Final Environmental Impact Statement Rio de los Pinos Vegetation ...

Final Environmental Impact Statement Rio de los Pinos Vegetation Management Project
known from any of the streams within the analysis area. Stocking of trout within the watershed
can impact the existing fishery if diseases are introduced and also have an impact on the native
fish if nonnative fish are stocked.
At this time, the presence of nonnative trout has the largest impact on native trout across the
Forest. If RGCT were present within the analysis area, nonnative salmonids would pose a
serious threat to their continued existence. RGCT readily hybridize with other spring spawners,
including rainbow trout and nonnative subspecies of cutthroat trout, resulting in a loss of their
genetic integrity and unique phenotypic characteristics. RGCT are also subject to competition
and possibly predation by sympatric populations of brook trout and brown trout.
For all alternatives, the direct, indirect, and cumulative effects to aquatic populations from timber
harvest, and harvest related activities, would be minimal as long as S & G’s and the project
design criteria are adhered to. Individuals may be impacted for short periods of time due to
increased runoff and siltation but the impacts would not be expected to result in loss of viability
of aquatic species in the project area.
3.11 Scenic Resources
It is often difficult to distinguish between natural landscapes and those resulting from historic
cultural alterations. In the last 50 years, The Rio de Los Pinos Project Area has been influenced
culturally by grazing, management practices, timber harvest, and most recently high recreation
use. Recently the Scenic Management Principles have been modified to describe landscapes as a
dynamic system that changes over time. Unfortunately, ecological time and human timeframes
are different and dramatic catastrophic events on the landscape are likely to create a mixture of
negative and positive responses from our visitors. Although some of our visitors are aware of the
essential need for natural processes on landscapes such as fire, wind throw, and insects and
disease, a majority of visitors view landscapes as stationary and are attached to the characteristic
landscape they have grown accustomed to seeing and experiencing.
The scenic attractiveness of a landscape, which is characterized by particular landforms,
vegetative patterns, water characteristics, cultural features, and overall appearance of the
landscape, may change either temporarily or permanently by insects, disease, fire, floods, or
tornados. A catastrophic event of these types would generally not affect the Scenic Objectives
for the landscape, however, it would change the character of the landscape itself; giving it a new
appearance.
In any case, forest insects and disease in this project area can be considered epidemic due to
sheer numbers of infected trees. Because of this, the landscape could change from a forested
canopy to a non-forested opening temporarily (based upon the next 100 years of ecological
time), or it may slowly regenerate as a forested community over the long term. It is difficult to
predict the long term results of this event.
Scope of Analysis
The analysis area for scenic resources is defined by the proposed management treatments
(Alternatives 2 and 3).
Chapter 3 – Affected Environment & Environmental Consequences Page 3-66