ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES

Analysis Methods

The interdisciplinary team for this environmental assessment consisted of the Agate staff and a variety of consultants, as identified in the Preparers and Qualifications section below. After definition of the alternative methods for achieving the desired goals of the proposed Agate parklands fire management program (e.g., reduce fuel load, enhance native ecosystem diversity, control exotic vegetation), and considering the affected environment, the park staff and consultants developed the outline presented earlier as Table 1 to assess the interconnectedness of resources, actions, and impacts. This assessment was based on, and complements, the objective and accurate presentation of data about the existing environment, the proposed alternatives, and the expected impacts of those alternatives on that environment.

The area of analysis and impact thresholds were defined resource by resource, as the assessment was conducted, with consideration of the intensity, duration, and timing of the potential adverse and beneficial impacts of the proposed actions on the park environment. Definitions of impact evaluation factors varied by affected resource, but the following definitions were applied across this evaluation.

· Impact type:

· Beneficial: A positive change in the condition or appearance of a resource or a change that moves the resource toward a desired condition.

· Adverse: A change that moves the resource away from a desired condition or detracts from its appearance or condition.

· Direct: An effect caused by an action at the same time and place.

· Indirect: An effect caused by an action where the effect is later in time or removed in space, but is reasonably foreseeable.

· Cumulative: Impacts to a resource that increase in effect, size, quantity, etc., over time; have an additive impact over the past, present, and future.

· Impact intensity (either adverse or beneficial):

· Negligible: Impact at the lowest levels of detection, barely measurable with no perceptible consequences.

· Minor: Impact is measurable or perceptible, with little loss of resource integrity and changes are small, localized, and of little consequence.

· Moderate: Impact is measurable and perceptible and would alter a defining characteristic of the resource but not modify overall resource integrity, or the adversity could be mitigated successfully.

· Major: Impacts would be substantial, highly noticeable, and permanent.

· Context:

· Site-specific: Impact is limited to the area of the proposed action.

· Local: Impact extends beyond the area of the proposed action, generally within five to ten miles of the specific site.

· Regional: Impact extends beyond the specific or local area of the proposed action, generally within a hundred miles of the specific site.

· Duration:

· Short-term: An effect would no longer be detectable in resource appearance or condition within a relatively short period of time, generally less than three years.

· Long-term: A change in the appearance or condition of a resource that for all purposes is permanent.

· Impairment: "…[A]n impact that, in the professional judgment of the responsible NPS manager, would harm the integrity of park resources or values, including the opportunities that otherwise would be present for the enjoyment of those resources or values. Whether an impact meets this definition depends on the particular resources and values that would be affected; the direct and indirect effects of the impact; the cumulative effects of the impact in question and other impacts" (NPS 2001:12).

Alternative 1. No New Action, Total Wildland Fire Suppression Continues

If the present total wildland fire suppression policy is maintained, with no use of prescribed fire or mowing to reduce hazardous fuels, little will change at Agate. The following environmental consequences will continue to be expected. All of the expected impacts would be short-term, and direct and site-specific unless specified otherwise.

• Archeological sites: Negligible to minor adverse direct impacts of wildfire suppression are expected, given the use of sensitivity maps during fire suppression for avoidance of mechanical disturbance to sites. Archeological evaluations of the effect of grassland fire across such materials (e.g., Buenger 2001a,b; Picha et al. 1991; Ryan 2001; Sundstrom 2002) are that surface-lain stone and ceramic artifacts may be scorched and smoke-blackened, but that artifact forms and materials and depositional characteristics of subsurface deposits (even at less than 1 cm. depth) would not be modified so as to harm their information values. The park has recently consulted with the 31 culturally affiliated tribes about the park’s control of wildfire on this property; the five responses received (Cheyenne and Arapahoe Tribes of Oklahoma, Crow Tribe, Three Affiliated Tribes, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma) support fire management activities throughout the Agate cultural landscape, including over the archeological sites.

