Attachment_D_-_Catergorical_Exclusion_and_Decision_Record_0001.pdf

CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION REVIEW

A. Background

BLM Office: Grants Pass Field Office

NEPA No: BLM-OR-ORWA-M070-2025-0001-CX

Lease/Serial/Case File No.: NA

Proposed Action Title/Type: Mt. Reuben Quarry Use for Road Maintenance

Location: T. 33 S., R. 8 W., Section 3, Willamette Meridian, Josephine County, Oregon

Description of the Proposed Action:

The BLM Medford District is proposing the use of the Mt. Reuben Quarry located within the Grants Pass Field Office boundary. The proposed action is to process rock which had previously been shot in the 1990s. There is approximately 8,000 cubic yards of shot rock located in the Mt. Reuben Quarry which would be processed and stockpiled on site to be used for the maintenance of BLM roads. All work would take place within previously disturbed areas and utilize the existing access road to the top of the quarry.

A contractor would bring a mobile rock crusher to the quarry and crush the previously shot rock into smaller aggregates for stockpiling on site. Heavy equipment would be utilized to move the loose rock to the quarry floor and into the rock crusher. Once aggregate is created, a front-end loader would be utilized to stack the crushed rock into a stockpile at the quarry site, or to load haul trucks with crushed rock for placement in existing stockpile sites outside of the quarry area.

Only the estimated 8,000 cubic yards of previously shot rock would be utilized. The work would not require drilling, shooting, or blasting. The benches and faces that are beneath the broken rock would remain. The total area of the proposed action is approximately 2 acres including space for heavy equipment, trucks, the rock crusher, stockpile sites, and an existing quarry pad to process the rock. No merchantable trees would be removed from the project area; only smaller brush and trees that have grown up in the existing quarry would be removed. Sediment generated by disturbance activities will be controlled and kept on site using silt fences, wattles, ditches, or other methods as necessary. See attached map “Exhibit A”.

Project Design Features This project uses Project Design Features (PDFs) developed by an interdisciplinary team of resource specialists using the DOI/BLM Manual 9113 for guidance. The PDFs are an integral part of the Proposed Action and were developed to avoid or reduce the potential for adverse impacts to resources. The BLM and its contractor would implement the PDFs as applicable for site-specific conditions. The following PDFs are included in this project:

Hydrology, Fish, and Water Quality

• Measures shall be undertaken to minimize erosion, unnecessary ground disturbance, sedimentation to surface water, including performing adequate maintenance to provide effective drainage. The surface water protection area for the town of Riddle is on the north side of the divide where the quarry is located. Since this project is in the headwaters and sediment will be contained on site, no impacts to water quality are expected.

• Quarry disposal actions such as transferring, crushing, sorting, etc. would be limited to an identified operational boundary or defined disturbance limits that would contain sediment and filter stormwater within the boundary (see Exhibit A).

• Identify, maintain, and implement sediment and stormwater control measures such as sediment/infiltration basins, wattles, rock berms that slow runoff, infiltrate surface runoff, and contain sediment within the operational boundary for the quarry. Use measures that can be left in place with little or no maintenance between times when the quarry is active. Design measures that are unlikely to fail during a peak storm event.

Soil Management

• Stockpile sites are to be located on stable ground where the material would not move into waterbodies, floodplains, and wetlands. Use erosion-reduction practices, such as seeding, mulching, silt fences, and woody debris placement, to limit erosion and transport of sediment to streams from quarries. Provide drainage from stockpiles and mineral sites, dispersed over stable vegetated areas rather than directly into stream channels. Grade all material sites, where practicable to conform with the surrounding topography prior to closure. Utilize topsoil as a medium for successful revegetation. Reseed and plant trees, where needed.

Cultural

• Any cultural and/or paleontological resources (historic or prehistoric site or object) discovered shall be immediately reported to the BLM Authorized Officer. Operations shall be suspended until written authorization to proceed is issued by the BLM Authorized Officer. The BLM Authorized Officer would evaluate the discovery to determine appropriate actions to prevent the loss of significant cultural or scientific values. The BLM may redesign the project to protect the cultural resource values present, or evaluation and mitigation procedures would be implemented based on recommendations from the Grants Pass Field Office archaeologist with concurrence by the Grants Pass Field Manager and State Historic Preservation Office.

