The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has determined a "Finding of No Significant Impact" for the final Environmental Assessment (EA) of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (Division) proposed project entitled "Amendment to State Parks Section 6 Grant and Associated Ivins City Detention Basin Construction Project." The proposal is a Federal Assistance Section 6 Endangered Species project administered jointly by the Division and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In 1999, Utah State Parks purchased 52 acres for the conservation and recovery of Mojave desert tortoise using grant funds from Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act. This parcel is within the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve (Reserve), which was established in 1996 to conserve land in perpetuity for Mojave desert tortoise. The Reserve was established to offset the development and "incidental take" of the desert tortoise allowed in Washington County under the "Habitat Conservation Plan, Washington County, Utah, 1995."
The proposed project will allow an 835-foot by 12-foot right-of-way (ROW) easement across Snow Canyon State Park property for construction of a gravel access road. The ROW easement will allow access to land-locked private property for the construction of a detention dam that will address local flooding from significant rain events. After the detention dam is completed, the access road will continue to be used for periodic maintenance activity and will not be open for public use. The granting of a real estate right on the parcel acquired, in part, with federal funds requires that the action be reviewed under National Environmental Policy Act to allow public comment on the proposal. The EA details the project and analyzes potential impacts and effects on the affected resources to determine whether there are any significant impacts.
The access road and detention dam project will be funded by Ivins City and will occur in close coordination and cooperation with Washington County staff, the Service, and Utah State Parks. The Proposed Action is a ROW easement which will cross lands purchased by the Utah State Parks with Endangered Species Act Section 6 federal funds. The easement will allow access for construction of a detention dam to occur to minimize the flooding of downstream infrastructure and residential communities. In coordination with the Service, the impacts of the detention dam construction have been minimized. All construction activities will occur during the period of desert tortoise inactivity and avoid habitat disturbance as much as possible. Project activities will occur during the winter of 2007-2008 (drilling) and the winter of 2008-2009 (dam construction).
Public comments were solicited on the draft EA through a public news release for 15 days and was available online at http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/federalassistance. No comments were received. The EA detailed the project and analyzed potential impacts and effects on affected resources.
A copy of the "Finding of No Significant Impact" and the final EA are available online at http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/federalassistance. Those without internet access may request copies by calling U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Federal Assistance at 303-236-5420.
