Horse Creek Community Protection and Forest Restoration ...a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic... · following locations: Rocky Point River Access, Sarah Totten Campground,

United States Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

April 2017

Draft Wild and Scenic River Resources Report Horse Creek Community Protection and Forest Restoration Project

Happy Camp-Oak Knoll Ranger District, Klamath National Forest Siskiyou County, California

For Information Contact: Karl Dietzler 1711 South Main Street, Yreka, CA. 96097

(530) 841-4487 [email protected]

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. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible Agency or USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.

To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at How to File a Program Discrimination Complaint and at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: [email protected].

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

https://www.ascr.usda.gov/how-file-program-discrimination-complaint

mailto:[email protected]

i

Table of Contents Wild and Scenic River Resources Report ................................................................................................. 2

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Analysis Indicators ............................................................................................................................... 3 Measures................................................................................................................................................ 4 Spatial and Temporal Bounding ......................................................................................................... 5 Affected Environment .......................................................................................................................... 5 Environmental Consequences ............................................................................................................. 6

Alternative 1 ................................................................................................................................... 6 Direct and Indirect Effects ..................................................................................................................... 6 Cumulative Effects ................................................................................................................................ 6

Alternatives 2, 3, & 4 ..................................................................................................................... 6 Direct and Indirect Effects ..................................................................................................................... 6 Cumulative Effects ................................................................................................................................ 7 Comparison of Alternatives ................................................................................................................. 8 Compliance with law, regulation, policy, and the Forest Plan ......................................................... 8 Literature Cited .................................................................................................................................... 9

Appendix A – Wild and Scenic River Corridor ..................................................................................... 10 Appendix B – Wild and Scenic River Corridor and Visual Quality Objectives ................................. 11 Appendix C – Wild and Scenic River Corridor and Visual Quality Objectives, Alternative 2 ......... 12 Appendix D – Wild and Scenic River Corridor and Visual Quality Objectives, Alternative 3 ......... 13 Appendix E – Wild and Scenic River Corridor and Visual Quality Objectives, Alternative 4 ......... 14 List of Tables Table 1: Comparison of alternatives. ............................................................................................................ 8 List of Figures Figure 1: Wild and scenic river corridor. .................................................................................................... 10 Figure 2: Wild and scenic river corrido and visual quality objectives. ....................................................... 11 Figure 3: Alternative 2 wild and scenic river corridor and visual quality objectives. ................................ 12 Figure 4: Alternative 3 wild and scenic river corridor and visual quality objectives. ................................ 13 Figure 5: Alternative 4 wild and scenic river corridor and visual quality objectives. ................................ 14

Wild and Scenic River Resources Report Horse Creek Community Protection and Restoration Project

2

Wild and Scenic River Resources Report

Introduction The purpose of this report is to document and analyze the effects of the Horse Creek Community Protection and Restoration Project alternatives and consistency with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act established to protect wild and scenic river resource values and Klamath National Forest Plan direction.

The Klamath Wild and Scenic River was designated in 1981 as a National Wild and Scenic River. Wild and Scenic Rivers provide for the preservation of rivers and their outstandingly remarkable values. Under the Wild and Scenic River Act, these rivers are to be preserved in a free-flowing condition and protected for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. . It classified the river segments within the Project Area as “Recreational”, meaning that they may be readily accessed by road or railroad, may have some development along the shorelines, and may have undergone some impoundment or past diversion.

A small portion of the Scott Wild and Scenic River also exist within the Project boundary. However, since project activities will not affect this river corridor, no effects will be analyzed for project alternatives.

The Forest Plan Management Goals for Management Area 13 (Designated and Recommended Recreational Rivers) are as follows:

• Preserve the Recreational River in a free-flowing condition. Protect the river and the immediate environment for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.

• Protect and enhance the outstandingly remarkable value(s) for which the river(s) are, or would be designated, while providing for public recreation and resource uses that do not adversely impact or degrade those values.

• Manage recreation activities to assure that the character and quality of recreation will not cause adverse impacts on the resource values for which the rivers were designated or recommended.

• The desired future condition for designated and recommended Wild and Scenic Rivers: the waterway remains generally natural and riverine in appearance. The physical and biological integrity of the aquatic system is maintained. Habitat for anadromous and resident fish species is in good condition, capable of supporting viable populations of indigenous species. The river area may be developed for the full range of agricultural and forestry practices, show evidence of past and ongoing timber harvest, or include some residential, commercial, or similar development.

