Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Invasive Plants Treatment Final Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 3 Chapter 3 – Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences Changes between the DEIS and FEIS for Section 3.1 Section 3.1 has been rewritten for clarity based on public comments and internal review. The original information from the DEIS remains, although may be numbered differently. This section adds 3.1.3 Incomplete and Unavailable Information, Section 3.1.2 Basis for Cumulative Effects - This section is reworded to describe the incremental impacts of the proposed action and alternatives when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions, both on National Forest System lands and other adjacent federal, state, or private lands. 3.1 Introduction This chapter describes both the existing conditions of the project area, and the environmental effects of implementing the alternatives described in Chapter 2. Effects are defined as: • Adverse and/or beneficial direct effects occur at the same time and in the same general location as the activity causing the effects. • Adverse and beneficial indirect effects are those that occur at a different time or location from the activity causing the effects. Both types of effects are described in terms of increase or decreases, intensity, duration, and timing. • Cumulative Effects result from the incremental impacts of the Proposed Actions/alternatives when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions, both on the Forest and Wild and Scenic River corridor as well as other adjacent federal, state, or private lands. Effects include ecological (such as the effects on natural resources and on the components, structures, and functioning of affected ecosystems), aesthetic, historic, cultural, economic, social, or health, whether direct, indirect, or cumulative (40 CFR 1508.7 and 1508.8). 3.1.1 Project Area The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, (see Vicinity Map) located in the northeast corner of Oregon and west central edge of Idaho, covers 2.3 million acres. The Forest extends to the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, and encompasses four wilderness areas, and eleven wild and scenic rivers. It lies within Wallowa, Union, Baker, Malheur, Umatilla, and Grant Counties in Oregon and Adams, and Nez Perce Counties in Idaho. The Forest is located on the east edge of the Blue Mountains and encompasses the Elkhorn and Wallowa Mountains, and ranges in elevation from 875 feet on the Snake River in the bottom of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area to 9,845 feet in the Eagle Cap Wilderness of the Blue Mountains. The Forest is the largest administrative unit in the Pacific Northwest Region. The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest is the home of the deepest river gorge in the nation (Hells Canyon), the largest wilderness area in Oregon (Eagle Cap), and hosts a portion of the Oregon Trail. 97 Chapter 3 Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Invasive Plants Treatment Final Environmental Impact Statemen 3.1.2 Basis for Cumulative Effects Analysis Introduction This section discusses cumulative effects: the incremental impacts of the proposed action and alternatives when added to effects of other actions both on National Forest System lands and other adjacent federal, state, or private lands (40 CFR 1508.7). Adverse and beneficial direct and indirect effects are predicted as a result of implementing any of the alternatives (and are discussed at length throughout Chapter 3). How these effects might interact with other actions is difficult to discern. Invasive plants are dynamic; some infestations may stay relatively static for a time, while other infestations may expand rapidly, and new infestations may be introduced in areas that are not currently infested. Ongoing land uses and natural events such as drought, weather, and wildfires, are likely to result in introduction and spread of invasive plants. Invasive plants cross property lines and infest other landowners’ properties. Effective treatment would reduce potential for spread onto other ownerships. Effective treatment of adjacent populations off National Forest System land would increase the effectiveness of the overall treatment. Currently, 22 invasive weed sites (approximately 6,600 acres) are adjacent to other land ownerships on the Forest (Table 14). The largest reported area is the common bugloss site located on Hells Canyon National Recreation Area4. Table 14-Invasive weeds located on land adjacent to National Forest System lands Percent of Total Mapped Invasive plant species Adjacent Infested Acres acres Russian knapweed 23.3 0.4 Common bugloss 5472.9 82.5 White-top 51.3 0.8 Diffuse knapweed 155.6 2.3 Spotted knapweed 81.6 1.2 Knapweed species 76.4 1.2 Yellow star thistle 60.7 0.9 Rush skeleton weed 5.0 0.1 Canada thistle 131.6 2.0 Poison hemlock 1.4 0.0 Common crupina 188.6 2.8 Houndstongue 76.8 1.2 Scotch broom 0.1 0.0 Leafy spurge 1.9 0.0 Meadow hawkweek 0.0 0.0 St john's wort 103.0 1.6 Dalmation toadflax 107.3 1.6 Yellow toadflax 0.3 0.0 Scotch thistle 83.5 1.3 Sulphur cinquefoil 6.5 0.1 Tansy ragwort 2.3 0.0 Medusahead 3.4 0.1 Total 6633.6 100.0 4 It is likely that more acres are present, as these acres represent small scale cooperative weed mapping projects. 