Civil Rights Impact Analysis for Sault Ste. Marie Conveyance/Raco Construction Project

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Collin Fisher
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1 Civil Rights Impact Analysis for Sault Ste. Marie Conveyance/Raco Construction Project Introduction This document contains information about the Hiawatha National Forest (HNF) proposal to sell the Sault Ste. Marie Ranger District Office and close the Moran Work Center. Employees displaced would be reassigned to St. Ignace or to a new office facility at the Raco Work Station. The HNF will prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) and analyze and disclose the environmental and social impacts of the proposed activities and corresponding alternatives. This information is provided to the public to allow specific comments about the proposed actions as well as meet requirements of a Civil Rights Impact Analysis (CRIA). Information contained in this packet includes: Background Information Desired Condition Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action Proposed Action Relationship to Civil Rights Relationship to Social Impacts Relationship to Resource Impacts Process to Submit Comments Background Information The East Unit of the HNF currently operates four administrative facilities. These include: The St. Ignace Ranger District Office (constructed in 1999) The Sault Ste. Marie Ranger District Office The Raco Work Center The Moran Work Center The 2008 Hiawatha National Forest Facilities Master Plan (2008 FMP) identified a need to maintain a St. Ignace office, construct an office and warehouse facilities at the Raco Work Center, and decommission facilities at Sault Ste. Marie and Moran. The FMP identified these needs because of concerns for public and employee safety, excessive building maintenance costs, and efficient space for HNF operations. Desired Condition The desired condition of the administrative facilities on the East Unit as established in the 2008 FMP is to provide safe, efficient and economical buildings to serve our customers, visitors, and partners; and to provide safe and adequate accommodations for employees. Old, inaccessible, outdated, energy inefficient buildings with high maintenance costs are Civil Rights Impact Analysis 1

2 replaced with new, efficient, and cost effective buildings. Employees duty stations are located in close proximity to their work and two administrative sites are managed on the East Unit in accordance with 2008 FMP. Purpose and Need for Action There is a need to comply with direction provided in the 2008 FMP which was approved by the Regional Forester in There is also a need to more closely align the facilities on the East Unit of the HNF more closely with the desired condition stated above. Specifically there is a need to: Address budgetary concerns and improve facility cost efficiencies on the HNF by operating the minimum number of facilities. Provide barrier free, accessible access for National Forest visitors, customers, and employees. Provide energy efficient and sustainable facilities that are centrally located to result in a lower carbon foot print from Forest Service related activities. Reduce the amount of annual and deferred maintenance on administrative facilities. Proposed Action The HNF is proposing to convey (sell) the Sault Ste. Marie Ranger District administrative site (SSM Admin Site) located at 4000 I-75 Business Spur in Sault Ste. Marie, MI; and close and decommission the Moran Work Center in Moran, Michigan. This would displace five employees at Sault Ste. Marie, and move one employee working out of Moran. Four of the displaced employees would be reassigned to the Raco Work Center and two would be reassigned to St. Ignace Ranger District Office The HNF proposes to remove the outdated office, and four smaller outbuildings currently under Forest Service administration at the Raco Work Center, west of Ranger Road near Raco, Michigan. A new office that would house up to 15 permanent employees and 5-6 seasonal employees would be constructed. The approximate size of the office building would be 2,500-3,000 square feet. A warehouse/garage would be constructed to service heavy equipment (approximately 2,500 square feet) and to house a cache for fire supplies and to store fire fighting vehicles. The HNF will continue to disseminate Forest based information and would provide a local point of contact for such things as National Forest information, firewood cutting permits and permits for other authorized National Forest uses. Customer service to the Sault Ste. Marie area would be provided through a number of means including: The St. Ignace Ranger District Office will serve as the primary business office for the East Unit of the HNF. The Point Iroquois Lighthouse will serve as an important visitor center for the northern part of the East Unit of the HNF. The HNF would work with local entities within the Sault Ste. Marie community to provide limited office hours to meet local and visitor needs. 2 Civil Rights Impact Analysis

