SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 5 – Environmental Consequences5.5.10.1.2 Impacts from Range ConstructionSignificant Impacts Mitigable To Less Than SignificantImpact 1: Introduction and spread of invasive plants and noxious weeds. Construction projects couldintroduce more invasive species to the area or spread existing invasive plants. Impacts from noxiousweeds from range construction would be significant but mitigable to less than significant.Regulatory and Administrative Mitigation 1: Mitigation measures for effects to noxious weeds fromrange construction are the same as those described under Alternative A.Less Than Significant ImpactsImpacts to vegetation: Habitats on SBMR, DMR, and KTA/KLOA are, for the most part, disturbednatural and introduced landscapes. If activities in these areas were to occur, they would mostly affectnonnative species adapted to stressed or nonnative environments. Vegetation within the footprints ofthese projects, which primarily includes nonnative grasses, shrubs, and pineapple fields, would bedisturbed or removed.Grading during construction would involve turning up the ground, moving topsoil and vegetation, andstaging the heavy machinery area, and would cause intensive short-term disturbance to vegetation.Following any construction, the Army would seed disturbed areas with native or noninvasivevegetation. Mitigation measures described under Alternative A would ensure the impacts are less thansignificant levels.Impacts to general wildlife and habitats. Construction noise and related human presence woulddisrupt the normal activities of animals. Mortality may occur to individual animals that are small orless mobile. Building new roads and ranges could increase habitat fragmentation. Overall, the shorttermimpacts of range construction would be minor. Range construction would have the long-termimpact of reducing the available habitat for some species; however, given the size of the area theyaffect in the context of the surrounding disturbed military training area, impacts to general wildlifeand habitats are less than significant.Impacts to Threatened and Endangered Species: Range projects would proceed as needed, and wouldnot adversely affect the risk to threatened and endangered species. Continued use of Army land forrange construction would prolong the impact to threatened and endangered species. These impactsfrom continued training would remain a less than significant impact.No ImpactsImpacts 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 training activities would occur; therefore, no impacts to wetlands areexpected from range construction. On KTA, the one regulated wetland in the training area, OnionPond, is more than two miles away from the main training area, and no impacts are expected. SOPsand BMPs designed to minimize impacts to wetlands through stormwater and erosion control wouldbe followed. No impacts to wetlands related to range construction would occur under Alternative D.February 2008 5-225 2/25th SBCT Final EIS