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1 <br />CNAPTERTHREE Affected Environment <br />' Point and the Parachute Site. This azea also has an agricultural land use including livestock <br />grazing and hay production. <br />' 3.12.4 Parachute Site <br />The Pazachute Site is located in Garfield County on private land in the southeast comer of <br />Section 34 T6S R96W. The site currently owned by Unocal, which developed the site as an <br />industrial facility for oil shale development. The anticipated oil shale development did not <br />occur, and the site was not developed further for oil shale. The site is located in an area zoned by <br />' Garfield County as Resource/Lands (R/L). The R/L zoning district was subclassified into <br />different zones including plateau, escarpment, talus slopes, and gentle slopes and lower valley <br />floor. The Parachute Site is located in the gentle slopes and lower valley floor zone where <br />industrial support facilities aze allowed by special use permit only. <br />' 3.13 VISUAL RESOURCES <br />3.13.1 Methodology and General Overview <br />This section identifies and describes the visual resources which could be affected by the <br />proposed project. The study area includes those azeas that viewers may travel through, recreate <br />in, or reside in, or where existing views may be affected by the Proposed Action. <br />The description of the visual resources of the study area aze based on the methodology described <br />in the BLM's Visual Resource Inventory Manual (BLM 1986b). The visual inventory consists of <br />' three factors: (1) a scenic quality evaluation, (2) a sensitivity analysis, and (3) distance zone <br />analysis. The scenic quality evaluation involves the rating of the scenic beauty of an area, which <br />takes into consideration such factors as landform, vegetation, water, color, adjacent scenery, <br />' scarcity, and cultural modifications. Sensitivity analysis is a measure of the public's concern for <br />the scenic quality of an azea, and is based on factors such as number of viewers, type of users <br />' (e.g., commuters or recreationists), public interest, and adjacent land use. Landscapes aze also <br />classified into distance zones based on visibility from travel routes or other possible sensitive <br />viewing locations. Three distance zones are noted, including the foreground/middleground (0-5 <br />miles), background (5-15 miles), and aseldom-seen zone (>15 miles or not seen). <br />Based on these three factors, lands aze placed into one of four resource inventory classes. These <br />Visual Resource Management (VRM) classes represent the relative value of the visual resource <br />' and provide a basis for considering visual values in the resource management planning process. <br />Each VRM class has specific visual objectives defining how the visual environment is to be <br />managed, with VRM Class I the most protective of the resource, and VRM Class IV allowing the <br />1 most modification to the existing chazacter of the landscape. The objective of each class is <br />defined as follows (BLM 1986b): <br />' • Class I is intended to preserve the existing chazacter of the landscape. This class provides for <br />natural ecological changes; however, it does not preclude very limited management activity. <br />The level of change to the characteristic landscape should be very low and must not attract <br />~ attention. <br />Land Use and Recreation 3-51 <br />