Dome Mountain area. The Castle Dome Mountain area is the starting point for a 5-mile hiking route to Castle Dome Peak. The area is also popular for desert bighorn sheep hunting. Visitors with 4-wheel drive vehicles could continue north over McPherson Pass to connect with other roads and exit the refuge at a different point. In September 2016, due to vehicular and dust concerns from a private landowner, through access on the Castle Dome Road to other areas of the refuge was restricted about 8 miles from Highway 95 on a portion of the road that crosses three private inholdings (Fig. 2). Two of these inholdings, Flora Temple and Castle Dome inholdings, are adjacent to each other and will be collectively referred to as Flora Temple inholding throughout the document. Prior to this closure, the Castle Dome Road was used for public access for over 50 years. After the road was closed, visitors and staff accessing the Castle Dome Mountain area and other refuge lands had to travel from the north over McPherson Pass, which requires a 4-wheel drive vehicle. In addition to the need for a 4-wheel drive vehicle (as opposed to a high-clearance 2-wheel drive), the round trip drive time from Yuma to the Castle Dome Mountain area increased from just over two hours to over five hours. Access through the gates has been intermittently allowed by the landowner since the initial closure. For the winter of 2018 through April 2019, access was granted through the peak of the visitor season. After this date access across the private inholdings is restricted. 4 Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action The purpose of the Proposed Action is to continue to provide public access to the Castle Dome Mountain area for visitors in high clearance 2-wheel drive vehicles. Access was restricted to these public lands when the southern access road was closed at the private inholdings. The proposed Castle Dome Road reroute is needed to restore safe and efficient visitor and staff access to the Castle Dome Mountain area from the southernmost refuge entrance and allow through traffic to other areas of the refuge. The Proposed Action would restore access while fostering a cooperative relationship with the adjacent landowner. The Proposed Action meets the following priorities and mandates outlined by the NWRSAA (16 U.S.C. 668dd(a)(4)): ● Ensure that opportunities are provided within the NWRS for compatible wildlife- dependent recreational uses. ● Ensure effective coordination, interaction, and cooperation with owners of land adjoining refuges and the fish and wildlife agency of the States in which the units of the NWRS are located. The Proposed Action would additionally contribute towards the purpose of “increase outdoor recreation opportunities for all Americans, including opportunities to hunt and fish” emphasized in the Secretary of Interior’s Order No. 3356, issued on September 15, 2017. Alternatives Considered In this EA, we propose to construct a bypass road to reroute Castle Dome Road around three private inholdings. We evaluated multiple routes and a No Action alternative (Fig. 3). Comparison of action alternatives are described in Table 1. Alternative A – No Action Alternative Under the No Action Alternative, no bypass road would be constructed. Public access to the Castle Dome Mountain area would be accessible only from McPherson Pass, which is a longer route than the former Castle Dome Road access, and would be passable only to high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles. Alternative B – Proposed Action Alternative (Blue Bypass Route) The Proposed Action is an approximately 4.5 mile bypass road that would reroute Castle Dome Road around the west of the three private inholdings (Fig.