Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
lowest possible impact levels, and the overall impact or environmental consequence of this
alternative is determined to be not significant.
Effects Common to the Action Alternatives
The distance of the mine from designated Cibola National Forest recreation sites is great enough
that there would be a negligible direct effect on the recreation experience at these sites as a result
of mining operations. Access to and from the mine from mine-related vehicles would occur along
State Route 605, and it appears that access to the above listed recreation sites would be mainly
State Route 547 (to the nearest U.S. Forest Service recreation sites) or routes that are further away
from State Route 605. Therefore, there would likely be minimal exposure of formal recreation
site visitors to increased traffic from the mine, except on major roadways where such encounters
with commercial traffic of this type are more common.
As discussed in the “Land Use” section above, there are current recreation-related land uses on
Forest Service lands within the mine permit area that include hunting and firewood gathering. It is
likely that the hunting activity would be curtailed by the Forest Service to some extent while the
mine is active due to safety concerns for personnel at the mine. These restrictions would
temporarily limit hunting in a very small fraction of the area open to hunting within the Cibola
National Forest. Firewood gathering would be restricted within the limited number of fenced
areas of the mine, but would otherwise be a compatible land use within the more open areas of
Sections 9 and 10.
Conclusion – Common Effects of Action Alternatives on Recreation
The magnitude of the effect of the action alternatives on the recreation resource is evaluated as
the elimination or severe restriction of recreational opportunities having varying levels of
recreational users participating. The effect of both action alternatives on recreation is on a small
number of recreational users mainly hunters and, to a lesser extent, firewood gatherers who would
be expected to be local users, so the appropriate magnitude of an adverse effect is minor.
The duration of the effect of these alternatives on recreation resources is evaluated as the length
of the project life while this alternative is viable. The mine project is scheduled to last 18–19
years from the issuance of a permit to the completion of reclamation (RHR, 2012), so the duration
is categorized as medium term, which is a project life of 5–20 years.
The extent of the effect of the action alternatives on the recreation resource is evaluated as the
area affected by this alternative as a percentage of available recreation area within a 4-hour drive.
From information taken from the forest plan, the applicable dispersed recreation area would
include the total area of the Cibola National Forest, which is currently 1,618,459 acres.
When considering the area affected by the alternative, four options might be considered. The first
option could be described as the maximum area of Federal lands disturbed by the project, which
is 93.5 acres. The second option is the maximum total area of land disturbed, both Federal and
State lands, which is 183 acres. The third option is the total Federal area covered by the mining
permit, which is Sections 9 and 10, or 1,280 acres. The fourth option would include all of Section
16, the State of New Mexico lands, which would be 1,920 acres. There are also approximately 22
acres disturbed on private lands in Sections 11, 15, 17, and 20.
262 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest