United States Department of Final Environmental Agriculture Forest Assessment Service June 2104 Sisters Community Trails Project: Sisters to Black Butte Ranch Multi-Use Paved Trail Sisters Ranger District Deschutes National Forest Deschutes County, Oregon T14S, R09E sections 10, 11, 13, 24, 25; T14S, R01E sections 30, 31, 32; T15S, R10E section 5 For Information Contact: Michael Keown Highway 20 at Pine Street; Sisters, Oregon 97759 Environmental Assessment Sisters Community Trails Project (541) 549-7735 The 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.) 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Environmental Assessment Sisters Community Trails Project Table of Contents Table of Figures ............................................................................................................ ii Table of Tables ............................................................................................................. ii Summary ...................................................................................................................... iv Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Document Structure .....................................................................................................................1 Background ..................................................................................................................................1 Purpose and Need for Action .....................................................................................................16 Proposed Action .........................................................................................................................16 Decision Framework ..................................................................................................................16 Public Involvement ....................................................................................................................17 Issues ..........................................................................................................................................18 Alternatives, including the Proposed Action ............................................................ 20 Alternatives ................................................................................................................................20 Alternative 1 .............................................................................................................. 20 Alternative 2 .............................................................................................................. 20 Alternative 3 .............................................................................................................. 24 Alternatives Considered but Not Analyzed in Detail .................................................................27 Project Design Criteria ...............................................................................................................28 Mitigation Common to All Alternatives ....................................................................................30 Comparison of Alternatives .......................................................................................................32 Environmental Consequences ................................................................................... 36 Hydrology ..................................................................................................................................37 Fisheries .....................................................................................................................................47 Wildlife ......................................................................................................................................57 Botany ......................................................................................................................................109 Scenic Views ............................................................................................................................123 Heritage ....................................................................................................................................128 Recreation ................................................................................................................................129 Other Disclosures .....................................................................................................................147 Consultation and Coordination ............................................................................... 149 Appendix A: Response to Comments .................................................................... 150 Appendix B: Recreational Opportunity Spectrum ................................................. 182 References ................................................................................................................ 187 i Environmental Assessment Sisters Community Trails Project TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1. Project Vicinity Map .......................................................................................... 3 Figure 2. Land and Resource Management Plan Land Allocation Map ............................ 7 Figure 3. Existing Road Condition Map .......................................................................... 10 Figure 4. Recommendations of the Roads Analysis ........................................................ 15 Figure 5. Typical Multi-Use Path Cross Section ............................................................. 22 Figure 6. Alternative 2 (Proposed Action) ....................................................................... 23 Figure 7. Alternative 3 ..................................................................................................... 25 Figure 8. Comparison of Alternatives 2 and 3 .................................................................. 26 Figure 9. Areas in circles in yellow provide new potential habitat for Pecks penstemon ......................................................................................................................................... 118 Figure 10. Typical segment of proposed trail alignment between Sisters and Tollgate . 133 TABLE OF TABLES Table 1. Road Types and Mileages ..................................................................................... 9 Table 2. Road Types ......................................................................................................... 11 Table 3. Summary of the Roads Analysis ........................................................................ 14 Table 4. Seasonal Restrictions for Raptors ....................................................................... 31 Table 5. Comparison of Alternatives ................................................................................ 32 Table 6. Past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions that have the potential to overlap the project area ..................................................................................................... 36 Table 7. Riparian Habitat Conservation Area widths in the project area ......................... 39 Table 8. Riparian Management Objectives ....................................................................... 41 Table 9. Beneficial Uses and Water Quality Parameters ................................................. 41 Table 10. Water temperature monitoring in the Project Analysis Area. .......................... 44 Table 11. Road density and stream crossings in the project Hydrology Analysis Area. .. 45 Table 12. Federally Listed and Proposed Species under the Endangered Species Act on the Deschutes National Forest. ......................................................................................... 61 Table 13. Region 6 Sensitive Species with habitat on the Deschutes National Forest .... 66 Table 14. Snag numbers for white-headed woodpeckers by vegetative series and snag size for areas east of the NWFP line on the Deschutes NF (WLTL). ............................... 69 Table 15. Summary of snag requirements for the white-headed woodpecker regarding potential population levels. ............................................................................................... 69 Table 16. Acres of white-headed woodpecker reproductive habitat ................................ 69 Table 17. Landbird Conservation Strategy Biological Objectives for the white-headed woodpecker ....................................................................................................................... 73 Table 18. Deschutes LRMP Management Indicator Species ..........................................