Safety and Hazardous Material

• The contractor is to comply with local, federal, and state safety codes covering quarrying operations, warning signs, traffic control, and with all state regulations for fire.

• Equipment is to be checked for leaks prior to starting work. Equipment use is not to occur until leaks are repaired or leaking equipment is replaced.

• All hazardous materials and petroleum products are to be stored in durable containers placed outside of Riparian Reserves so an accidental spill would be contained and would not drain into any stream system.

• Where practicable, maintain and refuel heavy equipment a minimum of 150 feet away from streams and other waterbodies. Equipment storage containing reportable quantities of toxic fluids is to occur outside of the Riparian Reserve. Ensure hydraulic fluid and fuel lines are in proper working condition to minimize leakage into streams.

• All potential pollutants are to be removed from site, at the end of the contract.

• The existing access trails to the quarry will be re-blocked at the end of the contract. This can be accomplished with a tank trap or by using existing oversize rock.

• Any release within or near the quarry of hazardous substances, toxic substances, or hazardous waste (leaks, spills, etc.) in excess of the reportable quantity as required by federal, state, or local laws and regulations shall be immediately reported, and the BLM Authorized Officer shall be notified.

Noxious Weeds

• All equipment used for the project must be washed and cleaned before entry onto BLM-administered lands to prevent the introduction and spread of noxious weeds. Cleaning is defined as the removal of dirt, mud, grease, plant parts, and material that may carry noxious weed seeds. Cleaning prior to entry may be accomplished by using a pressure hose.

Wildlife

• The project area is within the home range of one northern spotted owl (NSO) site as well as within an NSO Critical Habitat Unit (CHU). Activities (such as transferring, crushing, sorting, and other heavy equipment operation) that produce loud noises above ambient levels would not occur within specified 200 feet of any documented occupied or assumed occupied NSO site or unsurveyed nesting, roosting/foraging (NRF) habitat, between March 1st and July 15th (Exhibit B) or until two weeks after the fledging period – unless protocol surveys have determined the activity center to be unoccupied, non-nesting, or failed in their nesting attempt. The distances may be shortened if significant topographical breaks muffle sound traveling between the work location and nest sites or suitable habitat.

• The restriction may be extended until September 30th, based on site-specific knowledge (such as a late or recycle nesting attempt) if the project would cause a nesting NSO to flush.

• Coastal marten are vulnerable to harm from actions that modify denning or resting habitat during the denning season and may be negatively impacted if actions occur adjacent to denning/resting habitat. Activities that modify denning/resting habitat or would cause noise disturbance adjacent to denning/resting habitat which may be used by a marten and are inside or proximal to Extant Population Areas (EPAs) would be restricted between March 1st and July 31st.

B. Land Use Plan Conformance

Name of Land Use Plan (LUP): Southwestern Oregon Record of Decision and Resource Management Plan.

Date Approved/Amended: August 2016.

The Proposed Action is in conformance with the applicable LUP because it is specifically provided for in the following LUP decision(s):

• “Maintain availability of mineral material sites needed for development and maintenance of access roads for forest management, timber harvest, local communities, rights-of-way for energy production and transmission, and other uses” (p. 103).

• “Implement road improvements, storm proofing, maintenance, or decommissioning to reduce or eliminate chronic sediment inputs to stream channels and waterbodies. This could include maintaining vegetated ditch lines, improving road surfaces, and installing cross drains at appropriate spacing” (p. 93).

C. Compliance with NEPA

The Proposed Action is categorically excluded from further documentation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in accordance with 516 DM 11.9.F(10), “Disposal of mineral materials, such as sand, stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite, cinders, and clay, in amounts not exceeding 50,000 cubic yards or disturbing more than 5 acres, except in riparian areas.”

