Rehabilitation of Highway 62 West, Crater Lake National Park, Klamath County, Oregon
INTRODUCTION
ISSUES AND IMPACT TOPICS
Impact Topics Selected for Detailed Analysis
Biotic Communities
NEPA calls for an examination of the impacts on all components of affected ecosystems. National Park Service policy is to protect the components and processes of naturally occurring biotic communities, including the natural abundance, diversity, and ecological integrity of plants and animals (NPS Management Policies 2001a). The proposed action has the potential to affect biotic communities, so this impact topic is addressed in this environmental assessment.
Threatened and Endangered Species and Species of Concern
The Endangered Species Act (1973), as amended, requires an examination of impacts on all federally listed threatened or endangered species. National Park Service policy also requires examination of the impacts on federal candidate species, as well as state-listed threatened, endangered, candidate, rare, declining, and sensitive species. Several consultations have occurred between the National Park Service, Crater Lake National Park, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Klamath Basin Field Office.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Klamath Basin Field Office, provided updated species lists of federally threatened, endangered and proposed species that may be present on or in the vicinity of Crater Lake National Park (Klamath County). An updated list was received in April 2003 (see appendix 4). Based on the federal species list, there are six listed species and two candidate species that may occur in Klamath County, Oregon. Of these eight species, four species [shortnose sucker (Chasmistes brevirostris), Lost River sucker (Deltistes luxatus), Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa), and yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)] occur in habitats not found within the park or have not been observed in presence/absence surveys over the last eight years. A “No Effect” determination has been made for these species.
A meeting among Doug Laye and Leonard LeCaptain of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Klamath Basin Field Office, and Mac Brock, Chief, Resource Preservation and Research at Crater Lake National Park was held on 10 April 2003 to discuss the project’s potential effects to the Canada lynx. The park has conducted three years of extensive surveys for Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) in the park—no lynx have been detected. Within the project area there are patches of old growth stands that contribute to potential lynx habitat. However the patches associated with the project’s road corridor and limited realignment would not be readily used and would probably be avoided by lynx due to the current and continued presence of traffic. Therefore, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service have determined that the project will have no effect on Canada lynx.
