Generally, the area of the Proposed Action and vicinity is undeveloped and forested, with relatively little human occupation and provides a variety of recreational opportunities. The area is also used for selective commercial logging activities. The few residential uses that exist in the vicinity of the Project are primarily summer homes clustered near Medicine Lake, which is located approximately 2 miles west of the proposed power plant site. The inaccessibility of the region during winter months due to snow limits the land uses in the area.

The Forest LRMP establishes management standards and guidelines for the Modoc National Forest. These standards allow for the use and protection of Forest resources. Preparation of the LRMP is required by the Rangeland Renewable Resource Planning Act (RPA) of 1974, as amended by the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976. Assessment of the LRMP’s environmental impacts is required by NEPA, and an EIS was prepared for the LRMP prior to the Record of Decision adopting the LRMP (USFS 1991a). Management direction provided by the LRMP is designed to meet the Forest Goals and Objectives of the Modoc National Forest. Management direction provided in the LRMP includes the following:

• Forest-wide Standards and Guidelines: Management actions applicable to all lands within the Forest whenever and wherever relevant situations occur. Application areas are not mapped and may change from time to time. The Standards and Guidelines are categorized into 23 resource areas. A standard is a performance criterion indicating acceptable norms, specifications, or quality that actions must meet; a rule to measure against; a principle requiring a specific level of attainment. A guideline is an indication of policy or conduct; an issuance that directs the course of action to accomplish a specific objective. The intent is to adhere to standards and guidelines regardless of their title as “standards” or “guidelines”.
• Management Prescriptions: Integrated sets of management activities and practices conducted on specified land areas throughout the Forest. Each prescription contains management direction and standards and guidelines which govern activities and practices. The LRMP identifies 17 management prescriptions, ranging from full timber and range management to minimum management level. Each acre of national forest land is assigned only one prescription.
• Management Area Direction: Area-specific standards and guidelines as well as quantified objectives for each area. Acreage committed to each of the management prescriptions are included. The Forest is divided into 22 management areas, that are groups of preexisting timber compartments and are, therefore, administrative rather than natural units of land.

The LRMP management direction that is specifically applicable to this Land Uses analysis, and potentially relevant to the proposed Project, includes the Firewood, Lands, Minerals, Range, Recreation, Timber, Wilderness, and Special Interest Areas and National Natural Landmarks resource guidance provided in the Forest Standards and Guidelines, Management Prescriptions, and Management Area Direction sections of the LRMP.

The Modoc National Forest LRMP was adopted in 1991 and amended by the NFMP ROD. The goals of the Standards and Guidelines of the NFMP ROD are to maintain late-successional and old growth species habitat and ecosystems, and to restore and maintain the ecological health of watershed and aquatic ecosystems. As such, the NFMP ROD is discussed in greater detail in Section 3.3 of this EIS/EIR. However, it is also applicable in the land uses analysis as the NFMP ROD, in its protection of watersheds, requires that a watershed analysis be conducted in all Key Watersheds and in non-Key Watersheds that contain inventoried roadless areas before any management activities can occur within those roadless areas.

Watershed analysis is required prior to determining how proposed land management activities meet Aquatic Conservation Strategy objectives, and it has a substantial role in providing for aquatic and riparian habitat protection. Watershed analysis is not project specific and it is not a decision-making process, but it is a systematic procedure for characterizing watershed and ecological processes affecting the watershed to provide guidance for meeting specific management and social objectives.

"For projects where the surface and mineral rights are the property of the federal government, county planning departments are generally not involved. However, federal law does require that the BLM and other federal agencies adhere to applicable county plans and regulations concerning geothermal development wherever possible...The county air pollution control districts establish emission limitations which must be met by developers."

Revenue to Siskiyou County derived from geothermal development is described in the Geothermal Element and is summarized in Section 3.12 of this EIS/EIR (Siskiyou County 1985). The Geothermal Element provides the following Policies regarding land use:

"Policy 15: The County recognizes that if utilization of geothermal resources is to be optimized the designation of land uses for areas overlying geothermal resources must accommodate those uses to which geothermal resources can be applied. In this regard the County shall incorporate geothermal utilization as a determinant in land-use planning; and where feasible, shall allow sufficient flexibility in permitted uses to enable consideration of geothermal applications if and where suitable resources are confirmed in an area.