• Historic properties, including cultural landscapes and traditional cultural properties: Negligible impacts of wildland fire suppression are expected. The Bone Cabin Complex and Hoffman House would be specifically protected, and mechanical intrusion into the cultural landscapes and traditional cultural properties would be avoided by limiting engines to established roads. Traces of any historic or more recent trails would remain after burning or may even be enhanced by the removal of vegetative cover. As mentioned previously, the park's culturally affiliated tribes support fire management activities throughout the park-wide cultural landscape.

· Ethnographic resources: Negligible impacts of continued wildfire are expected, with engines limited to established roads and sensitivity maps provided to fire fighters. Fire over these resources is part of the native ecosystem and would not adversely affect them, but mechanical disturbance and inappropriate human behavior related to them could adversely impact traditional values.

· Fossil and associated geological deposits: Suppression of wildfires at Agate will have negligible impacts to the fossil and associated geological deposits. A recent study of the effects of fire on paleontological and/or geological resources at Badlands National Park (Benton and Reardon 2002) suggested that low to moderate fire conditions have negligible to minor effects on fossils except where they are in direct contact with fuel. That is, the fossil structure and identifying characteristics, (e.g., their scientific values) are not debased. Agate's fossils and associated geological features (e.g., ancient sand dunes) are not associated with any heavy fuel load.

• Soils: Wildfire suppression across park soils will have a negligible impact on them since grassland fire will not be intense and mechanical intrusion will be limited to established roads and trails.

• Flora (general): Wildfire suppression will have a minor beneficial impact on the park vegetation community. Graetz, Garrott, and Craven (1995:15) commented that:

Fire could also be beneficial to both animal and plant communities. Selective burning every 3-5 years would create a habitat type favored by Upland sandpipers…and Sharp-tailed grouse…. In general, fire has been shown to increase plant productivity…and plant species diversity…in many grassland communities.

• Fauna (general): Wildfire suppression at Agate is expected to have a negligible impact on the park fauna, and Graetz, Garrott, and Craven's comments apply to park animals as well as plants. Wildfire over the Niobrara River, with its included fish, amphibians, and macroinvertebrates, is not expected to be hot enough to have an impact.

• Wetlands and floodplains: Wildfire through the wetlands (cf. Kirby, Lewis, and Sexton 1988) would have a minor beneficial impact by restoring healthier wetlands and/or the Niobrara riverbed (by decreasing the cattail or willow growth). Because of this non-adverse impact, approval of this Environmental Assessment does not require an E. O. 11990 Statement of Findings.

• Exotic species: Wildfire suppression through areas of exotic plant growth would have moderate beneficial effects, depending on the season of plant growth. Spring or early summer wildfire through the Canada thistle insectaries could have an adverse impact on the biocontrols, but would not in the late summer or fall. Wildfires across the Agate landscape are most likely to occur in late summer or fall.

• Threatened and endangered species, including state-listed rare plants: Continuation of the present Agate fire management policy would have a negligible impact on the state-listed rare plants on park lands, since a fast prairie fire would not damage their root systems.

• Fuel load: Wildfire suppression across the Agate landscape would have a negligible to minor beneficial effect, depending on the path of the suppressed fire, in reducing the park's fuel load.

• Hydrological resources: Wildfire across the Niobrara River, which is embedded in wetlands for most of its length through the park, would have a minor adverse effect (fire ash) on surface water quality or quantity within the park and for a short distance downstream. However, ash deposits would disperse quickly. The wildfire would have a negligible impact on park groundwater.

· Air resources: Wildfire suppression on Agate parklands would be of short duration and thus have only a minor adverse impact on air quality in the park or within the local airshed. Low population density reduces the number of smoke receptors, and the prevailing winds would dissipate smoke within hours.

