Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation Final Environmental Impact Statement: Physical Resources Specialist Report

摘要

This Physical Resources Specialist Report provides the detailed background and information analysis for the affected environment and environmental consequences of the alternatives analyzed in detail in Chapter 3 of the Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), November 2000. The analysis focuses on seven key measures to compare and contrast alternatives: (1) Water Quantity and Timing, (2) Water Quality and Drinking Water Source Areas, (3) Channel Morphology, (4) Soil Loss, Sedimentation, and Soil Productivity, (5) Landslides, (6) Fire Effects on Watersheds and Burned area Emergency Rehabilitation, and (7) Air Resources. The report contains an analysis of optional social and economic mitigation measures as well as an analysis of indirect and cumulative effects. The report focuses on the environmental consequences of four alternatives that would, to varying degrees, prohibit road construction and reconstruction and timber harvesting in inventoried roadless areas on National Forests and Grasslands. Of the four alternatives considered, Alternative 3 provides the most beneficial affects for water, soil, and air resources because it: (1) prohibits the most road construction and reconstruction, (2) prohibits timber harvest designed exclusively for commodity production purposes, (3) allows timber harvest for stewardship purposes, and (4) allows management practices that help minimize increases in large, severe wildfires that can damage water, soil, and air resources on National Forests and Grasslands as well as on adjacent and downstream lands managed by other entities.