Within the wild and scenic corridor, recreational values will not be affected by the project, other than potential scenery effects; therefore, those values will not be evaluated here. This report will summarize compliance with water quality, fisheries, and scenic resources pertinent to Klamath River wild and scenic river values. Refer to the Recreation and Scenic sections of the EIS or the associated resource reports for more detail.


3

Methodology Project activities were evaluated using field review, geospatial analysis, and professional judgement for potential affects to:

• Free-flowing conditions

• Water quality

• Identified outstandingly remarkable value(s)

• Scenic Resources Select information on resource effects for water quality, fisheries, and scenic resources were taken from their respective specialist reports. Refer to those reports for complete details.

Analysis Indicators Indicators are identified for each of the values listed below to be protected or maintained: Free-Flowing Conditions As applied to any river or section of a river, means existing or flowing in a natural condition without impoundment, diversion, straightening, rip-rapping, or other modification of the waterway. The indicator here is determination if project alternatives would be located within the bed and banks of the river, and obstruct or alter any portion of the existing free-flowing river characteristics.

Water Quantity and Quality Water quantity and quality must be sufficient to protect river values.

• Indicators: Response to total maximum daily load (Clean Water Act) requirements, Forest Plan (to include Aquatic Conservation Strategy) objectives, and demonstrating project alternative differences with respect to hydrologic function and water quality.

Outstandingly Remarkable Value

Each river shall be managed to protect and enhance the values for which the river was designated, while providing for public recreation and resource uses which do not adversely impact or degrade those values. For the Klamath Wild and Scenic River, Fisheries is the one Outstandingly Remarkable Value for which it was designated.

• Indicators: o Fisheries: Water temperature, sediment, large woody debris.

Scenic Resources

• Indicator: Visual Sensitivity. The Klamath Wild and Scenic River corridor is considered high sensitivity, which suggests great potential for the public to react strongly to any lessening of visual quality.


4

Measures Free-Flowing Conditions Measuring the effect to river flows.

Water Quality Determination of risk to Channel Morphology, Risk of Sediment Regime Alteration, Risk of Temperature Regime Alteration, Trend of Riparian Function.

Outstandingly Remarkable Value (Fisheries) Summaries of measures provided below. Refer to the Aquatics Resources Report for complete details.

Water temperature:

Instantaneous temperature measurements for 1st-3rd order streams, when evaluated against established temperatures or temperature ranges, indicate those streams as, “properly functioning”, “at risk”, and “not properly functioning.”

Maximum weekly maximum temperature measurements for 4th-5th order streams, when evaluated against specific temperatures or temperature ranges, indicate those streams as, “properly functioning”, “at risk”, and “not properly functioning.”

Sediment:

Substrate character measures the percentage of fines in spawning habitat, and the percentage of cobble embeddedness against established percentages or percentage ranges to indicate those streams as, “properly functioning”, “at risk”, and “not properly functioning.”

Large Woody Debris:

“Properly functioning” streams indicate an average of 20 pieces of large wood or more per mile in stream channels.

“At risk” streams indicate stream channels already meeting the minimums for “properly functioning”, but the future recruitment potential of large woody debris into stream channels will be at levels lower than can meet the “properly functioning” standard.

“Not properly functioning” streams are those that do not meet the “properly functioning” standard combined with a lack of future large woody debris recruitment.

Scenic Resources Evaluation of potential project alternative impacts along the river corridor are measured from the following locations: Rocky Point River Access, Sarah Totten Campground, and the Horse Creek Community bridges (Siskiyou County 8F001 and 8F003).

Forest Plan Standard and Guideline MA 13-6 states that for Recreational River designations, management activities must meet the Partial Retention Visual Quality Objective within the river corridor, in the foreground beyond the corridor, and middleground beyond the corridor. However, since State Route 96 is also designated as the State of Jefferson Scenic Byway, management activities must meet the Retention Visual Quality Objective within the quarter mile


5

boundary of the wild and scenic corridor. The Partial Retention Visual Quality objective outlined in MA 13-6 applies outside of the quarter mile boundary.

Distance Zones: Foreground: The detailed landscape found within 0 to ¼ and ½ mile from the observer.

Middleground: The landscape located between ¼ and ½ miles to 3 to 5 miles from the observer.

Visual Quality Objectives: Forest plan identified thresholds for acceptable visual change.

Retention: Management activities are not visually evident, and may only repeat form, line, color, and texture, which are frequently found in the landscape. Changes in their qualities of size, amount, intensity, direction, pattern, etc., should not be evident. Partial Retention: Management activities are noticeable, but remain visually subordinate to the characteristic landscape, and may repeat form, line, color, or texture common in the landscape.

