United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Coulton Floyd II Timber & Fuels Management Analysis Environmental Assessment Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests & Thunder Basin National Grassland, Routt County, Colorado June, 2014 Responsible Official: Chad Stewart District Ranger For Further Information: Mark Cahur 925 Weiss Dr. Steamboat Springs, CO 80487 [email protected] Typical forest conditons within Coulton Floyd II analyis area. Disclaimer: The Forest Service uses the most current and complete data it has available. GIS data and product accuracy may vary. They may be: developed from sources of differing accuracy, accurate only at certain scales, based on modeling or interpretation, incomplete while being created or revised, have represented features not in accurate geographic locations, etc. The Forest Service makes no expressed or implied warranty, including warranty of merchantability and fitness, with respect to the character, function, or capabilities of the data or their appropriateness for any user's purposes. The Forest Service reserves the right to correct, update, modify, or replace this geospatial information based on new inventories, new or revised information, and if necessary in conjunction with other federal, state or local public agencies or the public in general as required by policy or regulation. Previous recipients of the products may not be notified unless required by policy or regulation. For more information, contact the Medicine Bow - Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland Supervisor's Office (2468 Jackson Street, Laramie, WY 82070, 307-745-2300). U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication for program information (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) please contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. i Contents Contents ........................................................................................................................................... ii I. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 II. Proposed Project Location .......................................................................................................... 1 III. Purpose & Need Need for the Proposal ..................................................................................... 4 IV. Proposal Developement............................................................................................................. 4 V. Proposed Action and No Alternatives ........................................................................................ 5 Alternative #1-No Action ............................................................................................................ 5 Alternative #2-Proposed Action .................................................................................................. 6 VI. Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action and No Alternatives .................................... 12 A. Biological Evaluations and Assessments Summary ............................................................. 12 B. Aquatic Resources, Amphibians & Fish ............................................................................. 15 C. Botanical Resources ............................................................................................................ 16 D. Economics & Social Resources ............................................................................................ 18 E. Fire & Fuels ......................................................................................................................... 18 F. Heritage Resources .............................................................................................................. 19 G. Hydrologic Resources ......................................................................................................... 20 H. Lands & Mineral Resources ................................................................................................ 23 I. Rangeland Resources ............................................................................................................ 24 J. Recreation Resources ........................................................................................................... 26 K. Soils Resource ..................................................................................................................... 26 L. Visual Resource ................................................................................................................... 27 M. Wildlife- Terrestrial Resources .......................................................................................... 28 VII. Finding of No Significant Impact .......................................................................................... 34 Context ...................................................................................................................................... 34 Intensity ..................................................................................................................................... 34 References ..................................................................................................................................... 37 List of Tables Table 1. Forest Plan Geographic Area Information ........................................................................ 1 Table 2. Treatment Unit Descriptions ............................................................................................. 7 Table 3. Description of Effects Determinations ............................................................................ 13 Table 4. Species Effects Determinations ....................................................................................... 13 List of Figures Figure 1. Vicinity map ..................................................................................................................... 3 Figure 2. Proposed Action Map..................................................................................................... 10 Figure 3. Proposed Action Map..................................................................................................... 11 Appendix Appendix A. Non-governmantal Oganization and Individual Involvement List .......................... 55 Appendix B. Other Agency, Tribal Consultation & Involvement……………………………..…59 Appendix C. Responses to Comments .......................................................................................... 60 ii Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests & Thunder Basin National Grassland I. Introduction The Hahn’s Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District (“the District”) proposes to manage predominately beetle killed vegetation through timber harvest on approximately 2355 acres in the Coulton Floyd II analysis area (AA). These actions are proposed to be implemented on the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District of the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland. The District prepared this environmental assessment (EA) to determine whether implementation of the actions may significantly affect the quality of the human environment and thereby require the preparation of an environmental impact statement. By preparing this EA, we are fulfilling agency policy and direction to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). For more details of the proposed action, see the Proposed Action and Alternatives section of this document. II. Proposed Project Location The proposal is located in Routt County, Colorado; approximately 20 miles north of the town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado on United States Forest Service (USFS) administered land. The closest incorporate town is Clark, Colorado approximately 5 miles to the west. The legal description AA is T9N R84W Sections 4-9, 16-21, 29-32, T9N R85W Sections 1, 12, 13, 24, 25, 36, T10N R84W Sections 29-31, and T10N R85W Section 36. The area around and near the AA is locally and commonly referred to as Seedhouse and/or Hinman Park. The Routt National Forest Land & Resource Management Plan 1997 Revision (Forest Plan) identifies the majority of the greater landscape as the Upper Elk River Geographic Area. Pursuant to this geographic area direction, an over-arching desired condition is to maintain spruce/fir, lodgepole pine and aspen as the dominant cover types (Forest Plan 3- 65). Table 1- Forest Plan Geographic Area Information, includes acres and the percent of the AA within the various geographic areas. Table 1 Forest Plan Geographic Area Information Acres within Geographic Area Percent of AA the AA UPPER ELK RIVER 9,240 95% SAND MTN 260 3% LOWER ELK RIVER 200 2% TOTAL 9,700 TOTAL 1