This categorical exclusion is appropriate in this situation because there are no extraordinary circumstances potentially having effects that may significantly affect the environment. The Proposed Action has been reviewed (Table 1), and none of the extraordinary circumstances1 described in 43 CFR 46.215 and below apply.

1 This categorical exclusion is in compliance with the 2020 Council on Environmental Quality NEPA regulations, as modified by the 2022 Phase I CEQ regulation revisions (40 CFR 1500-1508).

Table 1. Extraordinary Circumstances Review.

The Proposed Action will not:

(a) Have significant impacts on public health or safety.

Rationale: This project would have a beneficial impact on public health and safety by improving the condition of the roads in the area. The rock extracted from the quarry would be added to roads and would improve wet weather surfacing, which would decrease sediment runoff and improve safe road use. Effects would be beneficial and would not rise to the level of significance as quarry development was anticipated and analyzed in the FEIS/PRMP to which this project tiers.

(b) Have significant impacts on such natural resources and unique geographic characteristics as historic or cultural resources, park, recreation or refuge lands; wilderness areas; wild or scenic rivers; national natural landmarks; sold or principle drinking water aquifers; prime farmlands; wetlands (Executive Order 11990); floodplains (Executive Order 11988); national monuments; migratory birds; and other ecologically significant or critical areas.

Rationale: The Proposed Action would not impact any historic or cultural resources, park, recreation or refuge lands;

wilderness areas; wild or scenic rivers; national natural landmarks; sole or principal drinking water aquifers; prime farmlands; wetlands; floodplains; national monuments; and other ecologically significant or critical areas because these unique geographic features do not occur within or adjacent to the project boundary. This project is not expected to have significant impacts to migratory birds because of the small geographic scale of the project and the nature of the project area (rock quarry) is not considered migratory bird habitat.

(c) Have highly controversial environmental effects or involve unresolved conflicts concerning alternative uses of available resources [NEPA Section 102 (2)(E)].

Rationale: The use of the shot rock at the quarry to create crushed aggregate for the improvement of roads is not considered highly controversial. The size of the quarry is small (less than 2 acres) and the footprint would not be enlarged. Potential environmental effects would not rise to the level of significance because of proper quarry design and implementation of PDFs. The BLM is not aware of unresolved conflicts concerning alternative use of available resources.

(d) Have highly uncertain and potentially significant environmental effects or involve unique or unknown environmental risks.

Rationale: There are no highly uncertain or potentially significant environmental effects or unknown environmental risks associated with quarry development. Activities, such as quarry development, in support of forest management operations, have occurred in the BLM Medford District for decades with no highly uncertain, unique, unknown, or potentially significant environmental effects. This area is on a ridge where soils are generally thinner, there are no trees, and rock sources are nearer to the surface. The quarry design and PDFs would reduce potential sedimentation.

(e) Establish a precedent for future action or represent a decision in principle about future actions with potentially significant environmental effects.

Rationale: Activities in support of forest management operations have occurred in the BLM Medford District for decades; this does not set a precedent for future actions or represent a decision about future actions. Each new proposal to dispose of rock from a quarry would be evaluated independently and subject to analysis under the tenets of NEPA. A separate decision would be made for each new proposal.

(f) Have a direct relationship to other actions with individually insignificant but cumulatively significant environmental effects.

Rationale: There are no such actions in the area.

(g) Have significant impacts on properties listed, or eligible for listing, on the National Register of Historic Places as determined by either the bureau or office.

Rationale: There would be no impacts on properties eligible for or listed on the National Register of Historic Places because there are no historic properties listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places within or adjacent to the project boundary.

(h) Have significant impacts on species listed, or proposed to be listed, on the List of Endangered or Threatened Species, or have significant impacts on Critical Habitat for these species.

Rationale Botany: The proposed action is located within an existing developed quarry. There are no populations of Endangered, Threatened, Proposed, or Candidate botanical species, nor is there any suitable or critical habitat for any federally listed botanical species present within the proposed activity area. Due to this, there would be no affect to any listed or proposed listed botanical species or their habitat.

