Eight Dollar Mountain Tower Project Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Josephine County, Oregon. Appendix D Viewshed Analysis Report August 2013

Transcription

1 Eight Dollar Mountain Tower Project Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Josephine County, Oregon Appendix D Viewshed Analysis Report August 2013

2 Memo To: Maria Britton From: Corrinne Atkinson, Nancy Nething, Christine Whittaker Project: Eight Dollar Mountain Desktop Viewshed Analysis Date: August 23, 2013 Job No: HDR Engineering, Inc. (HDR) completed a desktop viewshed analysis using ArcGIS for PacifiCorp s proposed new cell tower on Eight Dollar Mountain in Josephine County, Oregon (Figure 1). The new cell tower would be constructed on the summit of Eight Dollar Mountain within an existing communication tower site. There are up to six separate sites at the top of the mountain. The purpose of this viewshed analysis was to determine if a new 150-foot tall cell tower would be visible from roads, trails, streams, and developed recreational use areas, where public use is concentrated. If visible, the next step would be to determine if the new tower would significantly change the existing viewshed when seen among other cell towers of equal height and structure. 1.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION In January 2012, the USDA Forest Service, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forests, Wild Rivers Ranger District reissued a 20-year-term special use permit (SUP) for lease renewals authorizing communication site activities for all of the communication sites on Eight Dollar Mountain, including the site on which the new tower would be built. The purpose of the SUP is to ensure that special uses do not cause unnecessary or undue degradation of the Forest resources and balance the public benefits against the applicants need for a particular use of National Forest lands. PacifiCorp currently operates mobile radio and low capacity microwave radios on Eight Dollar Mountain. The antennas for these uses are located on an existing 150-foot tall self-supporting tower controlled by Sis-Q Communications. The proposed Project is to construct a new self-supporting tower to meet Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements for narrow banding. To meet these requirements, a separate microwave system with new radios and antennas is needed in order to increase capacity and change signals from analog to digital. The change in antenna types, quantity and size cannot be supported on the existing 150-foot tall cell tower due to overloading potential. The Project site plan is provided on Figure 2. Three site photos showing the existing site conditions are included on the page following Figure 2. The design of the tower will also take into account potential collocations, including upgrades planned by the Oregon State Radio Project (OSRP). Capacity will also be built into the tower to support a cellular platform for AT&T. The tower will be 150 feet in height, have four sides, and a base width of 19 feet by 19 feet. Figure 3 shows the antenna support structure, elevations and details. All tower steel will be protected by hot-dipped galvanizing. As designed, the steel will appear shiny at first, but will fade to dull gray within six to ten months. Eight Dollar Mountain Viewshed Analysis Page 1

3 2.0 EXISTING CONDITIONS Eight Dollar Mountain is located in Josephine County, Oregon. Selma, Oregon, a town of about 2,000 people, is located directly northeast of the mountain on Highway 199, a main artery that runs north to south from Grants Pass, Oregon to Crescent City, California. The area surrounding Eight Dollar Mountain is used primarily for agriculture and recreation. The western half of Eight Dollar Mountain is within the Siskiyou National Forest, with forest operations headquartered in Medford, Oregon (Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest [Forest]). To the east, the land is owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Oregon State Department of Forestry (ODF), and private individuals or companies (Figure 1). Eight Dollar Mountain is cone-shaped. It has a local relief of about 2,800 feet and a width of about 3 miles at its base. The mountain s summit is a little over 4,000 feet-mean Sea Level (MSL). Although Eight Dollar Mountain receives over 60-inches of rain a year, the rock, which is peridotite (a coarsegrained plutonic rock, which commonly alters to serpentinite), has few nutrients, leaving pine trees sparse and stunted. Several ephemeral drainages cut down the steep mountain slopes. The varied elevations and aspects of Eight Dollar Mountain support a diversity of rare plants, and portions of the mountain have become a preserve managed by the Nature Conservancy. The Illinois River, which is classified as wild and scenic in this area, flows along the western and southern base of Eight Dollar Mountain. Recreation within this area includes water-related activities (fishing, rafting), hiking, and some mining and mineral collection (chromite and nickel). Initial exploration for ore was accomplished in Gold has also been found in the area. There are two national forest campgrounds, Sixmile and Store Gulch, located west of Eight Dollar Mountain off of Illinois River Road (NF-5070 becomes NF-4301). The site of the planned new cell tower is located within a managed area covering part of the mountain s summit. A dirt road winds up to the summit from the south and a power line extends to the site from the eastern base of Eight Dollar Mountain. There are six separate communications sites currently on the mountain. The site on which the new tower would be built has two existing towers; a 50-foot tall tower and a 150-foot tall tower (Figure 2). The site also houses two buildings, a generator, and two propane tanks. Many large pines and cedars surround the new tower site. Based on photos of the existing site, the taller trees are up to 60 feet in height. Trees planned for removal include smaller trees, the majority of which have diameter at breast height (dbh) less than ten inches. The larger trees on site are not identified for removal. The existing 150-foot tower base is at an elevation of approximately 4,007 feet-msl. The new tower location is at an elevation of approximately 4,006 feet-msl and is about 50 feet west of the 150-foot tower and about 70 feet northeast of the 50-foot tower. Figure 3 has two photographs of the site, which were provided by OSRP. Figures 4 contains the pictures taken from photo points (PP) along Highway 199, Illinois River Road (directly north of the mountain), the summit trailhead, Jeffrey Pine Loop Trailhead, at the south base of the Eight Dollar Mountain, and along the Illinois River where it is crossed by 8 Dollar Road (NF-4201) at the southwestern base of the mountain. Photo Point locations are shown on Figure 1. The 150-foot tall existing tower near the proposed location for the new tower can be seen in PPs 6, 9 and 10, which are located on and south of Highway 199 just west of Selma, northeast of the mountain. The tower is not visible on the other photos which were taken further north at Hayes Hill Summit, Deer Creek Center on Illinois River Road, south of the mountain along Highway 199, and along the south and southwest base of the mountain. Eight Dollar Mountain Viewshed Analysis Page 2

