DRAFT GENERAL MANAGEMENT PLAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT Lassen Volcanic National Park August, 2000 This document presents a proposed plan and three alternatives for the management and use of Lassen Volcanic National Park over the next 15 years. Alternative A: No Action, assumes that physical facilities would remain largely unchanged and that staffing and operational funding would remain constant over the planning period. Alternative B: Resource Preservation & Basic Visitor Service, provides a program for preserving, and where necessary, restoring significant park resources. It includes significant staffing and funding increases for the park’s resource management functions, restores key elements of the park’s infrastructure, provides for restoration of several specific sites with natural system conflicts, establishes a standards-based management zoning system, and proposes designation of approximately 25,000 acres as part of the National Wilderness System. The plan also includes program increases and visitor facility improvements to provide for quality basic visitor service. Alternative C: Resource Protection and Enhanced Visitor Experience. This alternative is the proposed General Management Plan for Lassen Volcanic National Park. It includes all the features of Alternative B, and provides enhancement to visitor experience by making more facilities available during winter months, and increasing interpretive services, facilities, and information. Alternative D: Resource Protection and Expanded Visitor Opportunities, includes all of the features of Alternative C and in addition, provides for expansion of family and group campgrounds at several locations. It also expands winter access at the north entrance by plowing the park road an additional nine miles to the Devastated Area, and keeping one loop of the campground open for winter camping. Significant adverse environmental impacts would be expected to result from Alternative A as a number of environmental resources are undergoing deterioration under current conditions. All of the action alternatives include programs to arrest the deterioration of resources. The period of availability for this document will end 60 days after the Environmental Protection Agency has published a notice of its availability in the Federal Register. Any comments on the document should be addressed to the Superintendent, Lassen Volcanic National Park, P.O. Box 100, Mineral, California 96063-0100. i TABLE OF CONTENTS BACKGROUND................................................................................................................................................ 1 PURPOSE OF THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT PLAN .............................................................................................. 1 NEED FOR THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT PLAN ................................................................................................. 2 AN OVERVIEW OF LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK .................................................................................... 5 ALTERNATIVE PLANS ................................................................................................................................ 15 MANAGEMENT ZONES AND PRESCRIPTIONS .................................................................................................... 15 ALTERNATIVE A: NO ACTION ........................................................................................................................ 21 ALTERNATIVE B: RESOURCE PRESERVATION AND BASIC VISITOR SERVICE.................................................... 27 ALTERNATIVE C: RESOURCE PROTECTION AND ENHANCED VISITOR EXPERIENCE........................................... 38 ALTERNATIVE D: RESOURCE PROTECTION AND EXPANDED VISITOR OPPORTUNITIES...................................... 45 ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED BUT REJECTED .................................................................................................. 51 THE AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT.............................................................................................................. 57 VEGETATION AND WILDLIFE.......................................................................................................................... 57 WATER RESOURCES....................................................................................................................................... 58 GEOLOGIC AND SOIL RESOURCES................................................................................................................... 59 AIR QUALITY ................................................................................................................................................ 61 CULTURAL RESOURCES ................................................................................................................................. 61 VISITOR USE AND EXPERIENCE ...................................................................................................................... 63 CONCESSION FACILITIES ................................................................................................................................ 69 LOCAL ECONOMY.......................................................................................................................................... 69 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE PROPOSAL AND ALTERNATIVES.......................... 71 METHODOLOGY FOR ANALYZING CONSEQUENCES.......................................................................................... 71 FUTURE COMPLIANCE AT IMPLEMENTATION STAGE........................................................................................ 71 ALTERNATIVE A: NO ACTION ........................................................................................................................ 73 ALTERNATIVE B: RESOURCE PRESERVATION AND BASIC VISITOR SERVICE ..................................................... 79 ALTERNATIVE C: RESOURCE PROTECTION AND ENHANCED VISITOR SERVICE................................................ 84 ALTERNATIVE D: RESOURCE PROTECTION AND ENHANCED VISITOR EXPERIENCE........................................... 87 CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.................................................................................................. 89 SCOPING........................................................................................................................................................ 89 REVIEW OF DRAFT GMP/EIS......................................................................................................................... 89 PLANNING TEAM AND CONSULTANTS............................................................................................................. 90 APPENDIX: PROCLAMATION AND LEGISLATION............................................................................... 90 PROCLAMATION ............................................................................................................................................ 91 LEGISLATION................................................................................................................................................. 95 INDEX ........................................................................................................................................................... 101 iii MAPS MAP 1. REGIONAL MAP ....................................................................................................................................... 7 MAP 2. PHYSICAL FEATURES................................................................................................................................ 8 MAP 3. BUTTE LAKE UNIT ................................................................................................................................... 9 MAP 4. JUNIPER LAKE UNIT ................................................................................................................................10 MAP 5. MANZANITA LAKE UNIT .........................................................................................................................11 MAP 6. WARNER VALLEY UNIT...........................................................................................................................12 MAP 7. HEADQUARTERS UNIT.............................................................................................................................13 MAP 8: AREAS CONSIDERED FOR WILDERNESS EXPANSION..................................................................................28 MAP 9. SUMMER ZONING—ALTERNATIVES B, C, AND D .....................................................................................35 MAP 10. WINTER ZONING—ALTERNATIVE B.......................................................................................................36 MAP 11. RESTORATION AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS—ALTERNATIVE B............................................................37 MAP 12. WINTER ZONING—ALTERNATIVE C.......................................................................................................43 MAP 13. RESTORATION AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS—ALTERNATIVE C............................................................44 MAP 14: WINTER ZONING—ALTERNATIVE D ......................................................................................................49 MAP 15: RESTORATION AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS—ALTERNATIVE D ...........................................................50 FIGURES FIGURE 1. ANNUAL VISITATION 1980-1999 .........................................................................................................64