98 Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Invasive Plants Treatment Final Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 3 Potential effects of herbicide treatment to nontarget vegetation, including SOLI, on National Forest System land is relatively small as reported in the direct/indirect section above. Data from 2007 shows glyphosate would likely make up the majority of use off of National Forest System land. Since this herbicide is nonselective, SOLI and other nontarget plants may be killed if an accidental spill, drift, or run off reaches them. However, used according to label, these impacts may be avoided, especially because glyphosate is not biologically active once it binds to organic matter and is rapidly absorbed by target plants. Alternative A would not result in cumulative beneficial effects because these populations would not be effectively treated. Alternative B would have the greatest potential effectiveness. Restrictions in Alternatives C and D may result in less cumulative benefit of integrated treatments occurring on and off forest. Spread of invasive plants would result in increased future costs to the Forest Service and thus to tax payers to treat larger, more widespread populations that would continue to develop over time. The specific timing, place and prescription for invasive plant treatments during the life of this project are not known. A catalog of specific foreseeable future actions within any 6th field watershed or river basin is not possible to obtain. Thus, the cumulative effects analysis must rely on certain assumptions and past reports to characterize the potential cumulative effects of the alternatives. CEQ regulations do not require the consideration of the individual effects of all past actions to determine the present effects of past actions. With respect to past actions, during the scoping process and subsequent preparation of the analysis, the agency must determine what information regarding past actions is useful and relevant to the required analysis of cumulative effects. Cataloging past actions and specific information about the direct and indirect effects of their design and implementation could in some contexts be useful to predict the cumulative effects of the proposal. The CEQ regulations, however, do not require agencies to catalogue or exhaustively list and analyze all individual past actions. Simply because information about past actions may be available or obtained with reasonable effort does not mean that it is relevant and necessary to inform decision making (40 CFR 1508.7). Human activities are known to have influenced the spread of invasive plants into North America, the Pacific Northwest and specific sites within the project area. A catalog of past actions is unnecessary to understand how land uses have contributed to the current distribution of invasive plants. The vectors and mechanisms of invasive plant spread are discussed at length in the R6 2005 FEIS. The baseline for cumulative effects analysis is the current condition. In terms of present and foreseeable future actions, the analysis assumes that current land uses will continue. On the Wallowa-Whitman NF, invasive plant prevention measures will be applied to land uses and activities, which would help address specific vectors of invasive plant spread. Invasive plant prevention measures, including those currently implemented on the Wallowa- Whitman NF, are predicted to reduce rates of, but not stop, invasive plant spread (R6 2005 FEIS). However, Forest Service projections suggest that recreational use of roads and trail (both motorized and nonmotorized) will continue to increase and will continue to be conduits for the distribution of invasive plants. Other land management and use activities such as grazing, vegetation management, fuels management (Healthy Forest Initiative), wildfire, and fire suppression will continue to cause ground disturbances that can contribute to the introduction, spread and establishment of invasive plants on National Forest System lands (USDA 2005). Many of these uses and activities on the Forest and adjacent ownerships have, and will continue in the vicinity of Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. 99 Chapter 3 Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Invasive Plants Treatment Final Environmental Impact Statemen The following bulleted list