AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT. The affected environment is the area and its resources (i.e., biological, physical, human) potentially impacted by the Proposed Action and Alternatives. The purpose of describing the affected environment is to define the context in which the impacts would occur. To make an informed decision about which alternative to select, it is necessary to first understand which resources would be affected and to what extent. The affected environment section of this document attempts to provide the basis for this understanding. Relative to Applicant’s proposal for a Section 10 Permit, the affected environment includes those settings where any covered activities would occur. This includes the Enrolled Lands spanning 212,443 acres of land across Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Kitsap, King, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Xxxxxx, Xxxxxxxx and Wahkiakum counties. The Section 10 Permit would cover all Enrolled Lands and covered activities. In defining potentially affected resources, the USFWS considered the potential impacts associated with the Proposed Action, namely potential issuance of a section 10 Permit to Applicant for incidental take of marbled murrelets and implementation of the proposed SHA. Consistent with NEPA, the USFWS also considered a No Action Alternative, where Applicant would continue to conduct forest management activities under the Forest Practices Rules without incidental take coverage, and two other action alternatives. Elements of the natural and human environment included in this analysis are those with the potential for significant differences between the alternatives, or for which an analysis was required to demonstrate that the difference would not be substantial. Elements of the natural and human environment not specifically addressed are those that would not be affected by the Proposed Action (e.g., recreation) and those for which there would be no significant difference between alternatives (e.g., transportation, energy consumption, air quality, noise, and scenic resources/aesthetics). The Enrolled Lands are commercial timberlands. Applicant’s Enrolled Lands also provide access to a variety of recreational sites and activities. The majority of Rayonier’s property is gated to prevent vandalism, theft, dumping and to reduce the risk of fire. Most of the property has some type of permit system in place for hunting and other recreational uses. Other areas are open for walk-in use without a permit. Rayonier offers several types of permits: Recreational...
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the existing environment, including conditions and trends, that may be affected by the management alternatives. Descriptions focus on the physical features of Cook Inlet, Alaska, living marine resources, and habitat. The following description(s) of the physical environment of Cook Inlet provides a setting for subsequent discussions on the environmental impacts of each alternative. These descriptions are necessary for understanding how the alternatives being considered may affect the marine resources of Cook Inlet. Because this assessment focuses only on the development of a co- management agreement between NMFS and CIMMC, and the biological and cultural environment surrounding that activity, this section focuses only on beluga whales and the use of beluga whale for subsistence purposes. The reader may find a more detailed discussion of the region's natural and human environments in the following reference documents: the University of Alaska’s 1974 Alaska Regional Profiles: Southcentral Alaska (UAF 1974), and the Minerals Management Service's Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Cook Inlet Planning Area Oil and Gas Sale 149 (MMS 1996).
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT. 3.1 General Marine Environment 3.2 Biological Resources . . . . . . . . . . . .
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT. 3.1 General Marine Environment Morro Bay contains approximately 2,100 acres of water surface at high tide and approximately 650 acres at low tide, leaving approximately 980 acres of tidal mud flat and approximately 470 acres of salt xxxxx. At low tide, the major body of water in the bay is found in the three channels: Entrance Channel, Navy Channel and Morro Channel. These extend approximately two nautical miles from the terminal ends of the breakwaters, which form the entrance to Morro Bay Harbor, to a point near White Point, and occur in the order listed. South of Morro Channel, minor tidal channels ranging in depths from -2 feet to -15 feet MLLW contain the majority of the remaining available water at low tide. The total tidal prism in the bay is estimated at 13,500 acre- feet (Xxxxxx et al., 1974). Except near stream mouths, bay water salinity is relatively uniform. Due to evaporation it is usually slightly higher than that of the adjacent ocean waters; at approximately 34.5 parts per thousand. Pools in the salt xxxxx, however, are consistently higher in salinity. In the winter, bay water temperatures range from 50 to 570F. In the summer, they range from 55 to 640F. In August, bay water dissolved oxygen (DO) ranges from 4.2 to 7.1 parts per million (Xxxxxx, et al., 1974). Because of its remoteness from large population centers (i.e., Santa Xxxxxxx), and lack of significant industrial development, the waters in the bay are relatively free of pollutants. Maintenance dredging of Morro Bay Harbor has historically removed sediment of predominantly good quality, fine grain sand of varying particle sizes (poorly sorted) that is mechanically compatible with the material on the selected receiving beaches. Due to the lack of extensive industrial development and remoteness from large metropolitan areas, Morro Bay Harbor is relatively free of pollutants, as supported by testing of core samples collected from Morro Bay in March 1993. Mechanical test results of this material indicated that the material is predominantly sand (at least 90% retained on a #200 screen). Three samples each were collected from the Entrance, Navy and Morro Channels, with a 3- to 4-foot core of material collected in each case. No further analysis was deemed necessary.
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT. 3.7.2.1 Demographic Profile
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT. All wildlife refuges considered in this EA are located within agricultural viewsheds in the Central Valley. The refuges provide visual contrast with surrounding agricultural lands, primarily because of their natural vegetation and water. Scenic quality is also enhanced by the large numbers and variety of waterfowl, which increases visual sensitivity.
