Laserfiche WebLink
1.4. Issues and Impact Topics Eliminated from Further Analysis <br />According to NPS policy, certain issues that have been identified may be eliminated from <br />detailed analysis if the expected adverse impacts would be negligible to minor with the <br />implementation of the required mitigation across all alternatives. The interdisciplinary team <br />determined that there were some resources that would not create more than negligible or minor <br />adverse impacts and were not mentioned as particular concerns during public scoping. <br />Therefore, the following topics were eliminated from further analysis in this EA for the reasons <br />described. <br />1.4.1. Environmental Justice <br />Executive Order 12898, "General Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority <br />Populations and Low-Income Populations," requires all federal agencies to incorporate <br />environmental justice into their missions by identifying and addressing disproportionately high <br />and adverse human health or environmental effects of their programs and policies on minorities <br />and low-income populations and communities. The proposed action would not have <br />disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minorities or low- <br />income populations or communities as defined in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's <br />(EPA's) Environmental Justice Guidance (1998). Therefore, environmental justice was <br />dismissed as an impact topic in this EA. <br />1.4.2. Prime and Unique Farmlands <br />In August 1980, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) directed that federal agencies <br />must assess the effects of their actions on farmland soils classified by the U.S. Department of <br />Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service as prime or unique. Prime or unique <br />farmland is defined as soil that particularly produces general crops such as common foods, <br />forage, fiber, and oil seed; unique farmland is defined as soil that produces specialty crops such <br />as fruits, vegetables, and nuts. There were no prime or unique farmlands located in or near the <br />project site; therefore, the topic of prime and unique farmlands was dismissed as an impact <br />topic in this EA. <br />1.4,3. Historic Structures, Ethnographic Resources, Cultural Landscapes, Museum <br />Collections <br />The following provides definitions of the different cultural resources impact topics dismissed <br />from further evaluation. <br />1, Historic structures include standing structures, irrigation canals, railroad grades, etc. <br />and is a collective term for all entries in the National Register of Historic Places. <br />2. An ethnographic resource is any "site, structure, object, landscape or natural <br />resource feature assigned traditional legendary, religious, subsistence, or other <br />significance in the cultural system of a group traditionally associated with it" (DO-28, <br />Cultural Resource Management Guideline, 181). <br />3. A cultural landscape is a geographic area, including both cultural and natural <br />resources associated with a historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other <br />cultural or aesthetic values. <br />4. A museum collection include prehistoric and historic objects, artifacts, works of art, <br />archival documents, and natural history specimens <br />12 <br />