Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
areas, amended with mycorrhyzae and organic fertilizers and then seeded using native, adapted
species which are characteristic of the region. The proposed seed mix is shown in table 2 in
chapter 2. This same seed mix has been used successfully in reclamation at the nearby Lee Ranch
Coal Mine for more than 30 years. It is a mix of cool and warm season grasses, forbs and shrubs
with a proven ability to reestablish in mine reclamation soils and also to support livestock
grazing.
Revegetation success would be gaged through comparison of ground cover, productivity, and
species diversity and with a reference area located in Section 16, as well as through the use of
technical guidance procedures published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Both alternative 2 and alternative 3 would result in negligible to minor linear impacts to existing
vegetation communities on approximately 84 acres of right-of-way along the proposed treated
water pipeline route as a result of the movement of wheeled or treaded construction equipment
and the laying of the 20-inch pipeline along the ground surface. Once the pipeline has been put
into place, nearby vegetation would be expected to recover on its own, although BMPs, erosion
control measures, and seeding would assist the process.
Neither action alternative is likely to adversely impact sensitive plant species. No federally listed
species or Forest Service sensitive species are present either in the permit area or along the
pipeline route, and the two State listed species which have some potential for occurring within the
permit area—the Naturita milkvetch and the Laguna fame flower (both species of concern)—
were not documented in surveys. No sensitive plant species are expected to occur along the
pipeline route and, thus, there would be no impact (table 32).
Overall, impacts to vegetation from both action alternatives would be both short term and long
term (but not permanent). Short-term impacts would be adverse, localized, moderate in
magnitude, probable, and of slight to moderate precedence/uniqueness. Long-term impacts would
be fewer because of proposed reclamation and mitigation. They would be adverse, localized,
negligible to minor in magnitude, probable, and of slight uniqueness.
In sum, impacts of the action alternatives on vegetation within the RHR permit area would be
adverse but less than significant.
Table 32. Alternatives 2 and 3 determinations of effect for special status plants
Species Status Determination
Pecos sunflower (Helianthus paradoxus) Federally Threatened No Effect
Zuni fleabane (Erigeron rhizomatus) Federally Threatened No Effect
Zuni milkvetch (Astragalus missouriensis
var.Acumbens)
Forest Service Sensitive No impact on the species
Villous ground cover milkvetch (Astragalus
humistratus var. crispulus)
Forest Service Sensitive No impact on the species
Chaco milkvetch (Astragalus micromerius) Forest Service Sensitive No impact on the species
Arizona leatherflower (Clematis hirsutissima var.
hirsutissima)
Forest Service Sensitive No impact on the species
Sivinski’s fleabane (Erigeron svinskii) Forest Service Sensitive No impact on the species
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 209