Moat Mountain United States Department of Agriculture Trail System Project Forest Service Environmental Assessment Eastern Region Saco Ranger District September 2010 For Information Contact: Jana Johnson Saco Ranger District White Mountain National Forest 33 Kancamagus Highway Conway NH 03818 Telephone: 603 447-5448 Ext 106 FAX: 603 447-8405 White Mountain National Forest Figure 1, Cover: Mountain biker on a Moat Mountain trail. WMNF photo by Terry Miller. This document is available in large print. Contact the White Mountain National Forest Supervisor’s Office Phone: 603 528-8721 TTY: 603 528-8722 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) 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Printed on Recycled Paper Moat Mountain Trail System Project — Environmental Assessment Contents Chapter 1 — Purpose and Need . .5 1.1 Introduction . .5 1.2 Background . 5 1.3 Purpose and Need for Action . .6 1.4 Public Involvement . .8 1.5 Issues Used to Develop Alternatives . .9 Chapter 2 — Alternatives . .11 2.1 Introduction . 11 2.2 Alternative 1: No Action . 11 2.3 Alternative 2: Proposed Action . 11 2.4 Alternative 3: Proposed Action with Winter Use Limitations . .12 2.5 Alternative 4: Proposed Action with Additional Trails . 12 2.6 Project Design Features and Forest Plan Implementation . 15 2.7 Comparison of Alternatives . .17 2.8 Alternatives Considered But Not Fully Evaluated . 19 Chapter 3 — Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences . .21 3.1 Recreation . 22 3.2 Wildlife . 30 3.3 Invasive Plants . 39 3.4 Soils and Watershed . 45 3.5 Water Resources . .50 Chapter 4. Preparation and Consultation — Team Members and Contacts .54 Bibliography . 55 Glossary . 59 Appendix A — Response to Comments . .60 Comment & Forest Service Response . 61 3 White Mountain National Forest — Saco Ranger District Map 1. Moat Mountain Trail System Project Vicinity. Map 1. Moat Mountain Trail System Project Vicinity Cathedral Ledge Rd Moat Mountain Project Area Rive r Road W e s t S id e R FR 379 o a d R o u t FR 379A e 1 Ì 6 S FR 379 a c o Æü R i v e r FR 380 High Legend Street National Forest System Trails Non-System Trails Forest Service Roads Moat Mountain Project Area . White Mountain National Forest Echo Lake State Park Swift River Echo Lake Ì Moat Mountain Mineral Site Æü Parking Miles 0 0.25 0.5 1 1.5 2 4 Moat Mountain Trail System Project — Environmental Assessment Chapter 1 — Purpose and Need 1.1 Introduction The Saco Ranger District of the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) is pro- posing to formalize a network of non-system trails in the Moat Mountain area in the Towns of Albany, Bartlett, Conway, and Hale’s Location, New Hampshire. This document is the final environmental assessment for this project. This Environmental Assessment (EA) was prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the Appeals Reform Act of 1993 (ARA) and other relevant laws and regulations. The analysis for this project is “tiered” to the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision for the 2005 WMNF Land and Resource Management Plan. The project would add 11.6 miles of non-system trails to the National Forest System (NFS); 11.3 of which would be multiple-use trails with mountain biking as the Designed Use. The remaining 0.3 miles would have hiking as the Designed Use with mountain biking not allowed. The decision to incorporate these trails into the National Forest System would require some maintenance to bring them to standard per Forest Service Handbook (FSH 2309.18) direction. Additionally, there are 0.4 miles of trail that cross onto private land that would be part of this system, per landowner approval. The enclosed maps display the proposed project area and trail layout. Changes to Proposal Since Scoping The Proposed Action differs from the Scoping Report issued September 2, 2009, by the addition of an expanded parking area at the Moat Mineral Site Trailhead. This addition was made to all three action alternatives in response to specific concerns expressed regarding parking and access to the proposed trail network. 