Bureau of Land Management's Decision Record and Environmental

Jersey Valley Geothermal Development Project
Environmental Assessment: NV063-EAO8-09 1
utilize the hot springs within the Jersey Valley Unit Area as there would be no affect on the
quality or quantity of the surface or ground waters in the Unit Area (see Section 3.9.2) or the
surrounding environment.
The Project does not propose any activity which would prevent continued access by recreational
users to the public lands within the Jersey Valley Unit Area and proposed transmission line
corridor. Project operations should also not impact the ability of hunters to access previous
hunting grounds, or impact the abundance of game animals.
Air quality impacts to recreation users could include dust from vehicle traffic on unpaved roads
and exhaust from construction vehicles. As discussed in Section 3.2.2, these would be short-term
and temporary. Ormat has also stated that water would be applied to the disturbed ground during
the construction activities as necessary to control dust (see Section 2.1.11).
Project-generated noise and traffic could cause some recreational users within the Jersey Valley
Unit Area and proposed transmission line corridor to stay away during the Project construction
and drilling activities. These indirect effects would be temporary and short-term. The Project
should have no residual impacts on recreation.
3.13.2.2 Alternative 1
The impacts of Alternative 1 to Recreation would not be different from that of the Proposed
Action.
3.14 VISUAL RESOURCES
3.14.1 Affected Environment
The BLM initiated the visual resource management (VRM) process to manage the quality of
landscapes on public land and to evaluate the potential impacts to visual resources resulting from
development activities. VRM class designations are determined by assessing the scenic value of
the landscape, viewer sensitivity to the scenery, and the distance of the viewer to the subject
landscape. These management classes identify various permissible levels of landscape alteration,
while protecting the overall visual quality of the region. They are divided into four levels
(Classes I, II, III, and IV). Class I is the most restrictive and Class IV is the least restrictive
(BLM 1986).
The entire Jersey Valley Unit Area and proposed transmission line corridor are located in a VRM
Class IV area (BLM, MLFO 2006b). The objective of Class IV is to provide for management
activities that require major modification of the existing landscape character. The level of change
to the characteristic landscape can be high. Management activities may dominate the view and be
the major focus of viewer attention. Every attempt, however, should be made to minimize the
impact of these activities through careful location, minimal disturbance, and repeating the basic
landscape elements (BLM 1986).
- 78 -