SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 5 – Environmental Consequences1989, 1990). Large military vehicles can alter vertical and horizontal structure of plant communities(Severinghaus et al. 1981).Increased soil compaction can alter plant communities by affecting seedling establishment, plantwater and nutrient uptake, root penetration, and by causing invasions of more tolerant plant species.Reestablishment of plant communities and structure may be impeded by changes in soil properties(Shaw and Diersing 1990).Jones (1993) reported that bivouac sites damage vegetation in forested areas by reducing overstoryand understory stem density and species richness. Decreased ground cover resulted in increased bareground and bulk soil density, with significant soil loss in some areas. Soil compaction occurred,resulting in crown dieback, although canopy cover was not significantly different between bivouacsites and non-bivouac sites.The impacts from maneuver training could range from less than significant to significant dependingon environmental conditions and spatial extent of damage. The impacts to forest resources would benegligible. Increases in foot training during summer could result in minor impacts to vegetation, butthe impacts would not be widespread.Overall, impacts to vegetation from maneuver training would be significant but mitigable to less thansignificant. The amount of impacts to vegetation from SBCT would increase with the need for largertraining areas; however, the intensity of the impacts would decrease through their more frequent useof existing roads.Regulatory and Administrative Mitigation 2: Mitigation measures for impacts to vegetation frommaneuver training would be the same as those described under Impacts from CantonmentConstruction.Less Than Significant ImpactsImpacts to Threatened and Endangered Species. SBCT training would have similar impacts to specialstatus species as current IBCT training. Ongoing Army environmental management and stewardshipactivities would continue to decrease effect intensity and to protect sensitive plants and habitatswithin the ROI. All determinations made through ESA Section 7 Consultation would apply under thisalternative as well. Any effects would be limited and would be addressed by ongoing Armyenvironmental management and stewardship activities. Impacts are expected to be less thansignificant.Impacts to general wildlife and habitats. Maneuver training would affect wildlife by disruptinganimals and altering habitat. Impacts from trampling and an associated reduction in vegetativegroundcover would result in loss and degradation of habitat for general vegetation, wildlife, andhabitat. Habitats and wildlife would be impacts by removing vegetation, deterring wildlife fromforaging, and promulgating other general degradation effects that would result from elevated humanactivity, but not to a significant degree. In all maneuver areas, new or existing, wildlife that does notvacate areas being used for maneuver could sustain injuries. The most likely species to be affected byoff-road maneuvers would be ground-nesting birds or small mammals.The increase in frequency of smaller deployments in FRA could affect some animals. However, anyincrease in direct mortality from training would not likely affect wildlife at population levels.Bivouac, foot use, and general vehicle traffic in maneuver areas would increase. Although these kindsof disturbances do not represent physical destruction of habitat, they can compromise habitat qualityfor some individual animals or localized populations. Certain species can habituate to disturbanceFebruary 2008 5-110 2/25th SBCT Final EIS