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT. An Oklahoma Water Resources Board report identifies Xxxxxxx County as being within the Pennsylvanian Minor Groundwater Basin, an area characterized by Pennsylvanian-age sequences of predominately shale and siltstone that have been folded into northeast to east trending synclines and anticlines (Xxxxxxx 1997). Basin rocks at the LBA tract include the Hartshorne Formation—here capped by the Hartshorne coal (Xxxxxxxxxxxx and Puglio 1979)—and the overlying McAlester Formation. Groundwater in the near- surface weathered zone is unconfined, but bedrock water, principally moving through bedding planes and partings within shale, is confined (Marcher 1987). Basin-wide, groundwater recharge is mostly from precipitation falling directly on the area. On average, fresh water in the basin can be found down to a depth of 400 feet; below 400 feet, groundwater is saline (Xxxxxxx 1997). Locally, tilted beds exposed along the old highwall of the LBA tract offer enhanced avenues for water entry and movement. Highwalls mark the extent of surface mining and may border water-filled final-cut pits or be in contact with saturated mine spoil. Precipitation more easily infiltrates, and is better transmitted by, the fragmented rock that is mine spoil than would be the case for intact bedrock. Groundwater within the spatial scope of analysis occurs in three settings: (1) undisturbed soils and underlying weathered rock that support a water table, (2) spoil banks of surface-mined areas that have a water table, and (3) bedrock that has confined layers with suitable properties to hold and transmit useable quantities of water. Measured hydraulic conductivity of six adjacent Permit 4285F monitoring xxxxx ranged from 10-8 cm/sec (comparable to an impervious clay) to 10-4 cm/sec (comparable to a silt, xxxxx silt, or clayey sand material). Only one well tested at the low end of the range: the other hydraulic conductivities varied from 10-5 cm/sec to 10-4 cm/sec. Tested well yields ranged from 0.002 gal/min to 0.05 gal/min with all but one of the xxxxx producing more than 0.01 gal/min. These values are very low. For context, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Handbook 4150.2 considers a well yield of 3 to 5 gal/min for older xxxxx and a rate of 5 gal/min for new xxxxx to be acceptable. Private xxxxx drilled into bedrock around Club Lake tap a local aquifer (or aquifers) of some limited but unknown areal extent. An aquifer is a saturated subsurface rock or sediment body that is...
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT. Bowhead whales, beluga whales, ringed seals, bearded seals, and spotted seals regularly occur in the Noticed Activities Area during the open water season. Less common marine mammal species include gray whales, polar bears, and Pacific walrus. Other marine mammal species are typically absent, rarely documented, or non-existent in the Beaufort Sea. Only species that typically occur in the central Beaufort Sea will be described and analyzed further.
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT. Coal development in Oklahoma began in approximately 1873 and has persisted, intermittently, since that time (Oklahoma Historical Society 2018). Average annual coal production in Oklahoma between 2010 and 2016 was 970,032 tons (ODM 2018). During that six year reporting period, Oklahoma coal production trended downward from a production high of 1,174,572 tons in 2011 to 670,610 tons in 2016 (ODM 2018b). Five mines produced coal in Oklahoma in 2016 (ODM 2018). These mines are located in Craig, Haskell, Le Flore, and Okmulgee counties (ODM 2018). BLM leases of federally owned coal deposits in Oklahoma account for approximately 400,000 tons of coal mined in Oklahoma annually. The general area of southeastern Oklahoma was historically surface mined for coal. The LBA tract contains a reclaimed surface mining area. Remnants of the earlier surface mining events on the tract are visible on aerial photography. Le Flore and Xxxxxxx counties, Oklahoma, are primarily rural and agricultural, and both exhibit a relatively low population density. The two counties are below the state average for both per capita and household income levels. Table 3-8 provides demographic information for each county including population figures, major employment sectors, average per capita income, and median household income. Table 3-8. Demographic information for Xxxxxxx and LeFlore counties, Oklahoma. XXXXXXX COUNTY XXXXXXX COUNTY County Population (2016) 12,577 people 49,885 people Largest Population Center Stigler (2,700 people) Poteau (8,700 people) Major Employment Sectors Government Services, Education, Health Care, Agriculture Agriculture, Forestry (includes mining), Construction, Education, Health Care, Light Manufacturing Average Per Capita Income (2016 $) $18,735 1 $19,138 1 Median Household Income (2016 $) $36,067 2 $37,548 2 1 For comparison, the average per capita income level for the state of Oklahoma is $25,628 in 2016 dollars. 2 For comparison, the median household income level for the state of Oklahoma is $48,038 in 2016 dollars.
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT. Coal production in Oklahoma began in the first half of the 1870s and has persisted, intermittently, since that time (Oklahoma Historical Society 2018). In 2017 there were seven active coal mines operating in the State of Oklahoma. These mines produced a total of approximately 634,452 tons of coal that year (ODM 2018). All of these mines produce bituminous coal. Bituminous coal has industrial production uses for steel (metallurgy), cement, and lime. Electrical power generation is also a possible use of this coal, though it is generally not preferred. Average annual coal production in Oklahoma between 2010 and 2017 was 928,085 tons while total coal production over this timeframe was 7,424,677 tons (ODM 2018). Table 3-12 reports total annual coal production in the State of Oklahoma for the years 2010-2017 as well as total and average annual coal production over this time period. In 2017, the U.S. exported approximately 55,300,000 tons of metallurgical grade bituminous coal from all U.S. coal mines (EIA 2018). In 2016, an estimated one billion tons of metallurgical grade bituminous coal were produced worldwide (International Energy Agency [IEA] 2017). YEAR ANNUAL TONNAGE 2010 978,842 2011 1,174,572 2012 1,075,070 2013 1,167,208 2014 927,064 2015 796,859 2016 670,610 2017 634,452 Total Oklahoma Coal Production (2010-2017) 7,424,677 Average Oklahoma Coal Production (2010-2017) 928,085 Sources: ODM 2018
