Environmental Assessment

AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT & ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES CHAPTER 3
replacement of damaged facilities, infrastructure, and trail segments upon completion of management
activities.
In addition to the use of heavy equipment, reopening closed roads, constructing new roads and the
construction of fire line can encourage motorized use off designated routes. Riders may become confused
and/or lost where heavy equipment has obliterated designated trails. New routes created by equipment
may look like a trail and further confuse riders. They may also pique the rider’s curiosity and encourage
riding off or outside of designated routes. Mitigation measures identified in OHV Report would eliminate
or reduce the risk of riders riding off of designated routes.
Vegetation and fuel reduction treatments that reduce or eliminate existing vegetation from areas adjacent
to trails could lead riders to cut corners, increase the use of trails by full-sized 4-wheel drive vehicles, and
reduce the “forest feel” of the trail. Removal of vegetation and/or debris would change the curvilinear
layout of the East Fort area resulting in straighter trails and faster which in turn reduces rider safety and
increases maintenance needs and costs. Mitigation measures to maintain vegetation and/or forest debris
along designated trails would minimize the risk of these events occurring. Where activities resulted in the
loss of existing vegetation and/or forest debris, slash materials and/or other forest debris would be
relocated to reduce the risk and potential of travel off of the designated trail.
Vegetation and fuel reduction treatments adjacent to or within learners’ loops are of particular concern.
These trails tend to be windy by nature and utilize existing thickets of vegetation to provide definition to
the trail. Reducing vegetation along such trails drastically reduces its effectiveness. Mitigation measures,
specifically excluding both vegetation and fuel reduction treatments from within these areas, would
reduce the risk of the trail integrity being compromised by either vegetation or fuel reduction treatments
by retaining most or all of the existing vegetation and/or forest debris (units F23 (both alternatives) and
P19 (Alternative 2) and C324 (Alternative 3).
Vegetation and fuel reduction treatments within or adjacent to trailheads and staging areas increase the
risk and potential to reduce the aesthetics of the area as well as the potential for riders to create new trails
out from the trailhead and/or staging area. Implementation of the mitigation measures that retain
vegetation and forest debris help to retain aesthetics of these areas as well as helping to reduce the risk
and potential of new trails being created. When vegetation or existing forest debris is lost as a result of
management activities, replacement using slash or other native materials from the area that were disturbed
or displaced by management activities would also help to reduce the risk and potential for new trails to be
created. It would also help to restore pre-treatment aesthetic values more quickly.
Closure and Decommissioning of Roads
Alternatives 2 and 3: The closure and decommissioning of roads within the boundaries of the EFR
OHV area would not have any direct or indirect effects on non-street legal OHV use in the area. None of
the roads proposed for closure or decommissioning under either alternative in this area is currently a
designated route or trail open to OHV use. There would be no change in the number of miles of shared
use roads open to OHV use under either alternative. Street legal OHVs would continue to be restricted to
open system roads with only street legal class III (motorcycles) OHVs continuing to use the designated
trails.
A seasonal closure of roads and motorized trails would be implemented in the MA-7 land allocation under
Alternative 3, but not under Alternative 2. A seasonal closure of roads and motorized trails for the period
from December 1 st through March 31 st of the following year in deer winter range areas would, in most
years, have no measurable effect on OHV use in those areas under either alternative because snow often
precludes use in those areas.
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