Fish: The proposed action does not have any proximity to listed fish species or Critical Habitat (CH) for these species.

Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast (SONCC) Coho salmon and their CH would not be affected by the proposed action.

Wildlife: The proposed action is located within the outer home range of one historic NSO site and is within an NSO CHU, as well as adjacent to NSO nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat. The proposed action is outside of Coastal marten proposed critical habitat, as well as outside of Coastal marten extant population areas (EPAs). In addition, the proposed action is outside the range of the marbled murrelet and does not occur in Franklin’s bumblebee or northwestern pond turtle (NWPT) habitat. The nearest Franklin’s bumblebee habitat is one and a half miles away, and the nearest suitable habitat for NWPT is two miles away. There are no known areas of wolf activity (AKWA) within 50 miles of the proposed action, and there are no known eagle nests within five miles of the proposed action. PDFs would be put in place to protect possible coastal marten or nesting NSO from disturbance, therefore the proposed action would not have any direct effects to listed species or their habitat.

(i) Violate Federal law, or a State, local, Tribal law or requirement imposed for the protection of the environment.

Rationale: The proposed activities are not anticipated to violate any federal, state, local, or tribal laws or requirements for protecting the environment. The Grants Pass Field Office resource specialists have considered all applicable laws in the design of the quarry. The resource specialists have included PDFs to avoid or reduce the potential of adverse impacts to resources in the Project Area.

(j) Have a disproportionately high and adverse effect on low income or minority populations (Executive Order 12898).

Rationale: The use of the rock quarry would not have a disproportionately high or adverse effect on low income or minority populations. The actions described in the quarry development would not have a greater impact on low income or minority populations as compared to other members of the public. This CX and Decision Record will be made available to members of the public for review and to appeal if the decision causes them harm.

(k) Limit access to and ceremonial use of Indian sacred sites on Federal lands by Indian religious practitioners or significantly adversely affect the physical integrity of such sacred sites (Executive Order 13007).

Rationale: The proposed activities will not affect access to ceremonial or the use of Indian sacred sites. No known sacred sites are in the area.

(l) Contribute to the introduction, continued existence, or spread of noxious weeds or non-native noxious species known to occur in the area or actions that may promote the introduction, growth, or expansion of the range of such species (Federal Noxious Weed Control Act and Executive Order 13112).

Rationale: The Mt Reuben quarry was inspected for noxious weeds and cleared for use on August 11th, 2020. The inspection indicated that there were no priority non-native invasive species present. A project design feature has been identified to reduce the risk of introduction of new populations of non-native invasive species to the proposed activity area.

Supplemental Information In addition to the above extraordinary circumstances, the BLM has considered the Proposed Action’s potential effects on Bureau sensitive species which may be present. The management of Bureau sensitive species would be in compliance with BLM Manual 6840- Special Status Species Management (2008).

There are no known bureau sensitive botanical species located within the proposed activity area. There is a documented population of bureau sensitive Lotus stipularis located 500 feet from the perimeter of the quarry. This population would not be impacted by the proposed activities because it is located outside the proposed activity area. The proposed activity falls within the historic range of Allium bolanderi, but no populations are documented within or adjacent to the project area. Due to the absence of Bureau Sensitive Species within the proposed activity area, there are no anticipated impacts to bureau sensitive botanical species or their habitat.

D. Interdisciplinary Review

The following parties reviewed and/or contributed to the rationale provided for in Section C.

Name Program/Expertise Andrea Bowen Geology Jeff Brown Civil Engineer/ roads Shawn Thornton GIS Bob Lange Soils & Hydrology Amanda Snodgrass Botany Zia Fukuda Wildlife Anthony Saunders & Angelica Kneisly Archeology Kevin Massey & Kayla Parr NEPA

Proposed Action Title/Type: Mt. Reuben Quarry Use for Road Maintenance

Based on the attached National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Categorical Exclusion Review, including the incorporation of PDFs, I have determined the Proposed Action involves no significant impact on the environment and no further environmental analysis is required.