• Socioeconomic resources, including health and safety and environmental justice: Wildfire suppression on Agate lands could have a minor indirect beneficial impact in eliminating some of the fuel load and diminishing the risk of uncontrolled wildfire out onto local private property. The impact on regional socioeconomic resources and/or the health and safety of involved individuals would be negligible

Alternative 2 (Preferred). Fire Management Program includes Suppression and Prescribed Fire

Alternative 2 includes the continued suppression of wildfire across Agate lands, so that all of the impacts discussed under Alternative 1 apply here. There are few additional impacts from using prescribed fire as well as suppression activities.

· Flora (general): The addition of prescribed fire would have a minor beneficial impact by increasing the opportunity for additional forb colonization, hence enhancing the native ecosystem.

· Exotic species: The addition of prescribed fire would have a moderate beneficial effect in assisting in cheatgrass control, and would be scheduled to have a negligible impact on the Canada thistle insectaries.

· Fuel load: The addition of prescribed fire across the Agate landscape would diminish the park's fuel load, thus having a moderate beneficial impact.

Alterative 3. Fire Management Program includes Suppression and Mowing

Alternative 3 includes continued wildfire suppression as in Alternative 1, and the impacts of this activity as described above for that alternative. Alternative 3 also includes mowing of accessible terrace and alluvial fan areas, but would not use prescribed fire. There are few additional impacts from adding mowing to the park's current fire management control program.

• Soils: Operation of a mower, and then a rake and baler, would disturb the fragile topsoil in the mowed area, leaving it susceptible to blowing and erosion; this would be a moderate adverse impact.

• Wetlands and floodplains: Unless there was a wildfire across the wetlands, there would be no removal of litter there and thus implementation of this alternative would have a negligible impact.

• Exotic species: Unless there was a wildfire across the wetlands and floodplain, and across the Holocene terraces, there would be no removal of the Canada thistle seedbed there. Thus, implementation of this alternative would have a negligible impact.

• Threatened and endangered species, include state-listed rare plants: Mowing and raking across the Holocene terraces would have an minor adverse impact on the state-listed rare plants there by damaging their fragile root systems.

• Fuel load: Mowing the terraces and alluvial fans would reduce the park's fuel load and thus have a minor beneficial impact. However, it would leave grassy upper slopes adjacent to rocky butte tops that are more likely to take lightning strikes and thus have a negligible impact.

• Air resources: The use of mowing rather than prescribed fire to reduce the park's fuel load would diminish the likelihood of smoke impacts on local air quality but still be a negligible impact.

• Socioeconomic resources, including health and safety and environmental justice: The use of mowing rather than prescribed fire on Agate lands would diminish the risk of wildland fire escaping from the park onto adjacent private lands. Use of a contractor to do the mowing and baling might be economically beneficial for the contractor.

Cumulative Impacts

Wildfire has been suppressed on Agate park lands for the past century, with the cumulative effect of hazardous fuels buildup across the landscape. Continued suppression of wildfires will continue this buildup. Implementation of the preferred alternative, suppression of wildfires on Agate lands complemented by the use of prescribed fire, will have the beneficial cumulative effect of reducing the fuel loads and allowing the park to maintain its landscape in conditions much more like those of pre-Euroamerican settlement of the Niobrara valley.

Potential Resource Impairment

Initiation of the preferred alternative would not impair any of the park's historic properties, including its cultural landscapes or traditional cultural properties, or its archeological sites or ethnographic resources. None of its fossil and associated geological deposits, soils, flora, fauna, wetlands and floodplains, exotic species, or state-listed rare plants would be impaired, nor would its hydrological or air resources.

Environmentally Preferable Alternative

Agate fire management planning Alternative 2, the preferred alternative, is the plan that would best promote America's national environmental policy as expressed in laws, regulations, and guidance. This alternative is responsible stewardship of public land and its resources, promoting a safe, healthful, productive, and esthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings. It will not support environmental degradation, will preserve America's natural and cultural heritage, and prove a balance between resource use and stewardship in the public interest. It will enhance the quality of the renewable vegetation community at Agate, supporting the regeneration of a native ecosystem. It will please the local ranching community, which sees the lack of grassland management at Agate as irresponsible, and will not have any adverse effects on minority or low income populations. It will be a part of the park's environmental education program, communicating the benefits of responsible natural and cultural heritage stewardship to Agate visitors as well as schools and other public organizations to which the park staff make presentations. Introduction of prescribed fire complemented by suppression of wildland fires is the environmentally preferable program at Agate.