4 3.0 FOREST VIEWSHED ANALYSIS OBJECTIVES The USDA Forest Service s 1974 National Forest Landscape Management handbook discusses forest viewshed analysis objectives. Forest Plan Visual Quality Objectives (VQOs) represent a composite rating of three separate visual resource components: 1) landscape variety; 2) distance zone; and 3) viewer sensitivity. These ratings describe the inherent landscape character, the visual sensitivity of the typical viewer viewing the landscape, and the distance from which these typical viewers would see the landscape. Together these ratings combine to form visual quality objectives (VQOs) to establish management direction for the visual resources of the Forest. Generally, the degree of visual contrast that would result from a proposed project is evaluated to determine the degree to which it would be consistent with VQOs as seen from sensitive viewing locations, referred to as managed viewsheds. Forest Plan VQOs represent Forest management direction to assure that visitors are afforded views of natural looking landscapes when seen from roads, trails, streams, and developed recreational use areas, where public use is concentrated. Generally there are four different VQOs used: Preservation (P), Retention (R), Partial Retention (PR), and Modification (M). The Eight Dollar Mountain VQO is classified as Partial Retention (PR) by the Forest. Under the PR VQO, management activities are to remain visually subordinate to the characteristic landscape. Activities may repeat form, line, color, or texture common to the characteristic landscape, but changes in their qualities of size, amount, intensity, direction, pattern, etc., remain visually subordinate to the characteristic landscape. Activities may also introduce form, line, color, or texture, which are found infrequently or not at all in the characteristic landscape, but they should remain visually subordinate to the visual strength of the characteristic landscape. As can be seen on the photographs taken along Highway 199, the existing 150-foot tall tower does not dominate the characteristic landscape of conifers and steep slopes. The natural landscape character has a dominant pattern of rock and vegetation. The eye is not drawn to the tower site, but focused on the mountain, vegetation and natural waterways. 4.0 DESKTOP VIEWSHED ANALYSIS A desktop viewshed analysis was performed using ArcGIS, supplemented with aerial photographs, new and online photographs of the site and area, PacifiCorp s cell tower site plan and other information from the Nature Conservancy and the Oregon Encyclopedia websites and Forest handbooks. 4.1 ArcGIS A viewshed analysis was conducted using ArcGIS to identify the possible locations from which the existing and the new cell tower could be seen. The viewshed analysis used 10 meter National Elevation Dataset DEM s for the surface model. Since vegetation was not modeled, the output reflects the visibility of the project features as if there were no vegetative screening. Because of this, the viewshed analysis was used to identify potential visibility of the Project features. Figure 5 shows the results of the analysis. The map is color coded by those areas where towers would not be visible and those areas where the proposed tower and/or the other towers would be visible. Several areas were identified where the tower site could be visible if there was no vegetation and other screening. The results of the viewshed analysis were then coupled with aerial photographs and photographs (recent and historic) from several selected points along Highway 199 and the base of Eight Dollar Mountain within the recreational areas. The photographs (Figure 4) show that vegetation and changes in topography greatly influence whether or not the cell towers are visible. As discussed above, from Eight Dollar Mountain Viewshed Analysis Page 3

