Integrated Training Area Management EA and Final FNSI

The LCTA program collects physical and biological resources data in order to relate land conditions totraining and testing activities. These data provide information to effectively manage land use and naturalresources. The AK LCTA program is the long-term monitoring program used to evaluate the ecologicalhealth of USARAK training areas. Annual field surveys provide data used to evaluate the capability oftraining lands to meet multiple use demands (military and non-military) on a sustainable basis. Thisinformation is used to support land use planning decisions including location and timing of militarytraining events, natural resources management, and prioritizing land rehabilitation and restoration efforts.Military activities, such as cross-country maneuvers, digging of defensive fighting positions,snowplowing in winter, and bivouacs, can disturb training areas. The USARAK military exercisemonitoring methodologies would focus on monitoring training areas where military exercises are being orhave been conducted. Quantitative assessments by the AK LCTA program would document various typesof use and physical damage to the landscape. Data would then be used to quantitatively assess the degreeof disturbance to training areas and identify priority areas for rehabilitation.Qualitative assessments would be conducted by USARAK Environmental Resources Department staffduring large military field training exercises to prevent undue land damage and to ensure rapid and properremediation techniques are employed if necessary. Assessments would include optical surveying of areaswhere military exercises have occurred and documenting presence/absence, type, and degree ofdisturbance. Monitoring efforts would focus on ensuring military requirements for minimizing naturalresources impacts are being met during training exercises. Requirements aimed at minimizing impacts tosoils are described in the SRA program above.Through monitoring both vegetation and compliance with military regulations aimed at minimizingimpacts to soils, the RTLA program is beneficial to soil resources on USARAK lands.Alternative 2: Implement ITAM Program through a Management Plan (Proposed Action)Under this alternative, the ITAM program would be implemented through a management plan, whichwould include standard operating procedures for LRAM and RTLA projects. Impacts to soil resources onUSARAK lands due to TRI, LRAM, SRA, RTLA, and GIS activities would be similar to those describedunder the No Action alternative. Implementing standard operating procedures for the LRAM and RTLAprograms would ensure consistent and efficient land management and monitoring practices. This wouldfacilitate assessment and implementation of effective management strategies aimed at minimizing soilimpacts. Standardizing procedures would benefit monitoring activities by reducing data collection errorand variability, and providing consistent data collection methods required to assure long-term usabilityand applicability of data.Alternative 3: Suspend ITAM ProgramUnder this alternative, all components of the ITAM program would discontinue operation. This wouldhave minor to severe impacts. Training land rehabilitation, maintenance, and range improvements wouldcease despite continued use of USARAK lands for Army training. Environmental damage from trainingwould not be monitored or rehabilitated and training lands would deteriorate over time, resulting in severesoil disturbance, increased erosion, and decreased capacity for soils to withstand ongoing use. Without asystematic approach to sustain its training lands, USARAK lands would result in a net loss of trainingcapabilities and would not be able to fully support future training and mission requirements.In particular, canceling the LRAM program, which is primarily responsible for the maintenance of naturalresources on USARAK training lands, and the RTLA program, which is responsible for monitoring the_____________________________________________________________________________________________Environmental AssessmentUnited States Army Alaska, Integrated Training Area Management ProgramManagement Plan 23