Spatial and Temporal Bounding The spatial analysis for free-flowing, water quality, and outstandingly remarkable value is within the banks of the river corridor. Since only the watersheds at the 5th field scale intersect both the project area (and its effects) at the Klamath River, only effects notable at the 5th field scale are relevant to the Wild and Scenic River analysis for the Klamath River.

Additional spatial bounding for project alternatives outside of the banks includes the quarter mile wild and scenic river boundary in the Foreground Distance Zone, and up to two miles in the Middleground Distance Zone. Note that the middleground boundary will take into any account potential seen project activities; however, project topography and vegetative screening will very likely limit the viewing distance of most middleground areas to approximately one mile or less.

Affected Environment The Klamath Wild and Scenic River was designated by the Secretary of the Interior in 1981, along with the Scott and North Fork Salmon Rivers, for their outstandingly remarkable anadromous fisheries values. Approximately 13 miles of the Klamath Wild and Scenic traverses the Project area. The 2007 Klamath National Forest Recreation Facilities Niche Analysis designated the area along the river corridor with a Travelways setting. This primarily encompasses the public traveling State Route 96/State of Jefferson Scenic Byway. The Key recreational experiences within the corridor include driving for pleasure, viewing scenery and/or wildlife, whitewater kayaking, rafting, or canoeing, developed and dispersed camping, and angling.


6

Environmental Consequences

Alternative 1

Direct and Indirect Effects

Since no proposed project treatments are proposed, there would be no effects to free-flowing conditions, water quality, or scenic resources as a result of this alternative. For fisheries, channel morphology risk levels range from low to high; sediment risk ratios range from low to moderate; temperature regime within range of variability; riparian function ranges from poor to good.

Cumulative Effects

Salvage timber harvest on private industrial forest lands is not expected to affect any areas within the Klamath Wild and Scenic corridor. Operational impacts from project activities, such as increased haul traffic, noise, and dust offer short-term impacts to recreational users. Increased haul will be most noticeable along State Route 96.

Other ongoing and future foreseeable Forest Service projects include the following vegetation treatments: roadside salvage, site preparation and tree planting, fuels management and reduction, commercial thinning, mastication, hand thinning and piling, and underburning. Operational impacts from Forest Service projects are expected to be similar to private lands impacts, but diminished in intensity, and would have no cumulative effect to free-flowing conditions, water quality, or scenic resources in combination with Alternative 1.

Alternatives 2, 3, & 4

Direct and Indirect Effects

Free-Flowing Conditions Section 7 of the Wild and Scenic River Act does not apply to this project, as this section is only pertinent to water resource projects, such as dams, water conduits, reservoirs, hydropower projects, powerhouses, or transmission lines, and does not directly affect the bed and bank of the Wild and Scenic river. In 1984, the “water resource project” definition was evaluated for its use within the Wild and Scenic River Act, and the Forest Service clarified that timber harvesting or similar activities would not be subject to Section 7 review unless it resulted in an obstruction or modification of the free-flowing river characteristics.

Therefore, for all alternatives, no treatments are proposed within the banks of the Klamath Wild and Scenic River, and therefore will have no effect on free-flowing conditions.

Water Quantity and Quality

The hydrology effects summarized below are for the 7th field watershed. Alternatives 2, 3, or 4 will not change the risk to channel morphology for nine of the ten 7th field watersheds. Alternatives 2, 3, and 4 will change the risk ratio of one watershed, Middle Creek, from moderate to high (or from 1.4 to 1.6), which is a small to negligible increase. Alternatives 2, 3, and 4 will result in localized, short-term effects to water quality from sedimentation; however, with project design and BMPs water quality is expected to remain at existing levels for all action alternatives. Alternatives 2, 3, and 4 would result in a low risk to stream temperature effects;


7

riparian function trend is anticipated to remain stable. Indicators for water quantity and quality show little to no overall change as a result of this project at the 7th field watershed scale. Impacts to the Klamath River from this project are only at the 5th field watershed scale, and therefore, would be less evident than described here.

Outstandingly Remarkable Value (Fisheries) There are neutral or no effects to habitat or species for large woody debris, water temperature, or sediment indicators at the 5th field scale, which includes the main stem of the Klamath River.

