Draft Environmental Impact Report - California Off Highway Vehicle ...

3.4 Visual Resources
3.4 Visual Resources
This section presents details on the existing setting and regulatory setting for visual resources. It
also includes an analysis of the visual impacts that would result from implementing the Clay Pit
SVRA General Plan, including constructing and operating the headquarters facilities.
3.4.1 Existing Setting
This section describes additional setting information to supplement the visual setting information
provided in Section 2.3.4, “Aesthetic Resources,” of the Clay Pit SVRA General Plan. The General
Plan describes the features of the project site, including the broad, flat, dirt basin containing
scattered pools, grasses, and trees, and the views of the surrounding area, including the grassland
terrace, the airport, the shooting range, farmland, one residence, the Sierra Nevada, and the Sutter
Buttes. The General Plan also includes photos from five viewpoints at Clay Pit SVRA.
Area Surrounding the Project Site
The topography of the surrounding area is relatively flat and the dominant feature is open annual
grassland interspersed with stands of trees. The terrain exhibits small undulations associated with
the vernal pool features within the grasslands. The area to the east and south of the project site is
characterized by riparian forest growing within dredge tailings along the Feather River. The
airport is located to the northwest of the project site; this area is characterized by low‐rise
construction and roadways with grasslands between runways and surrounding the widely spaced
structures.
Project Viewshed
Views of the site are primarily from Larkin Road, which wraps around the north and west sides of
the project site. From the west side of the site the viewshed incorporates the project site in the
foreground, the riparian vegetation in the DFG Oroville Wildlife Management Area in the middle
ground, and the Sierra Nevada in the background above the trees. From the north side of the site
the viewshed incorporates the project site with the riparian vegetation along the Feather River in
the wildlife refuge on the left side of the view, and to the southwest, the Sutter Buttes can be seen
in the distance.
Visual Quality
The views of the site and across the site are considered low to moderate quality based on visual
resource evaluation methodology developed by FHWA, which uses the concepts of vividness,
unity, and intactness to assign visual quality to scenic resources (FHWA 1988). Visual resources in
the middleground and background, consisting of distant views of the trees at the DFG wildlife
preserve and the Sierra Nevada, are of moderate value; however, the disturbed area in the Clay Pit
dominates the foreground and detracts from these higher quality background views.
Clay Pit State Vehicular Recreation Area
Draft EIR 3.4-1 February 2012