Draft

General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement

DEVILS TOWER NATIONAL MONUMENT

Crook County, Wyoming

May 2001

This General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement describes and analyzes five alternatives for managing Devils Tower National Monument. The approved plan will help managers make decisions about managing development, visitation, and natural and cultural resources for the next 15 to 20 years. Some issues to be addressed are vehicle congestion, crowded facilities, limited orientation and interpretation, and protecting the rural character of land outside monument boundaries.

Alternative 1, the no-action alternative, would continue the present management. It provides a baseline for understanding why certain changes may be advisable. There would be no new construction or major changes, and the monument would be operated and maintained as before. Summer congestion and noise in the Tower area would continue, and parking areas often would be full. Prairie dogs would be disturbed at pullouts along the main road. The four “action” alternatives prescribe vari­ous approaches to managing the monument’s resources and visitation. In alternative 2, registration would be necessary for visits in the peak season. In all the action alternatives, adjustments would be made in parking and in the use of monument roads and trails. A landscaped pedestrian plaza would be created near the Tower in alternatives 2, 3, and 4. A shuttle system would be established in alternatives 3 and 4, with a staging area where visitors could park, receive orientation and interpre­tation, and hike or bicycle to the Tower. In alternative 4 the staging area would be outside the monument boundary. Prairie dog viewing in alternatives 3 and 5 would be available from large pullouts on both sides of the road. In alternatives 2 and 4, the current prairie dog pullouts would be removed and rehabilitated to natural conditions, but one loop of the Belle Fourche River campground would be converted to an area for parking and prairie dog viewing and interpretation. Alterna­tive 2 would emphasize offering a natural setting. Some areas would be restored to native vegetation, and camping would be available only in one loop of the campground. In alternative 3, the preferred alternative, some areas would be restored to natural conditions, and all camping in the monument would be eliminated. In alternative 4 the headquarters and maintenance facilities would be relocated outside the boundaries, and their current locations would be restored to natural vegetation. Tour buses would park in the offsite shuttle staging area, which also would accommodate restrooms, visitor orientation and inter­pretation, and other visitor facilities. Camping would be available in one loop of the campground, with the other loop con­verted to accommodate a shuttle stop, tour bus parking, a prairie dog trail, picnic sites, restrooms, and interpretation. Alternative 5 would offer experiences similar to those available now, but facilities would be added, and parking accommo­dations would be enlarged and redesigned. No shuttle system would be added, and the current camping facilities would remain. The headquarters building would be enlarged, and more restrooms would be added.

This document includes discussion of the potential environmental consequences of each alternative. In the no-action alternative, as in all the action alternatives, the overall adverse or beneficial effects on vegetation, prairie dogs, habitat for other wildlife, and wetlands would be negligible to minor with appropriate mitigation. Moderate adverse impacts on air quality and floodplains would continue in alternative 1, and there would be adverse impacts on the ethnographic resources sacred to American Indian tribes, with minor to moderate adverse effects on other cultural resources. The visitor experience would be adversely affected by crowding and a lack of services but would benefit from retaining the campground and prairie dog viewing. Alternatives 1, 2, 4, and 5 would compromise natural and beneficial floodplain values, a major adverse impact on floodplains, and a minor to moderate risk of severe flooding in these alternatives could cause major adverse impacts on campers.In alternative 3,removing the campground and rehabilitating the floodplain would restore natural and beneficial values, a major long-term beneficial effect, and removing the campground also would have a major beneficial effect on visi­tors who might have been at risk. Alternatives 2, 3, 4, and 5 would result in overall negligible to minor adverse or beneficial effects on air quality and wetlands. In alternatives 2, 3, and 4, the effects on soils also would be negligible to minor, but alternative 5 would result in long-term moderate adverse impacts on soils. The effects on historic resources from alternatives 2 and 4 would be negligible to minor, and from alternative 3, moderate beneficial effects could be expected. Alternative 5 would cause minor to moderate adverse impacts on historic resources, and mitigation might be required to comply with section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The long-term beneficial effects on ethnographic resources from alter­natives 2, 3, and 4 would be moderate, but alternative 5 would result in moderate long-term adverse impacts on ethnographic resources. Beneficial effects on the visitor experience from alternative 2 would be moderate to major; from alternative 3, major during peak use season; from alternative 4, minor to moderate. Alternative 5 would result in a long-term moderate adverse impact on the visitor experience. The short-term beneficial effect on employment opportunities and the local and regional economy, including indirect effects on local businesses and tax revenues from alternatives 2, 4, and 5 would be minor, and from alternative 3, moderate.

For questions or comments about this document, write Superintendent Chas Cartwright, Devils Tower National Monument, P.O. Box 10, Devils Tower, Wyoming 82714 or telephone 307/467-5283, or e-mail deto_planning@nps.gov.

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United States Department of the Interior ● National Park Service