Scenic Resources Only a portion of one salvage harvest unit, roadside hazard tree removal, fuels reduction adjacent to private property, fuel management zone treatments are proposed within the Wild and Scenic River corridor. All but the one salvage harvest unit (116.49) will meet the Retention and Partial Retention Visual Quality Objectives. The combination of salvage harvest, adjacent private property fuels reduction, and fuel management zone treatments surrounding unit 116.49 within the Retention and Partial Retention Visual Quality Objective designation and Wild and Scenic River corridor would likely not meet the objective within three years’ time, especially because a majority of the eastern-facing slope, which is visible from the river, was affected by moderate to high severity fire.

The Forest Plan allows an exception under Visual Resource Management Standards and Guidelines 11-7 that allows recovery time beyond three years in the case of catastrophic events. Refer to the Scenic Resources Report for greater detail.

Cumulative Effects

No current or reasonably foreseeable future actions are located in the Klamath River Wild and Scenic River corridor. Therefore, the additive effect from the proposed action alternatives is not anticipated to have any cumulative effects to the Wild and Scenic River Act “protect and enhance” standards.


8

Comparison of Alternatives

Table 1: Comparison of alternatives.

Indicator Alternative 1 Alternative 2 Alternative 3 Alternative 4

Free-Flowing: Effect to river flow characteristics

No effect No effect No effect No effect

Water Quality: Determination of risk to Channel Morphology, Risk of Sediment Regime Alteration, Risk of Temperature Regime Alteration, Trend of Riparian Function

Channel morphology risk levels range from low to high; sediment risk ratios range from low to moderate; temperature regime within range of variability; riparian function ranges from poor to good

No change of risk to channel morphology for 9 of 10 watersheds; water quality remain at existing levels; low risk to stream temperature; riparian function trend stable

Same as Alternative 2

Same as Alternative 2

Fisheries: Sediment, stream temperature, large wood


Scenic Resources: Rocky Point/Sarah Totten Campgrounds


Scenic Resources: Siskiyou County 8F001 and 8F003 bridges in Horse Creek

No effect Adverse effect* Adverse effect*

Adverse effect*

*The Forest Plan allows an exception under Visual Resource Management Standards and Guidelines 11-7 that allows recovery time beyond three years in the case of catastrophic events. Refer to the Scenic Resources Report for greater detail.

Compliance with law, regulation, policy, and the Forest Plan All Wild and Scenic Rivers Act protection requirements would be met for the Project. Free-flowing conditions, water quality, and the Outstandingly Remarkable Value will be protected or maintained, and the Recreational River classification will be maintained.

All action alternatives will meet the Retention and Partial Retention Visual Quality Objectives as seen from the Rocky Point River Access and Sarah Totten Campground. All action alternatives would not likely meet Retention and Partial Retention within three years’ time, when viewed from the river corridor (as seen from the Siskiyou County 8F001 and 8F003 bridges over the river). This is the result of the moderate/high intensity fire along the eastern slope, where salvage unit 116.49 is proposed, in combination with fuel management zone and private property fuel reduction treatments. Restoration of this portion of the landscape will occur over the long-term timeframe as defined in the Scenic Resources Report; these timeframes are allowed under Forest Plan Standard and Guideline direction following catastrophic events.

Wild and Scenic River Resource Report Horse Creek Community Protection and Forest Restoration Project

9

Literature Cited U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Agriculture Handbook Number 434. 1973. National

Forest Landscape Management: (Volume 1). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Agriculture Handbook Number 462. 1974. National Forest Landscape Management (Vol. 2, Chapter 1: The Visual Management System). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1995. Land and Resource Management Plan. Klamath National Forest.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 2017. Horse Creek Community Protection and Forest Restoration Project: Aquatic Resources Report. Klamath National Forest.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 2017. Horse Creek Community Protection and Forest Restoration Project: Hydrology Report. Klamath National Forest.


10

Appendix A – Wild and Scenic River Corridor

Figure 1: Wild and scenic river corridor.


11

Appendix B – Wild and Scenic River Corridor and Visual Quality Objectives

Figure 2: Wild and scenic river corrido and visual quality objectives.


12

Appendix C – Wild and Scenic River Corridor and Visual Quality Objectives, Alternative 2

Figure 3: Alternative 2 wild and scenic river corridor and visual quality objectives.


13

Appendix D – Wild and Scenic River Corridor and Visual Quality Objectives, Alternative 3



14

Appendix E – Wild and Scenic River Corridor and Visual Quality Objectives, Alternative 4


Documents

Horse Creek Community Protection and Forest Restoration ...a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic... · following locations: Rocky Point River Access, Sarah Totten Campground,