Recommendation Based On the Environmental Assessment and Assessment of Effect

Based on the information and evaluations presented above, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument prefers to institute a new Fire Management Plan and policy at the park. The new policy, presented here as Alternative 2, would be to continue to suppress wildfire and to use prescribed fire to enhance Agate’s native plant communities and reduce hazardous fuel loads.

Identification of sensitivity areas in fire planning, with provisions for protection and/or avoidance as is appropriate to the specific resources, should not result in any adverse impacts to those resources. Development of a Native American Emergency Discovery Plan within a revised Agate Fire Management Plan, and adherence to it in specific burn unit planning and implementation, would fulfill the requirements of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Consultation with tribes affiliated with the Agate cultural landscape will involve tribal review of this draft Environmental Assessment and Assessment of Effect and review and comment on the Agate Fire Management Plan.

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CONSULTATION/COORDINATION

Agencies Consulted

Apache Tribe of Oklahoma

Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River Reservation

Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation

Cheyenne-Arapahoe Tribes of Oklahoma

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation

Comanche Indian Tribe of Oklahoma

Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation

Crow Tribe of Montana

Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe

Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma

Jicarilla Apache Tribe of the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation

Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of the Lower Brule Reservation

Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Wetland Program

Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation

Northwestern Band of Shoshoni Nation

Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation

Omaha Tribe of Nebraska

Pawnee Indian Tribe of Oklahoma

Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma

Ponca Tribe of Nebraska

Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation

Santee Sioux Tribe of the Santee Reservation

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation of Idaho

Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation

Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation

Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe of the Devils Lake Sioux Reservation, North Dakota

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of the Standing Rock Reservation, South Dakota and North Dakota

Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation

Yankton Sioux Tribe

Persons Consulted

Dr. Edward Buchwald, Retired Professor of Geology and Environmental Studies, Carleton College, Northfield, MN; Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Volunteer-in-Park

Chuck Butterfield, Assistant Professor, Agriculture and Range Management, Chadron State College, Chadron, NE

Dave Carr, Fire Management Officer, Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oshkosh, NE

Cyndi Crayton, Owner, Integrated Weed Control. Bozeman, MT

Jim Ellicott, Chief, Harrison Volunteer Fire Department, Harrison, NE

Dr. Paul R. Gleeson, Cultural Resource Specialist, Olympic National Park, Port Angeles, WA

Julie Godberson, Environmental Reviewer, Wetlands Program, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Lincoln, NE

Philip Hughson, President, Harrison Rural Fire Protection District, Morrill, NE

Trinkle Jones, Western Archeological and Conservation Center, Tucson, AZ

Senator Chuck Hagel, U. S. Senate, Washington

Kenny Keener, landowner, Mitchell, NE

Leona Keener, landowner, Harrison, NE

Richard Klukas, retired NPS Supervisory Research Biologist, Omaha, NE

Senator Leroy Louden, Nebraska State Capitol, Lincoln

Nancy Neibauer, President, Agate Springs Ranch, Englewood, CO

Ritch Nelson, District 1 Manager, Habitat Partners Section, Wildlife Division, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Alliance, NE

Senator Ben Nelson, U. S. Senate, Washington

Joe Nunn, Sioux County Commissioner and landowner, Harrison, NE

Congressman Tom Osborne, U. S. House of Representatives, Washington

Paul R. Picha, Chief Archeologist, Historic Preservation Division, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck

Charles Skavdahl, Skavdahl Brothers, Harrison, NE

Harold Skavdahl, Skavdahl Brothers, Harrison, NE

James Skavdahl, Manager, Agate Springs Ranch, Harrison, NE

Dr. Linea Sundstrom, Cultural Resource Consultant, Shorewood, WI

Lyndon Vogt, General Manager, Upper Niobrara White Natural Resource District, Chadron, NE

