Final environmental assessment for Seven-Up Pete Joint Venture : application for an exploration license for exploration activity at the McDonald and Keep Cool Project areas

114 Pages·1992·3.3 MB·English

by  Montana. Minerals Management Bureau

FINAL
ENVIRONMENTALASSESSMENT
for
SEVEN-UPPETEJOINTVENTURE
applicationforanexplorationlicense
forexplorationactivity
attheMcdonaldandkeepcoolprojectareas
STATEDOCUMENTSCOLLECTION
^NOV8Z 1992
MONTANASTATELIBRARY
PREPAREDBY: N%5me6nTanTs9s20
DEPARTMENTOFSTATELANDS
LANDADMINISTRATIONDIVISION
MINERALSMANAGEMENTBUREAU
HELENA,MONTANA
DEPARTMENTOFSTATELANDS
RECLAMATIONDIVISION
HARDROCKBUREAU
HELENA,MONTANA
PURSUANTTOTHE
MONTANAENVIRONMENTALPOLICYACT
August1992
mi
FEB 9
.
DEPARTMENTOFSTATELANDS
STANSTEPHENS,GOVERNOR
STATE OF MONTANA
[phone] HE1L6E2NSAE,LEMVOENNTTAHNAAVES9N6U2E0
August 28, 1992
Dear Reader:
Enclosed in this package is the Final Environmental Analysis
and the Finding of No Significant Impact / Decision Records for
the proposed expanded exploration project by Seven-Up Pete Joint
Venture in the McDonald and Keep Cool areas outside of Lincoln,
Montana
The final EA includes comments on the draft EA and responses
to the comments that were received. Some corrections were made
to the EA text based on these comments.
The Mitigated Proposed Action Alternative was chosen in the
Finding of No Significant Impact / Decision Record. Exploration
may begin in the area upon publication of this document.
If you have any questions about the final EA or the decision
document, please call Gary Weissmann at 406/ 444-2074. Thank you
for your interest and input into this project.
Sincerely,
Gary Weissmann, Hydrologist
Minerals Management Bureau
Lands Division
"ANEQUALOPPORTUNITYEMPLOYER"

