Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant United States Department of Agriculture Impact Forest Service February 21, 2006 South Fowl Lake Snowmobile Access Environmental Assessment Gunflint Ranger District, Superior National Forest Cook County, Minnesota Townships 64N Range 3 E, Sections 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16. Project Area Hovland Figure 1, Vicinity map of South Fowl Project For Information Contact: Dennis Neitzke Gunflint Ranger District 2020 W. Hwy 61 Grand Marais, MN 55604 (218) 387-1750 E-mail [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 3 DECISION................................................................................................................................... 11 REASONS FOR THE DECISION............................................................................................ 15 ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED IN DETAIL...................................................................... 25 CONSISTENCY WITH NATIONAL FOREST MANAGEMENT ACT THE FOREST PLAN AND OTHER LAWS..................................................................................... 27 FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT........................................................................... 30 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION............................................................................................. 40 REFERENCES CITED.............................................................................................................. 40 APPEAL RIGHTS...................................................................................................................... 41 APPENDIX A – Photo Series of Decision APPENDIX B – Design Elements, Mitigation Measures, Monitoring APPENDIX C – Map APPENDIX D – Response to Comments The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. INTRODUCTION This document describes the decision I have made regarding safe snowmobile access to South Fowl Lake from the McFarland Lake area, on the Superior National Forest. This document also describes my reasons for the decision, and finding that an environmental impact statement is not needed. This finding is in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, other laws, regulation and policy. This decision and finding are based on my knowledge of the Upper Arrowhead Trail (Cook County #16) area, my review of the South Fowl Lake Snowmobile Access Environmental Assessment (S. Fowl EA), the Biological Evaluation, the project record and the 2004 Superior National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan). The South Fowl Snowmobile Access project has been one of the more interesting in my career. It is something that should have been dealt with long ago, however it wasn’t. It is a fairly simple proposal, however it has stirred personal emotion that has been decades in building. It seemed the more I worked with the public to find a common solution, the more polarized they became. This decision will be fully welcomed and completely rejected, absolutely right and horribly wrong. A portion of the public will cheer, the rest will jeer. Some will claim victory, others will cry foul. To help understand why we are where we are, I am providing some background. Why here and why now? The genesis of this project began in 2003 when an existing snowmobile trail, sometimes known as the “Tilbury Trail”, was brought to my attention. I had decided to step up winter patrol of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) to ensure integrity of the wilderness during the off peak months. Through our patrol, a member of the public mentioned the existence of a trail that traveled across Royal Lake. During inspection, it was determined the trail crossed a corner of the Wilderness and therefore would need to be closed. Figure 2. Map showing historic Tilbury Trail in relation to Royal Lake Tilbury Trail connected McFarland Lake with South Fowl Lake (see Figure 1). It should be pointed out here that South Fowl Lake is the eastern most lake in a chain of 3 border lakes that creates the common border with Canada. Although the 1978 BWCAW Act (PL 95-495) permits some very limited motorboat and snowmobile use within the Wilderness, those lakes and routes are specifically named in the Act and according to PL 95-495, Sec. 4 (i) “…no other motor use is permitted..” within the boundaries of the Wilderness. Appropriate application of Federal Law caused me to close of the trail. However, along with closing the trail, I took the time to further explore the history of the trail, the history of the usage of lakes in this area and the history of wilderness legislation. I walked the Tilbury Trail and studied aerial photos of the vicinity. I snowmobiled South Fowl Road and the rough trail into South Fowl Lake. Potential resolutions or alternatives involved use of lands managed by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Arrowhead Trail managed by Cook County. Therefore I involved members of these governments throughout the analysis of this project. Early in this analysis I also communicated with the 1854 Authority and received their support for a replacement trail. I found that snowmobiling is legal and common around McFarland Lake. It is legal and common on South Fowl and North Fowl on both sides of the U.S./Canada border. For those lakes west of North Fowl, snowmobiling is legal and common in Canada for citizens of both countries. A search of 1961 aerial photos shows what appears to be a winter logging trail that accessed the Royal River, west of Royal Lake. A review of 1970 aerial photos (Figure 3) indicates that change had occurred. A small timber sale, apparently logged by a fellow named Verl Tilbury (Rabold, 2006), had taken place in the vicinity of the cliffs west of Royal Lake. A close look at the photo reveals what appears to be a skid trail running the length of the sale area and a very narrow trail extended a couple hundred feet to the Royal Lake wetlands. This demonstrates the Tilbury Trail was predominantly established by logging and it predated the establishment of the BWCAW (’78 Act) in that vicinity. 4 Logged Area Logging trail ends here Figure 3. 1970 aerial photo showing logged area. Yellow line shows logging trail I further found that the trail from South Fowl Road to South Fowl Lake is very steep (Figure 4), narrow and rocky such that only one snowmobile at a time could successfully negotiate the trail. The problem was that a snowmobile attempting to go uphill had to build up some speed in order to make it up the often icy hill. During the uphill run a snowmobiler must “hope” no one was coming downhill. Negotiating this trail is a highly unsafe practice, especially with ice fishing or other equipment in tow. I realized I had the option of doing nothing in terms of further snowmobile access to South Fowl Lake. No action would force snowmobilers to use Arrowhead Trail to South Fowl Road, then the steep trail from South Fowl Road to the Lake. Three considerations weighed on me regarding that route. 1. Arrowhead Trail is steep as it departs McFarland Lake, creating a particular hazard for low profile snowmobiles attempting to be seen by oncoming highway vehicles. 2. The Arrowhead Trail is a well traveled County Road and the Forest Service has a long standing policy of creating separation between highway vehicles and snowmobiles. 3. The steep unnamed trail down to South Fowl Lake cannot be negotiated by two way traffic (Figure 4). As a result of these concerns, I met with officials from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Cook County Board of Commissioners to develop a proposal that would provide safe access from the McFarland Lake vicinity to South Fowl Lake. 5 Figure 4. Photo showing steep hill is Section 11; trail is narrow then descends steeply. Now, it should be relatively simple; “to create safe access”. However public involvement throughout this assessment has been interesting to say the least. The number of people commenting on this project is over one hundred times that of another 14.5 mile snowmobile trail project that is considerably more complex (over 540 comments on this assessment vs. 5 comments on the more complex assessment). Further, comments on this project have been much more inflammatory and personal in nature than on similar projects. This project has fanned smoldering emotions over management of the Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters that have roots in the early 1900’s. It is worth understanding some of the passionate history that surrounds both the South Fowl area and the BWCAW. Historical perspective, Superior National Forest and the BWCAW. Most national forests in the eastern United States were created to re-establish forests on lands that were cut over, burned, farmed