Policy 16: Notwithstanding Policy 15, geothermal end-uses shall be permitted only where their compatibility with surrounding land-uses can be demonstrated with certainty."

“Goal: The technically and environmentally-sound use of renewable energy resources for direct application and power generation purposes. An objective of this goal is increasing the amount of current local renewable use, and sustaining such use over time without adverse effects to energy resources or the surround environment.

Policy 28: Use of renewable resources for power generation or thermal energy production in amounts of 500 kW or more shall only be approved after technical documentation and analysis has confirmed a sufficient resource base to sustain the power generation or thermal production over the useful life of the proposed generation or production facility; and also confirmed a lack of significant negative effects on any surrounding renewable resource generation or production already in operation.

Goal: Thorough and expeditious evaluation of energy facility proposals; siting of such facilities in a timely, orderly, and environmentally-sound manner; and assurance of the compatible and environmentally-sound operation, maintenance, and eventual abandonment of such facilities.

Goal 33: Whenever possible, increased demand for energy transmission shall be accommodated with existing transmission facilities. Where new capacity is necessary, priority shall be given to upgrading or reconstruction of existing facilities, followed by new construction along existing transmission or other utility corridors. Any new transmission facilities shall be sited so as to minimize interference with surrounding land-uses, and in ways that minimize their visual impacts.

Goal 38: If and when abandoned, energy facility sites shall be reclaimed according to a plan that restores and preserves land values for subsequent and surrounding uses.

Goal 39: The County Planning Department shall actively participate as an affected agency in facility siting processes that may occur on federal or State-owned lands within the County in order to advocate County energy facility policies.

Goal 40: The County Planning Department shall monitor interstate transmission planning processes for electricity and natural gas lines that affect Siskiyou County, and participate when appropriate in order to advocate County energy facility policies.

Lack of understory, scarce flowing water, and porous soils substantially inhibit the growth of forage suitable for domestic grazing. Mature timber stands provide habitat for goshawks and marten. Bald eagle habitat is located near Medicine Lake. Medicine Lake and other small lakes such as Bullseye Lake and Little Medicine Lake are also stocked with rainbow and brook trout.

Most stream channels in the Medicine Lake Management Area are intermittent and flow only after snowmelt and as intense storm runoff. A segment of Paynes Creek, which emanates from Paynes Springs, flows perennially for about 1½-2 miles before infiltrating into the porous volcanic soils typical of the area. Medicine Lake is the largest lake in the Doublehead Ranger District and the most popular recreation spot. Paved Primary Forest Routes allow easy access into the area. Hemlock, Headquarters, A.H. Houge, and Medicine Campgrounds located at the lake receive moderate to heavy use in the late summer and early fall. Medicine Lake also features a picnic area and concrete boat ramp with courtesy docks and paved parking.

In the Medicine Lake Highlands (MLH), mining activities generally involve mineral extraction of materials such as cinders, aggregate, and decorative rock. Pumice and block pumice are also currently mined on the northern flanks of the MLH. There are also several private in-holdings in the MLH, either adjacent to or near the Glass Mountain Lava Flow, that are managed for pumice mining or have been previously mined (BLM et al. 1998). The historical geothermal exploration and plans for development in the Project vicinity were earlier described in this EIS/EIR (see Section 1.8).

• Even-Aged Timber;
• Uneven-Aged Timber;
• Timber Management with Forage Production (Timber-Forage);
• Rangeland Management;
• Timber Management with Partial Retention Visual Quality (Timber-Visuals); and
• Visual Retention.

Each of these management prescriptions allow for geothermal development. In areas designated “visual retention,” roads and trails are allowed, but limited. Visual retention areas are open to mineral entry, but with restrictions. This prescription applies to the foreground zone of selected travel routes and other designated areas where managing the visual resource is a high priority. More comprehensive descriptions of each of these management prescriptions are available in the LRMP. The management prescription for any given area is also always subject to Forest-wide Standards and Guidelines (S&G). S&G are applicable to the exploration and development of mineral resources and include applicable lease stipulations.