1.2 Background The Moat Mountain Project Area is located on the eastern slope of the Moat Mountain Range in eastern-central New Hampshire within the White Mountain National Forest. More specifically, the area is bounded by the Moat Mountain Trail to the north, West Side Road to the east, Passaconaway Road to the south, and the mid-slope of the Moat Mountain Range to the west, as shown in Map 1. It also abuts local town lands, a New Hampshire State Park, and private lands. Located in close proximity to populated areas in the Conway, NH, vicinity, this highly accessible area has received increasing amounts of biking use on Forest roads, skid trails, old farm trails, and abandoned railroad grades, as well as considerable cross-country use. The concentrated use in this area, combined with the apparent development of an increasingly well-established system of cross-country trails, caused the District and Forest to focus attention on the area. The use of mountain bikes on the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) has increased steadily since their advent in the mid-1980s. The 1986 Forest Plan acknowledged mountain bikes as a recreation use on National Forest land, and allowed for their use on Forest land and trails “unless posted closed to non- motor vehicle use” (USDA – Forest Service, 1986, LRMP p III-10). The growth of 5 White Mountain National Forest — Saco Ranger District mountain biking during the period of the first Forest Plan (1986 to 2005) caused them to receive greater attention as an issue during the latest Forest Plan revi- sion process, which began in the late 1990s. The Saco Ranger District began the process of proactively addressing the situation with the publication of a 2004 study titled “A Case for Action — Recommended Strategies for Mountain Bike Trail Management in the Moat Mountain Area.” This report explained the circumstances surrounding this situ- ation, suggesting steps to be taken to gain a better understanding of the network of trails and travelways, and work toward management solutions in the Moat Mountain Project Area, with a focus on mountain biking as representation of an underserved recreation user group. The document was utilized during Forest Plan revision to help define and clarify mountain biking concerns. The revised White Mountain National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (USDA — Forest Service, 2005a, from here forward referred to as the Forest Plan) and Record of Decision (ROD, USDA Forest Service, 2005c) issued in 2005 eliminated the cross-country use of mountain bikes, limiting their use to “designated Forest Trails” and “Travel Corridors.” These Travel Corridors were defined to include “discernible routes not likely to recover naturally within one year,” such as skid routes and temporary or abandoned roads. (Forest Plan Glossary, p 32) The 2005 Forest Plan called for, on an as-needed basis, the systematic review with public involvement of travel corridor areas, “with the goal of establishing a designated Forest trail system.” (Forest Plan p 2-22) The Plan further suggested that “incidental trails should be evaluated for eventual removal or inclusion in the Forest trail system.” (Forest Plan, p 2-20). 1.3 Purpose and Need for Action As discussed in the Background section above, existence and use by mountain bikes and other users of roads, trails, and travelways, as well as some user- created trails, in the Moat Mountain Project Area has generated a need for management action. Due to the incidental nature of the trail system develop- ment in the 1980s and ’90s, it evolved without planning, analysis of effects, or coordination with other resource specialists, which may have resulted in unintended, undesired, or unacceptable effects on the physical resources and/ or the social experiences available in the area. This is one of the earliest areas of concentrated mountain bike use on the WMNF, with resource concerns attract- ing the Forest Service’s attention as an emerging management issue in the late 1990s. The Moat Mountain area presents both a need and opportunity: • The need is to address the existing and potential future environmental and social impacts from managed and unmanaged trail use. • The opportunity is to formalize a public area where the soils and topography appear to be well-suited for such use, and where management of such an area can occur with strong partner and volunteer support. The Moat Mountain Project Area hosts a wide range of public land uses. Activities include vegetation management, habitat management for fish and 6 Moat Mountain Trail System Project — Environmental Assessment wildlife, and recreation uses including mountain biking, hiking, cross-coun- try skiing, snowmobiling, rock climbing, hunting, horseback riding, wildlife viewing, and hobby mineral collecting at a popular mineral site. The area offers a broad range of recreation opportunities but actually has a somewhat limited recreation infrastructure in that relatively few official NFS trails traverse or enter the project area. Within the project area there are nine miles of NFS trail: over 2/3 with hiking as the Designed Use, less than 1/3 des- ignated as snowmobile trails, and 0.5 miles of trail with mountain biking as the Designed Use.