Bureau of Land Management's Decision Record and Environmental

Jersey Valley Geothermal Development Project
Environmental Assessment: NV063 -EAO8-09 1
* AUMs will be rounded to the appropriate whole number
All Project activities are located away from sources of water in the vicinity and will not prevent
livestock access to the available sources of water in the area.
To prevent access by cattle to areas which might be harmful to them, Ormat has committed to
fence reserve pits and the power plant site in conformance with the Gold Book, and has not
proposed any Project activities which would substantially limit livestock’s access to the
undisturbed portions of the Jersey Valley Unit Area.
Due to the small percentage of the allotment’s acres lost to direct disturbance, Ormat’s fencing of
those Project facilities potentially harmful to livestock, and the fact that Project facilities and
practices would not prevent continued access by livestock to the undisturbed lands within the
Jersey Valley Unit Area and along the transmission line corridor, no impacts to range resources
are expected.
Ormat’s proposed activities are generally located away from the range improvement projects.
The transmission line is proposed to cross the Cow Creek Pipeline. Ormat has committed to
“span” this pipeline and not place transmission line poles in such a way as to damage the existing
pipeline, therefore no impacts to the Cow Creek Pipeline are anticipated.
3.12.2.2 Alternative 1
The construction, operation and maintenance of Alternative 1 would differ from the Proposed
Action only by the small increase (0.25 acre) in the total permanent surface disturbance. The
impacts of Alternative 1 to Rangeland would not be different from that of the Proposed Action.
3.13 RECREATION
3.13.1 Affected Environment
Known dispersed recreational use within the Jersey Valley Unit Area is evidenced in the soaking
facility constructed downstream of the hot springs located in the SW1/4 Section 29, T27N, R4OE
(see Section 3.9.1). Within the transmission line corridor, recreation use is low and mainly
associated with dispersed driving for pleasure, hunting, wildlife viewing and OHV use.
3.13.2 Environmental Consequences
3.13.2.1 Proposed Action
The closest project activity within the Jersey Valley Unit Area is well site 17-28 and the
associated production pipeline. As these proposed Project components are over 0.25 miles from
the soaking facility, no impacts are anticipated.
Project operations should not adversely affect the ability of recreational users to either access or
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