The Northwest Forest Management Plan includes standards and guidelines for Late-Successional Reserves (LSR) designed to maintain and enhance late-successional forests as a network of existing old-growth forest ecosystems that are retained in their natural condition with natural processes allowed to function to the extent possible. The reserves are designed to serve a number of purposes. First, they provide a distribution, quantity, and quality of old-growth forest habitat sufficient to avoid foreclosure of future management options. Second, they provide habitat for populations of species that are associated with late-successional forests. Third, they will help ensure that late-successional species diversity will be conserved. There are no LSR in the Project vicinity.

Managed Late-Successional Areas (MLSA) are similar to LSRs but are identified for certain northern spotted owl (NSO) activity centers on the eastern portion of the Northwest Forest Management Plan planning area where regular and frequent fire is a natural part of the ecosystem. Certain silvicultural treatments and fire hazard reduction treatments are permitted to help prevent complete stand destruction from large catastrophic events such as high intensity, high severity fires; or disease or insect epidemics. MLSAs have been designated for standards and guidelines based on two elements: (1) Managed Pair Areas for known NSO pairs, and resident singles in the California Cascades and Washington Eastern Cascades Provinces, from the Final Draft Spotted Owl Recovery Plan; and (2) Protection Buffers for specific endemic species identified by the Scientific Analysis Team in a 1993 study. The Medicine Lake MLSA is located south and east of the proposed Project wellfield area, and it is the only MLSA located in the Project vicinity (see Figure 3.3.2).

Only limited commercial timber harvesting activities are currently occurring in the immediate vicinity of the proposed Project. Timber harvests are also limited in the Management Area by the existence of the developed recreation facilities and priorities around Medicine Lake. Typically, only salvage harvesting of dead and down trees and thinning to encourage late successional growth are being conducted in the project vicinity (BLM et al. 1998).

Adjacent and north, east and south of the Medicine Lake Management Area is the Black Mountain Management Area. In the Black Mountain Management Area are two other designated Geologic SIAs: Glass Mountain (located approximately one mile northeast of the proposed power plant site) and Burnt Lava Flow (located approximately four miles south of the proposed power plant site). The Black Mountain Management Area Standards and Guidelines also state that “activities in the Forest should not alter the scenic and scientific value of these resources.” Further, the Burnt Lava Flow is also recommended by the Standards and Guidelines to be nominated as an NNL.

The monument was first managed as part of the Modoc National Forest. The National Park Service assumed responsibility for management of the unit in 1933. A second Presidential Proclamation in 1951 transferred lands at Petroglyph Point to Lava Beds National Monument from the BLM. This detached unit is approximately two miles east of the main body of the monument. These two areas are connected by a non-wilderness area and together comprise the Lava Beds National Monument. This central portion of the Monument includes the primary access road into the area, Lava Beds National Monument Road; the Visitor Center and Cave Loop Road; Schonchin Butte; Caldwell Butte; Hardin Butte; Thomas/Wright Battlefield; Black Crater; Canbys Cross and numerous other visitor attractions.

The National Wilderness Act restricts activities in designated wilderness areas. No forms of mechanical transport, no permanent roads, and only “minimum tools” are permitted in wilderness. Special provisions of the National Wilderness Act provide for “such measures...as may be necessary in the control of fire...” Other restrictions, necessary for the preservation of wilderness values, may be made by the LBNM (e.g., a prohibition against firewood collecting for any but administrative use) (NPS 1996).

Lava Beds National Monument manages its caves within designated wilderness areas as underground “wilderness.” Approximately 43 miles of trails and road/trails exist. There are 18 separate trails identified within the monument. Riding and pack animals are currently permitted on only four trails - Lyons, Three Sisters, Whitney Butte, and Gold Diggers (NPS 1996).

Appendix G to CEQA Guidelines indicates that a project would typically be considered to have a significant effect on land uses if it:

• Conflicted with adopted environmental plans and goals of the community where it is located;
• Disrupted or divided the physical arrangement of an established community; or
• Conflicted with established recreational, educational, religious or scientific uses of the area.

The CEQA Environment Checklist was also reviewed to identify land use conflicts that would typically result in a significant effect on the environment. Those identified include projects which would:

• Conflict with applicable environmental plans or policies adopted by agencies with jurisdiction over the project; or
• Be incompatible with existing land use in the vicinity.