IMPACTS ON GRAZING Use of atrazine in the control of grass within planting areas (site preparation or release) creates a direct impact on existing grazing. Label instructions for atrazine require removal of domestic livestock from the treated area for 1 year. This herbicide can affect the flavor of meat. Of the 8,300 acres scheduled for atrazine, it is probable that all would be in areas where grazing is permitted. It is unknown what methods would be used to exclude cattle from treated areas. Possible methods include temporary fencing, canceling or amending grazing leases to delete treated areas, or requiring the lessee to ride the area daily to herd stock away from treatment sites. Alternative chemicals could also be used in lieu of atrazine. Worst case situation analysis discloses several general ways in which grazing could be impacted. It is highly unlikely that any of them would be significant either individually or in combination. Possible impacts include the following: Road construction removes forage vegetation. Dust from road traffic makes forage less desirable. less desirable. Roads, however provide access to additional forage areas. Animals on the roads are a traffic hazard. Dragging logs, slash burning, herbicide usage, and scarification remove forage at least temporarily. Logging slash, prior to slash disposal, reduces livestock access to forage and increases the possibility of leg injury to foraging ani mals. Burning, herbicide spraying, scarification, regeneration planting and fertilization can result in changes in the herbaceous and shrub vegetative layers which affect the quality and palatability of forage. Reforested areas may be fenced to protect the seed or seedlings from animal damage, including livestock. These areas would be lost to grazing for at least 5 years. Construction of 375 miles of new roads would obviously change the land use from forest to transportation. However, the overall land use category is timber management and logging roads are a part of that land use category. Thus, impacts to the land use category would not occur. Construction or reconstruction of approximately 375 miles of permanent road during the proposal period may increase traffic volume and alter traffic patterns in existing roads. Changes would be attributable to both timber management and recreation seekers bound for newly opened areas. Safety hazards would result from increased vehicle numbers, dust, and noise. Impacts of recreational use on forest areas made accessible by the new roads are discussed in Section 3.7.2. Traffic volume on existing transportation routes may also be affected. The proposed reduction in allowable cut could cause a reduction in the number of logging trucks on secondary highways. This should result in minor beneficial impacts to road conditions. 3.13.2 Mining Construction of roads would require quarry products and should result in a demand for gravel. Impacts of any change in land use are unknown. Present rock sources are plentiful and considered adequate for future needs. 3.13.3 Ecologically Significant Areas No impacts are expected to are expected to those areas nominated or planned to be nominated as research natural areas. These include the Surveyor, Lost Lake, and Upper Table Rock areas. No impacts are expected to the Hollenbeck area, managed as an environmental study area. Ecologically significant areas identified by the Oregon Natural Heritage Program (Nature Conservancy) were analyzed based upon the TPCC status of public lands within the area boundaries identified by the Nature Conservancy (1977; 1978). Visual resource management and other program constraints were also examined to determine the potential adverse impact to public land within these ecologically significant areas. Certain areas are being studied for potential research natural area designation. If it is determined that an area has potential, it would be protected. The following analysis, however, is based upon impacts in the worst case (i.e., that no area has potential for research natural area designation). The ecological and biological merits of certain areas would be adversely impacted as a result of timber management operations. Impacts would include destruction of vegetation, soil compaction, erosion, and in some cases destruction of unique animal or plant species. Many of the areas identified by the Oregon Natural Heritage Program contain high intensity timber management land. Impacts would be most severe in those areas. In some cases, VRM constraints would serve to mitigate impacts to ecologically significant areas. Table 3-13 summarizes the impacts to ecologically significant areas. The cumulative impact to Siskiyou Mountain salamander populations at Nine Mile Creek, Hinkle Gulch, Black Ben (Negro Ben) Mountain, Lower Star Gulch, Upper Grouse Creek, and Upper Star Gulch could be severe (see Section 3.6.4). Adverse impacts to Jenny Creek itself and Jenny Creek sucker habitat would be moderate. The Jenny Creek sucker, however, is not on any State or Federal Surveyor, Lost Lake, Upper Table Rock, and Hollenbeck 1/Location number from Nature Conservancy 1977; 1978. None list of threatened or endangered species. The Oregon Natural Heritage Program has reported an unverified sighting of Sisyrinchium californicum at Pilot Rock (Nature Conservancy 1977). Although the BLM has not confirmed the existence of this plant, it could be severely impacted by harvest operations if it does occur. Sisyrinchium californicum is listed as a plant species of undetermined status on the Provisional List of Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plants in Oregon (March 1977). An analysis was carried out based upon ecological values and locations as identified by the Nature Conservancy (1977; 1978) and the 3-year timber sale plan. Locations given by the Nature Conservancy are limited in most cases to township, range, and section. There are possible minimal conflicts between timber sales and five ecologically significant areas: Rancheria Meadows, Nine Mile Creek, Black Ben Mountain, Howard Prairie Reservoir, and Bear Valley. While timber harvest is not planned directly on sensitive sites, general impacts to the areas may be moderate depending upon degree of vegetative disturbance, soil compaction, and erosion in proximity to the significant area. 3.14 IMPACTS ON SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS The economic impacts addressed in this section reflect a comparison of different amounts of timber harvested and processed as well as local impacts related to intensive forest development practices. Most of the employment and income effects related to timber processing outside of the JKS YUs, would occur in Grants Pass, Glendale, or Klamath Falls. Table 3-14 compares the short- and long-term effects of current management with those of the proposed management. The 1974-76 average annual timber harvest from the JKS YUs was approximately 132 MM bd. ft. It is assumed that the average annual timber harvest under current management management is 128 MM bd. ft. and the proposal's short-term annual timber harvest would be approximately 120 MM bd. ft. For analytical purposes, the short-term impacts of the proposed action are compared to both the estimated impacts of the 1974-76 average annual harvest and to projected 1980 impacts of current management because of changes in factors independent of the proposed action, e.g., declining number of employees per million board feet of timber harvest and declining total timber harvest within the Medford timber shed. The proposal's impacts would stem from an annual BLM timber harvest during the first decade that would be a projected 8 MM bd. ft. less than under current management. The amount of timber processed would be approximately 6.1 MM bd. ft. less in Jackson County, 1.3 MM bd. ft. less in Josephine |