5 Highway 199, the tower site was not visible south of Eight Dollar Mountain (Photo Points 3, 4, and 5), but was visible to the northeast, away from the base of the mountain (Photo Points 6, 9, and 10) just outside of Selma. The photographs taken around the base of the Eight Dollar Mountain (Photo Points 2, 7, 11 and 12), including Deer Creek Center (Photo Point 8), had no view of the cell towers. 5.0 PROJECT EFFECT As discussed above, the Eight Dollar Mountain VQO is classified as Partial Retention (PR) by the Forest. Under the PR VQO, management activities are to remain visually subordinate to the characteristic landscape. The cell tower sites may introduce form, line, color, or texture, which are found infrequently or not at all in the characteristic landscape, should remain visually subordinate to the visual strength of the characteristic landscape. Additionally, the Landscape Aesthetics A Handbook for Scenery Management (USDA FS, 1995), defines seen areas and distance zones to determine the relative sensitivity of scenes based on their distance from an observer; these zones are identified as foreground (up to ½ mile from the viewer), middleground (up to 4 miles from the foreground); and background (4 miles from the viewer to the horizon). Highway 199 is almost two miles from the cell tower site. Photo Points 6, 9, and 10 are slightly further away, but within the middleground. Many middleground landscapes are evenly textured and human activities that dominate natural form, line, or texture will contrast strongly. From these photo points, the cell tower site is almost imperceptible amid the natural landforms, lines and textures of the characteristic landscape. The Forest s Resource Management Plan (RMP) also discusses PR areas (Management Area 13 in plan): Management Area 13 - Partial Retention Visual: Management Area 13 consists of land that is visible in the middle to background of major and secondary travel routes, rivers and other high use recreation areas. The total area inventoried as Partial Retention on the Forest is 287,700 acres, of which 194,190 are tentatively suitable for timber production. These areas are managed for multiple uses including recreation, timber production, and wildlife habitat. There is a priority on the maintenance of scenic quality which results in a minor reduction in timber production to allow for accomplishing these visual Objectives. The effects on scenic quality were measured by the visual contrast created between the Project and the existing landscape. Presently, the 150-foot tall existing tower can be seen from Highway 199 (middleground), northeast of Eight Dollar Mountain. The tower does not dominate the landscape because of position, color and minimal appearance in contrast to topography and vegetation. The addition of the new 150-foot tower would not change the existing appearance from Highway 199, because the new tower will be east and slightly lower in elevation than the existing tower. From the trailhead on the south portion of the mountain, Photo Points 2 and 7, the cell tower site is not visible. Due to the steepness of the mountain and vegetation, the tower site would not be visible or would not dominate the landscape along the western river reach and base of mountain recreation areas. Photo Points 11 and 12 are just west of Photo Point 7, and just up Josephine Creek from the Illinois River, respectively. These photos show the vegetation adjacent to the rivers, as well as the steepness and undulating to jagged topography of the mountain. The vegetation and rugged, steep rock areas along the river are visually dominant, and if there are areas along the base of the mountain where the tower sites might be visible from the water, they would be few and would not dominate the views along the river. 6.0 CONCLUSIONS As discussed above, there are only a few areas where the existing 150-foot tall cell tower can be observed and where this occurs the tower is not visually dominant. In general, the recreational areas closer to the base of Eight Dollar Mountain (trailheads, Deer Creek Center and the Illinois River) do not offer a view of the cell tower, because of vegetation and steep, rugged topography. The existing 150-foot tall cell Eight Dollar Mountain Viewshed Analysis Page 4

6 tower is visible from some areas northeast of Eight Dollar Mountain, adjacent to Highway 199, but it does not dominate the landscape. It does not distract from the characteristic landscape of steep terrain, rock, vegetation, and surface waters from the middleground. Overall, the addition of the new 150-foot tower would not change the existing appearance from Highway 199, because the new tower will be east and slightly lower in elevation than the existing tower. The cell tower could not be seen south of the mountain along Highway 199. From the Illinois River, flowing water, vegetation and rugged, steep rock ledges along the river are visually dominant, and if there are areas along the base of the mountain where the tower site might be visible from the water, they would not dominate these characteristic views along the river. 7.0 REFERENCES The Nature Conservancy Eight Dollar Mountain Preserve. Website: The Oregon Encyclopedia Eight Dollar Mountain. Website: USDA-Forest Service National Forest Landscape Management. Volume 2, Chapter 1 (The visual management system). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Handbook 462. USDA-Forest Service Land And Resource Management Plan for the Siskiyou National Forest. USDA-Forest Service Landscape Aesthetics - A Handbook for Scenery Management. Agriculture Handbook Number 701. USDA-Forest Service Decision Memo for Communication Sites Special Use Permit Lease Renewals and Lease Amendment on the Wild Rivers Ranger District. Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forests Wild Rivers Ranger District, Josephine County, Oregon. Eight Dollar Mountain Viewshed Analysis Page 5