E. Signature

Authorized Official/Date: ____________________________________ (Signature)

Name: Heidi Lowery Title: Field Manager Office: Grants Pass Field Office

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

DECISION RECORD

Proposed Action Title/Type: Mt. Reuben Quarry Use for Road Maintenance

Decision and Rationale The Bureau of Land Management is authorizing the crushing of existing shot rock at the Mt. Reuben quarry. The quarry is not being expanded and no blasting is proposed. There is approximately 8,000 cubic yards of shot rock located in the Mt.

Reuben Quarry which would be processed and stockpiled on site to be used for the maintenance of BLM roads. All work would take place within the previously disturbed areas and utilize the existing access road to the top of the quarry.

A contractor would bring a mobile rock crusher to the quarry and crush the previously shot rock into smaller aggregates which would be stockpiled on site. Heavy equipment would be utilized to move the loose rock to the quarry floor and into the rock crusher. Once aggregate is created, a front-end loader would be utilized to stack the crushed rock in a stockpile at the quarry site, or to load haul trucks with crushed rock for placement in existing stockpile sites outside of the quarry area.

Only the estimated 8,000 cubic yards of previously shot rock would be utilized. The work would not require drilling or shooting/blasting. The benches and faces that are beneath the broken rock would remain. The total area of the proposed action is approximately 2 acres including space for heavy equipment, trucks, the rock crusher, stockpile sites and an existing quarry pad to process the rock. No merchantable trees would be removed from the project area, only smaller brush and trees that have grown up in the existing quarry would be removed.

Based upon the Categorical Exclusion review above, it is my decision to authorize the project, as described in the Proposed Action. Grants Pass Field Office staff has reviewed the Proposed Action and incorporated the Project Design Features, as specified above. Based on the Categorical Exclusion above, I have determined that the Proposed Action involves no significant impact on the environment, and no further environmental analysis is required. The project’s implementation will comply with all PDFs described above.

Administrative Remedies A person adversely affected by this decision may appeal the decision to the Interior Board of Land Appeals (Board), within the Office of the Secretary, Office of Hearings and Appeals. Appeals to the Board are governed by the Department’s regulations at 43 CFR Part 4. The BLM has provided the attached Form 1842-1 as a courtesy to assist a member of the public who chooses to appeal this decision. However, the appellant (the person filing the appeal) bears the responsibility to know, understand, and comply with the appeals regulations.

To appeal this decision, the appellant or designated representative (see 43 CFR 1.3) must file a notice of appeal within thirty (30) calendar days of the date of this decision in this office, addressed to the deciding official (see Form 1842-1). It is the responsibility of the deciding official to promptly transmit a notice of appeal to the Board. If the notice of appeal does not include a statement of reasons, the appellant must file the statement of reasons with the Board and the BLM within thirty (30) calendar days after the notice of appeal is filed. A copy of the notice of appeal, any statement of reasons, any written arguments, and any briefs must also be filed with the Office of the Regional Solicitor, Pacific Northwest Region, U.S. Department of the Interior, 601 SW 2nd Ave, Suite 1950, Portland, OR 97204-3172.

An appellant has the right to petition the Board to stay implementation of the decision. If a petition for stay is filed, it must accompany the notice of appeal (if you are seeking to prevent the decision from going into effect), and be served upon each party named in the decision, the Office of the Regional Solicitor and the Board.

Effective Date of Decision This is a mineral materials disposal decision in accordance with BLM regulations at 43 CFR Subpart 3600. All BLM decisions under 43 CFR 3600 will become effective on the day after the expiration of the appeal period (30 days after the date of service) where no petition for a stay is filed, or 45 days after the expiration of the appeal period where a timely petition for a stay is filed, unless the Director of the Office of Hearings and Appeals or an Appeals Board has determined otherwise in accordance with specified standards enumerated in 43 CFR § 4.21(b).

Signature

Authorized Official/Date: ____________________________________ (Signature)

Name: Heidi Lowery Title: Field Manager Office: Grants Pass Field Office