Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
The Forest Service sent letters to the eight tribes on March 30, 2011, asking if they wished to
continue consultation and be part of the Section 106 consultation process as consulting parties.
The Jicarilla Apache Nation and the Pueblos of Jemez and Sandia did not respond to the
invitation. The five remaining tribes elected to continue their participation in the consultation
process for the RHR Mine. These tribes include the Pueblos of Acoma, Laguna, and Zuni, the
Hopi Tribe, and the Navajo Nation. For purposes of clarity, these five tribes collectively are
referred to in this document as the “involved tribes.”
Multiple meetings and field visits have been held between the Forest Service, the involved State
agencies, and each of the involved tribes, sometimes with tribal staff and sometimes with tribal
officials and leaders, between December 2010 and the issuance of this draft EIS. These meetings
included information sharing on such topics as details of the proposed project, Federal and State
processes for permit application reviews and NEPA analyses, the status of environmental
analyses, and concerns of the tribes. In addition, the involved tribes have been kept informed of
the progress of the NEPA analyses and permit application reviews through emails and phone
calls. The involved tribes have also been provided information, kept informed of progress, and
consulted on impact concerns throughout the Section 106 compliance process (see section below
on “Section 106 Compliance Process”).
During the time between the availability of this draft EIS and issuance of the final EIS and Forest
Service’s record of decision (ROD), consultation with the involved tribes by the Forest Service
and the involved State agencies will continue, to ensure tribal concerns are well understood and
presented in the documentation, to identify appropriate mitigation measures, and to fulfill the
requirements of the Federal and State statutes as they apply to each agency. Consultation with the
involved tribes regarding the proposed project will also likely continue beyond the ROD, in a
manner determined during development of mitigation measures.
Section 106 Compliance Process
The Forest Service has endeavored to conduct a robust and thorough process to ensure
compliance with Section 106 and its implementing regulations 36 CFR Part 800. These efforts
have resulted in the collection of pertinent and valuable information for use by the Forest Service
in making its determinations of NRHP eligibility and adverse effect, per the regulations. It bears
repeating that Section 106 compliance and analysis of effects only applies to historic properties,
which is a subcategory of the larger cultural resources being analyzed for this EIS. The process
implemented for Section 106 compliance includes the conduct of extensive cultural resource
investigations, tribal consultation, and consultation with interested parties. The resource
investigations (archaeological, geomorphic, and ethnographic) and tribal consultation are
described above. The consultation with interested parties is described here, followed by
discussions of resource significance evaluation and the status of the Section 106 compliance
process.
Consultation with Interested Parties
There are multiple participants in the Roca Honda Mine Section 106 compliance process. The
lead agency is the Forest Service, which is the agency that holds the statutory obligation to
comply with Section 106. The Forest Service requested and has received the ACHP’s
involvement in the project’s Section 106 process to provide guidance and assistance. Remaining
312 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest