Four Forest Restoration Initiative, Rim Country EIS Botany and Weeds Report Prepared by: Debra L. Crisp Coconino NF Forest Botanist and Rim Country Botany Lead for: 4FRI Rim Country EIS Date In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident. 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Title of Project, [Name of Resource] Report Table of Contents Purpose and Need ........................................................................................................................ 3 Alternatives ................................................................................................................................. 5 Alternative 1 (No Action) ........................................................................................................... 5 Alternative 2 – Modified Proposed Action ................................................................................. 6 Alternative 3 (Focused Alternative) ............................................................................................ 8 Comparison of Action Alternatives ............................................................................................ 9 Design Features, Best Management Practices, Mitigation and Conservation Measures .......... 11 Relevant Law, Regulation, and Policy ...................................................................................... 15 Forest Plan Direction ................................................................................................................ 17 Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest Plan ............................................................................... 17 Coconino National Forest Revised Forest Plan (2018) ......................................................... 23 Tonto National Forest Plan (1985) ........................................................................................ 36 Noxious or Invasive Weed NEPA Guidance ......................................................................... 41 Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences ........................................................ 41 Assumptions and Methodology ............................................................................................. 42 Indicators/Topics of Analysis ................................................................................................ 43 Southwestern Region Regional Forester’s Sensitive Plants .................................................. 43 Noxious or Invasive Weeds ................................................................................................... 84 Assumptions and Methodology ........................................................................................ 84 Affected Environment ......................................................................................................... 84 Other Agencies and Individuals Consulted ............................................................................... 93 Acronyms .................................................................................................................................. 93 Glossary .................................................................................................................................... 93 References ..................................................................................................................................... 94 Table 1. Detailed Mechanical and Fire Treatments by Alternative ................................................. 9 Table 2. Design features, best management practices, mitigation and conservation measures directly applicable to botanical resources. ........................................................................... 11 Table 3. Southwestern Region Regional Sensitive species occurring within the Project Area. .... 44 Table 4. Locations and proposed treatments for villous groundcover milkvetch. Data are from SEINet. .................................................................................................................................. 48 Table 5. Locations of Blumer’s dock on Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto NFs (source Apache Sitgreaves files). .................................................................................................................... 64 Table 6. Collections of Blumer's dock within the analysis boundary as documented in SEINet .. 66 Table 7. Aquatic restoration areas and/or stream channel restoration containing Blumer's dock. Plant locations are from AZGFD HDMS data. ..................................................................... 66 Table 8. Stream channel restoration areas containing Blumer's dock ........................................... 67 Table 9. Bebb’s willow locations on (Apache-Sitgreaves NF) ..................................................... 69 Table 10. Bebb’s willow from SEINet. ........................................................................................ 70 Table 11. Locations of Arizona bugbane in vegetation treatment units. ...................................... 72 Table 12. Locations of Arizona Sneezeweed from Apache Sitgreaves files ................................. 77 Table 13. Arizona sneezeweed occurrences as documented in TESP/IS (Coconino National Forest) .................................................................................................................................... 77 Table 14. Locations of Arizona sneezeweed in treatment areas using data from SEINet ............. 78 Table 15. Locations of Flagstaff Beardtongue in vegetation treatments. ..................................... 80 i Title of Project, [Name of Resource] Report Table 16. Locations for Flagstaff beardtongue occurring in treatment units from Arizona Game and Fish Heritage Database ................................................................................................... 81 Table 17. Noxious or invasive weeds on Apache Sitgreaves NF and within the project area boundary ................................................................................................................................ 85 Table 18. Noxious or invasive weeds on Coconino NF and within the analysis area boundary ... 86 Table 19. Noxious or invasive weeds on Tonto NF and within the analysis area boundary ......... 88 Figure 1. Location of villous groundcover milkvetch near Bear Spring ....................................... 49 Figure 2. Google Earth image of Bear Springs area. .................................................................... 50 Figure 3. Location of villous groundcover milkvetch near Black Canyon Lake ........................... 50 Figure 4. Google Earth image of Black Canyon Lake and occurrence of villous groundcover milkvetch. .............................................................................................................................. 51 Figure 5. Dane thistle in analysis area. .......................................................................................... 53 Figure 6. Location of Mogollon fleabane in analysis area. ........................................................... 55 Figure 7. Locations of Rock fleabane in analysis area. ................................................................. 57 Figure 8. Map showing Hendricks collection location of Eastwood alumroot. ............................ 61 Figure 9. Arizona bugbane in Tom's Creek drainage, shown by blue polygon ............................. 73 Figure 10. Hairy clematis near Hoe Tank. .................................................................................... 75 ii Purpose and Need The purpose and need for the Rim Country Project is fully described in the June 2016 Scoping Document. See that document for a complete summary. The purpose of the Rim Country Project is to reestablish and restore