TABLEOFCONTENTS
CHAPTERI-INTRODUCTION 1
A. Introduction 1
B. ProposedAction 1
C. PurposeandNeedforAction 2
D. Background 2
1. MineralLeasing-StateLands 2
2. PrivateLands 4
3. PreviousExplorationOperations 4
a. OperationsonState-OwnedLands 4
b. OperationsonPrivateLands 4
E. PublicInvolvement 5
F. AgencyResponsibilities 7
1. ReclamationDivision,HardRockBureau 7
2. LandsAdministrationDivision,MineralsManagementBureau 8
3. DepartmentofStateLands,ForestryDivisionandFieldOperations
Division 9
4. StateHistoricPreservationOffice 9
5. DepartmentofHealthandEnvironmentalSciences(DHES) 9
a. AirQualityBureau 9
b. WaterQualityBureau 10
6. DepartmentofNaturalResourcesandConservation(DNRC) 10
CHAPTERII-PROPOSEDPLANANDALTERNATIVES 11
A. ProposedPlan 11
1. GeophysicalandGeochemicalTestingandGeologicalMapping 11
2. ProposedDrillingOperations 11
3. Trenching 15
4. BulkSampling 15
5. MetallurgicalandEnvironmentalTestingFacility 16
6. MonitoringPlans 19
7. SummaryofImpactsUndertheProposedAction: 20
B. AlternativestotheProposedPlan 20
1. AlternativeI-NoAction 20
a. PossibleImpactsunderAlternativeI: 20
2. AlternativeII-ProposedPlanwithAdditionalMitigationMeasures .... 21
a. PossibleImpactsundertheMitigatedAlternative: 21
C. RelatedActionsunderConcurrentConsideration 21
D. AlternativesConsideredbutDroppedFromFurtherAnalysis 22
CHAPTERIII-AFFECTEDENVIRONMENT 23
A. TopographyandGeology 23
B. Hydrology 23
1. SurfaceWater 23
2. SurfaceWaterQuality 24
3. Groundwater 24
4. GroundwaterQuality 25
C. Soils 26
D. RangeandVegetation 28
E. WildlifeandFisheries 29
i
1. StudyMethods 29
2. ElkHabitat 29
a. ElkWinterRanges 29
(1) KeepCoolAreaWestofLandersFork-CoreWinter
Range 29
(2) McDonaldArea 30
b. SpringUse/CalvingAreas 31
c. SummerUse/ThermalCoverAreas 31
d. FallUseAreas/HuntingSeason 31
3. GrizzlyBearHabitatConsiderations 31
4. Habitatforotherwildlife 32
F. A5i;«rQualiFtiyshaernidesClimate 3323
G. LandUse 34
Aesthetics , 35
1. VisualQuality 35
2. Noise 36
I. SocioeconomicConditions 36
1. TheLocalEconomyandEmployment 36
2. Population 38
3. Housing 38
4. Schools 38
J. CulturalResources 39
CHAPTERIV. ENVIRONMENTALCONSEQUENCES 41
A. TopographyandGeology 41
1. ProposedAction 41
2. No-ActionAlternative 41
3. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 41
B. Hydrology 42
1. ImpactstoSurfaceWater 42
a. ProposedAction 42
b. No-ActionAlternative 43
c. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 43
2. ImpactstoGroundWater 44
a. ProposedAction 44
b. No-ActionAlternative 45
c. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 45
C. Soils 45
1. ProposedAction 45
2. No-ActionAlternative 47
3. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 47
D. RangeandVegetation 48
1. ProposedAction 48
2. No-ActionAlternative 48
3. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 49
E. WildlifeandFisheries 49
1. ProposedAction 49
2. No-ActionAlternative 51
3. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 51
F. AirQualityandClimate 53
1. ProposedAction 53
it
2. No-ActionAlternative 54
3. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 54
G. LandUse 54
1. ProposedAction 54
2. No-ActionAlternative 55
3. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 55
H. Aesthetics 56
1. VisualQuality 56
a. ProposedAction 56
b. No-ActionAlternative 56
c. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 56
2. Noise 56
a. ProposedAction 56
b. No-ActionAlternative 57
c. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 57
I. SocioeconomicConcerns 57
1. aP.roposeLdocAacltiEocnonomyandProjectEmployment: 5588
b. Population: 58
c. Housing: 58
d. Schools 58
2. No-ActionAlternative 59
a. LocalEconomyandProjectEmployment: 59
b. Population: 59
c. Housing: 59
d. Schools 59
3. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 59
J. Cultural 60
1. ProposedAction 60
2. No-ActionAlternative 60
3. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 60
CHAPTERV-CUMULATIVEEFFECTS 61
A. Past,Present,andFutureActions 61
1. MineralDevelopment 61
a. Mining 61
b. Exploration 61
2. Logging 62
3. Grazing 62
4. Recreation 62
B. SummaryofCumulativeEffects 62
1. ProposedAction 62
2. No-ActionAlternative 63
3. MitigatedProposedActionAlternative 64
CHAPTERVI-CONCLUSIONSANDRECOMMENDATIONS 65
CHAPTERVII-CONSULTATIONANDCOORDINATION 71
CHAPTERVIII-COMMENTSONTHEDRAFTENVIRONMENTALASSESSMENTAND
RESPONSES 73
iii
GLOSSARY . 99
REFERENCES 101
APPENDIXA: A-1
iv
LISTOFFIGURES
Figure1: LocationMapandExplorationClassIndications. Stippledareasmarkstate-owned
land 3
Figure2: DrillingDensitybyExplorationClass 12
Figure3: TypicalDrillPadLayout(actualpadlayoutvarieswiththesitelocation) 13
Figure4: BulkSampleStorageandMetallurgicalTestFacilityLocationandLayoutin
Section5 17
Figure5: MetallurgicalTestFacilityLayout 18
Figure6: PotentiometricsurfaceintheMcDonaldarea 25
Figure7: GeneralizedsoilsmapfortheMcDonaldarea 27
Figure8: ElkwinterrangeintheMcDonald/KeepCoolarea 30
Figure9: Noiselevelsmeasuredwhiledrillingatestholeinthenorthwestcornerof
Section6 37
v
LISTOFTABLES
TTAABBLLEE21:: SETXAPTLOERLAETAISOENDATCRTAIVCITTSYIONNVOSLTVAETDE-OWNEDLAND 42
TABLE3: AREADISTURBANCEESTIMATESFORTHEPROPOSEDACTION 14
TABLE4: MAJORSOILFACTORSFORGENERALIZEDSOILTYPES 26
TABLE5: COMPARISONOFIMPACTSUNDEREACHALTERNATIVE 65
TABLE6: MCDONALD/KEEPCOOLAREADISTURBANCEESTIMATES(ACRES)BY
DISTURBANCETYPE 68
TABLE7: MCDONALD/KEEPCOOLAREADISTURBANCEESTIMATES(ACRES)BY
ALTERNATIVE 6g
vi