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Highway 160 serves as a major transportation corridor for tourists, recreational drivers, and local <br />commuters to Durango, the San Juan Skyway, and the Four Corners region. The Grandview <br />Ridge Trail System is used heavily by mountain bikers, hikers, horseback riders, and hunters, <br />with over 30,000 visitors estimated per year (SWCA 2007). <br />Public sensitivity to landscape modifications in the area is considered to be relatively high based <br />upon recent public interest in visual resources for other projects on public lands adjacent to <br />Durango, including Animas City Mountain and Falls Creek fuel reduction projects, and Glacier <br />Club's proposed land exchange (SWCA 2007), and based on public comments received as part <br />of a scoping process. Lands managed by the BLM in the Grandview Ridge area are expected to <br />have a high degree of visual sensitivity due to the high use of, and user concerns for, the <br />recreational trail system. The trails are used extensively for mountain biking, hiking and related <br />trails sports and by recreational users who have a strong interest in seeing high quality scenery. <br />People are generally traveling by foot, bike or horse on these trails and have ample time to <br />examine the forested landscape and view foreground detail (as compared to short duration, high <br />speed views seen by travelers along Highway 160). In terms of the Visual Management System, <br />this combination of high concern for scenery and long duration viewing places a higher relative <br />value on protection of scenic quality. <br />The general landscape in the vicinity of the project area is currently dominated in the foreground <br />and middle ground views in the lower elevations and relatively flat river bottom areas by <br />industrial, business, and residential development. The dominant natural features in these areas <br />are the landscape forms of the river valley and mesa and mountain tops and dark green, coarse- <br />textured, and irregular-shaped vegetation on higher slopes. Roads, trails, structures, and rural- <br />urban development are present in the majority of the foreground to middle ground views in these <br />areas and these structures provide contrast to the natural setting. Gravel mining activities are <br />currently visible and have some visual impact; however, in most cases, these mining activities do <br />not dominate the view. Based upon the KOP existing conditions analysis, activities in the <br />Grandview Ridge area are currently generally meeting VRM Class III objectives; however, in <br />some locations, particularly along the Highway 160 corridor and from trails located near the <br />existing C&G Gravel pit, the current VRM Class III management objectives do not appear to <br />currently be met. A VRM Class IV condition, instead of Class III, is met at these locations <br />(KOP 3 and 4.4). At these locations, gravel operation, activities may dominate the view and are <br />the major focus of the viewer's attention. <br />Existing development within the BLM Grandview Ridge parcel is typically associated with roads <br />and facilities constructed during the last 50 years to support utility rights-of-way, gravel pit <br />mining, and oil and gas operations. Specific recent developments that contribute to the visual <br />environment on BLM-managed land in the Grandview Ridge area include LPEA's 46kV line and <br />associated ROW (constructed in 2006), as well as a system of gravel and unimproved roads and <br />trails that have been developed for gravel mining, oil and gas developments, utility access, and <br />recreational trail uses. Development of the Mercy Medical Center facilities and Three Springs <br />subdivision has also significantly modified the visual landscape in the area. <br />Grandview Gravel Pit Expansion Environmental Assessment 37