SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 5 – Environmental Consequencesfountain grass, which can rapidly invade a disturbed community. Impacts in these areas wouldinclude trampling and disturbance from vehicles and military personnel.Impacts to vegetation from range construction would be less than significant. Measures to reduceimpacts to vegetation further from range construction are the same as those described previously.Impacts to general wildlife and habitats. Range construction projects at SBMR and PTA are proposedfor areas that are currently disturbed lands or active ranges. Impacts to native vegetation and habitatsare expected to be negligible. Human presence and elevated noise levels would displace variouswildlife species during construction; however, impacts from range construction to wildlife would notbe different than the impacts from normal operations and activities occurring in the anticipatedconstruction footprints. Increased noise as a result of construction is not expected to affect terrestrialwildlife because field surveys have shown that it is not a significant factor in behavior and does notaffect reproductive success (U.S. Army Engineering District Honolulu 2000). Impacts to generalwildlife and habitats from range construction would be less than significant, and no mitigation isnecessary. Measures to reduce impacts from range construction further are the same as thosedescribed previously.No ImpactImpacts to wetlands. No wetlands have been identified at PTA. There is one regulated wetland onSBMR (USACE 2005c). The wetland, located near Mount Kaala, is within the Schofield BarracksForest Reserve where no SBCT activities would occur; therefore, no impacts to wetlands are expectedfrom range construction. On KTA, proposed construction of the Combined Arms Collective TrainingFacility (CACTF) would take place more than two miles away from Onion Pond, a regulated wetland,and no impacts are expected. SOPs and BMPs designed to minimize impacts to wetlands throughstormwater and erosion control would be followed (see Section 5.2.2 Soil Erosion and 5.2.3 WaterResources).5.2.10.3 Impacts from Live-Fire TrainingSignificant Impacts Mitigable To Less Than SignificantImpact 4: Introduction and spread of invasive plants and noxious weeds. In general, invasive plantspecies pose a threat to Native Hawaiian ecosystems. The proposed impacts from live-fire training atSBMR, PTA, and KTA would be expected to affect the introduction and spread of invasive speciesby potential fires that would put native plant species at competitive disadvantage. The potentialintroduction of fire resulting from the operation of the proposed ranges is discussed under Section5.2.4 Wildfire Management.Regulatory and Administrative Mitigation 4: Impacts from noxious weeds resulting from live-firetraining under Alternative A would be significant, but mitigable to less than significant. Mitigationmeasures for effects to noxious weeds from range construction are the same as those describedpreviously under Impacts from Cantonment Construction. Additional mitigation measures to reducethe risk of and impact from wildfires are presented in Section 5.2.4 Wildfire Management.Impact 5: Impacts to Threatened and Endangered Species. The addition of a BAX range at bothSBMR and PTA would increase the use of larger caliber munitions. The BAX at PTA would belocated in a previously disturbed site and oriented towards pre-existing ordnance impact areas. As aresult, both live- and non live-fire training would increase, resulting in the potential to increase thefrequency of wildfires, which could impact special status species. Impacts from construction ofFebruary 2008 5-50 2/25th SBCT Final EIS