PREPARERS AND QUALIFICATIONS

This Environmental Assessment and Assessment of Effect was prepared by Dr. Ruthann Knudson, Superintendent, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, with the assistance of Bill Matthews, AGFO Maintenance Worker Supervisor, Casey J. Osback, AGFO Park Ranger (Protection), Lil Morava, AGFO Visitor Use Assistant, Kelly Mansfield, AGFO Office Clerk, Mark Hertig, AGFO Curator, and other park seasonal maintenance and interpretive staff members. John Ray, NPS atmospheric chemist, Dennis Haddow, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service fire air quality specialist, and Larry Martin, NPS hydrologist, were of assistance, as were Mike DeBacker of the NPS Prairie Cluster Prototype Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Project and Lisa Thomas of the Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecological Study Unit Network. Dr. Knudson has 40 years of experience in cultural resource management, and 28 years' experience in NEPA compliance, Native American relationships, and public land management. The document was reviewed by Valerie J. Naylor and Ralph Moore, sequential Superintendents, Scotts Bluff National Monument; Nick Chevance, National Park Service Midwest Regional Environmental Compliance Specialist; several NPS Midwest Regional resource specialists; and Robert Puschendorf, Deputy Nebraska State Historic Preservation Officer. It was made available to all of the points of consultation and coordination listed above.

RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS

Comments concerning this Environmental Assessment and Assessment of Effect should be submitted in writing to the Superintendent, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (301 River Road, Harrison NE 69346-2734, Ph. 308.668.2211, FAX 308.668.2318, agfo_superintendent@nps.gov) by no later than 6:00pm, DATE.

For Immediate Release Contact: Ruthann Knudson, 308-668-2211

AGATE FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT FIRE DISCUSSION MEETING

(HARRISON, NE) The public is invited to participate in a meeting on Thursday, January 10, 2002, to discuss the possible use of fire in managing Agate Fossil Beds National Monument’s natural and cultural landscape. The meeting will be held at the Monument’s Visitor Center and Museum from 4pm to 7:30pm, and people are invited to come at any time during that period to talk with staff members about Agate fire-related issues.

Agate Fossil Beds includes 2270 acres of publicly owned land within its boundaries, which are surrounded by private land. The National Park Service requires that managers assess the potential effects of wildfire and/or prescribed fire on its lands. Wild or even humanly set fires undoubtedly occurred across the Niobrara River valley at Agate before the Agate Springs Ranch was established there in the 1880s, but haven’t happened since. The park lands have not been grazed for over thirty years, and there is an accumulation of dry grasses and shrubs across the landscape. Fire can be a very useful tool in managing such grasslands and avoiding the spread of dangerous wildfires.

Agate’s Bone Cabin Complex is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and all of the private and public lands within the Monument boundaries are considered to be a cultural landscape eligible for Register listing. Many American Indian tribes are also culturally affiliated with this landscape, which includes at least two traditional cultural properties. Miocene fossil beds are located in several locations along the valley breaks. Canada thistle on monument lands is being managed in an integrated program of insect, herbicide, and mowing controls. There are extensive wetlands along the Niobrara River, and these and the grasslands support deer, porcupines, beavers, coyotes, hawks, harriers, and a range of small mammals.

In the coming months the monument will complete a Draft Environmental Assessment of the effects of managed fire and other alternatives on this complex landscape. An evaluation of the impact that fires might have on Agate’s cultural sites will also be completed. This meeting is to gather public input so that all issues are addressed in reaching a sound management decision.

The Visitor Center and Museum is located at 301 River Road in central Sioux County, just off State Highway 29. People may make comments at the meeting or provide them in writing to the Superintendent, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 301 River Road, Harrison, NE 69346-2734 (FAX 308-668-2318), by January 20, 2002.

12/20/01