3 Five buildings at the Forest Service administered work center in Moran would be removed. The Moran Work Center would continue to be used as on outdoor storage yard for supplies and materials, but no structures would remain there. This proposal has two phases. Phase I would consist of selling the Sault Ste. Marie office and constructing the new Raco Work Center office, with a limited public service contact point. Phase II would consist of a new Construction & Maintenance (C&M) shop, engine bay, and fire cache at Raco and demolition of the Moran buildings. Ten buildings would be decommissioned at the Raco and Moran sites, but no land would be sold in either Raco or Moran. The Raco Work Center would continue to operate and accommodate field going staff from the Sault Ste. Marie Ranger District Office (which is under conveyance authority) and C & M crews and equipment from the Moran Work Center. Relationship to Civil Rights The USDA policy states there is to be no discrimination toward employees or customers because of their race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. Civil rights are the legal rights to guarantee equal protection under the law. In order to carry out Federal civil rights laws and policies, USDA agencies, including the HNF, need to identify and address the civil rights implications of a proposed action prior to making any decision An internal Civil Rights Impact Analysis has been completed to determine effects to employees. The five positions with Sault Ste. Marie Ranger District Office and one position working out of the Moran Work Center would be redistributed to the HNF s Raco Work Center and St. Ignace Ranger District Office, based upon the most appropriate location for the work to minimize impacts to them. In order to facilitate the duty station transition, interim duty station arrangements would be considered for employees currently in these positions. The HNF would also work with the local community to ensure adequate public service and information dissemination. If you feel the proposed activities would have an effect on you or others civil rights, please record these as comments and submit them to the address below. Relationship to Social Impacts Social impacts for individuals are changes in his/her relationship with others, with community institutions (doctors, churches, etc.), and in his/her economic status or lifestyle. If you feel the proposed activities would have an effect on you or others socially, please record these as comments and submit them to the address below. Civil Rights Impact Analysis 3

4 Relationship to Natural Resource Impacts Since all of the proposed activities are taking place on developed administrative sites the Forest Service is expecting environmental or resource effects to be minimal. If you feel the proposed activities would have an effect on natural resources please record these as comments and submit them to the address below. Process to Submit Comments on the Proposal If you feel the proposed action described above may impact your civil rights, or affect you socially, economically, or have impacts to natural resources, please respond. You should respond if you perceive positive or negative impacts. This letter is designed to collect your input. Please be as specific as possible in your reply. What impacts do you anticipate, and why? State how you, your family, your community, or your business may be affected. What will the impacts be on the Forest Service s ability to care for the natural resources, and to care for and serve our customers? If you expect a negative impact, please also add your thoughts on any action the Forest Service might take to eliminate or reduce that negative impact. Any suggested mitigation of negative impacts will be very helpful. Also, please include any other questions or comments you would like the Forest Service to consider. The information gathered here will be used as the basis for the analysis of the civil rights and social impacts and mitigations. The opportunity to comment by one of the following methods ends 30 days following the date of publication of the legal notice in the Sault Evening News in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. Written, hand delivered, or verbal comments on the proposal must be sent to: Stevan J.Christiansen Subject: Proposed Raco Building Removal and Construction W 1900 West U.S. Highway 2 St. Ignace MI Or phone ext.113 Faxed comments must be sent to: Stevan J. Christiansen comments must be sent to: comments-eastern-hiawatha-st-ignace@fs.fed.us Subject: Proposed Raco Building Removal and Construction 4 Civil Rights Impact Analysis

5 Electronic comments must be submitted in a format such as an , plain text (.txt), rich text (.rtf), Word (.doc), portable document format (.pdf), or other Microsoft compatible formats. Office hours (for comments delivered by hand) are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday (closed on holidays). Oral comments (in person or by telephone) must be provided to the Responsible Official s office during these hours. If you wish to reference specific literature in your comment letter, I request that you send a copy of the entire reference you have cited, and include rationale as to why you feel it is pertinent to the proposed building removal and construction. This will allow me to fully evaluate your comments. If I do not receive a copy of the literature, I may not be able to fully utilize your comments. "The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC , or call (800) (voice) or (202) (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer." Civil Rights Impact Analysis 5

Scoping and 30-Day Notice and Comment Period for. Grassy Knob American Chestnut Planting

Scoping and 30-Day Notice and Comment Period for. Grassy Knob American Chestnut Planting United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Monongahela National Forest Greenbrier Ranger District Box 67 Bartow, WV 24920 Phone (304) 456-3335 File Code: 2020/2070/1950 Date: November 15, 2012