7 Figure 1 Project Vicinity 1 H Legend Proposed/Existing Tower Locations Photo Location H [! Road - High Clearance Vehicle Road - Suitable Passenger Car Improved Road Perennial River/Stream Land Ownership NF-4301 Bureau of Land Management Private Individual or Company Riv er 8 H Illinois River Selma Rd ( 5070) 9 7 HHH Illin oi s Dryden Oregon State Department of Forestry Siskiyou National Forest (U.S. Forest Service) 199 [! 8 Do ll Rd ( ar 4 20 HH ) H 12 H iver 5 4 Ê Illi n ois R H H H Document Path: Q:\ERM_misc\EightDollarMountain\map_docs\SiteLedgLand.mxd Kerby 0 3,000 6,000 12,000 Feet Imagery: ESRI World Imagery Service; Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community Data Sources: BLM; US Forest Service; USGS; ODOT Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community Production Date: 8/21/2013

8 Photo 1 Proposed 150- foot Tall Tower Location Photo 3 Photos on Following Page Eight Dollar Mountain Viewshed Analysis FIGURE 2

9 Tower Site Photo 1: 8$ Mountain cell tower site looking south. Site buildings and ice bridge in foreground and 50-foot tall tower with microwave dishes behind. Tower Site Photo 3: 8$ Mountain cell tower site looking north with 150-foot tall tower behind building. Tower Site Photo 2: 8$ Mountain cell tower site from access road looking west. Photos courtesy of Oregon State Radio Project. See Figure 2 for Photo Locations.

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11 Photo Point 1 - Hayes Hill Summit, Highway 199, looking south with 8$ Mountain in background. Cell tower sites not visible. Photo Point 2 - Staging Area Jeffery Pine Loop Trailhead (south side 8$ Mountain) looking north. Cell towers sites not visible. Figure 4 - Eight Dollar Mountain Desktop Viewshed Analysis

12 Photo Point 3-2 Miles South of 8$ Mountain looking north. Mountain in middleground. Cell tower sites not visible. Photo Point 4-1 mile South of 8$ Mountain looking north. Mountain in middleground. Cell tower sites not visible. Figure 4 - Eight Dollar Mountain Desktop Viewshed Analysis

13 Photo Point mile south of 8$ Mountain looking north. Mountain in middleground. Cell tower sites not visible. Photo Point 6 3 miles northwest of 8$ Mountain summit. Mountain in middleground. Existing 150-foot tall cell tower visible not dominant. Figure 4 - Eight Dollar Mountain Desktop Viewshed Analysis

14 Photo Point 7 Looking northeast to 8$ Mountain from 8 Dollar Road Bridge over Illinois River. Cell tower sites not visible. Photo Point 8 Looking south to 8$ Mountain from Deer Creek Center. Cell tower sites not visible. Figure 4 - Eight Dollar Mountain Desktop Viewshed Analysis

15 Photo Point 9 Looking southwest to 8$ Mountain from Illinois River Road west of Highway 199. Mountain in middleground. 150-foot tall cell tower visible not dominant. Photo Point 10 Looking west to 8$ Mountain from Highway 199. Mountain in middleground. 150-foot tall cell tower visible not dominant. Figure 4 - Eight Dollar Mountain Desktop Viewshed Analysis

16 Photo Point 11 Illinois River view at southwestern base of 8$ Mountain just west of 8 Dollar Road bridge. Photo Point 12 - Josephine Creek looking to northeast towards 8$ Mountain. Cell tower sites not visible. Figure 4 - Eight Dollar Mountain Desktop Viewshed Analysis

17 H 1 Figure 5. Proposed and Existing Towers Visible and Not Visible Areas Legend r k Neither Tower Visible Only Proposed Tower Visible Only Existing Tower Visible Both Towers Visible Existing Tower Center Proposed Tower Center H Photo Location Illinois River H Illinois River 8 9 Rd (5070) H 6 H H Selma Dryden One Mile Radius Recreation Site (BLM) Dispersed Recreation Area "J Recreation Area!9 Campground rk 199!5 Picnic Site!B Trailhead FS Maintenance Road Document Path: Q:\ERM_misc\EightDollarMountain\map_docs\SiteLedgLand.mxd 11 H 7 H 8 Dollar Rd (4201) H 12 H 2 Illinois R iver H 3 H H Kerby Road - High Clearance Vehicle Road - Suitable Passenger Car Improved Road Hiker Trail Pack and Saddle Trail Siskiyou National Forest Perennial River/Stream Note: Assuming both towers 150' tall and observer height of 5'9" Ê 0 3,000 6,000 12,000 Feet Data Sources: BLM; US Forest Service; USGS; ODOT Production Date: 8/20/2013