United States Department of Agriculture

Forest Service

Coconino National Forest, Supervisor’s Office

1824 S. Thompson Street Flagstaff, AZ 86001-2529 Phone: (928) 527-3600 Fax: (928) 527-3620

Caring for the Land and Serving People Printed on Recycled Paper

File Code: 2700/1950 Date: April 16, 2010

Interested Party address address, AZ 86001 Dear Interested Party,

The Coconino National Forest is analyzing improvements to the Saddle Mountain Communication Site on Forest Service Systems Lands. This letter initiates public scoping of the proposed action. You are being contacted about this proposal because of your past interest in Coconino National Forest projects, or because you are a neighbor to the Saddle Mountain Communications Site. Saddle Mountain Communication Site is located on top of Saddle Mountain on Forest System Road 550A, on the Peaks/Mormon Lake Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest. We are proposing to improve wireless service by constructing 2 free standing towers and install associated facilities. We will also develop a Communications Site Management Plan for this site. Accompanying this letter is a summary of the project and the Proposed Action. This document is also available via the Coconino National Forest Web Site at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/nepa/index.shtml . I encourage your participation in the planning process, and at this time, we are asking for your comments, concerns, and questions concerning this project. To be the most helpful in the planning process, please provide your comments by May 19, 2010. Written or oral comments may be submitted via mail, fax, telephone, or in person to:

Coconino National Forest Attn: Beth Dykstra 1824 S. Thompson Street Flagstaff, Arizona 86001 Phone: (928) 527-3419 Fax: (928) 527-3620 Email: comments-southwestern-coconino@fs.fed.us

If you would like to enter into formal Section 106 consultation regarding this proposed project please contact our Tribal Relations Specialist Craig J. Johnson at (928) 527-3475 or by email at cjjohnson@fs.fed.us by May 19, 2010.

The name and address of the person submitting electronic comments must be included. Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names and addresses of those who comment, will be considered part of the public record on this project and will be available for public inspection. Pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any persons may request the agency to withhold a submission from the public record by showing how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits such confidentiality. If you do not respond, your name will be removed from the mailing list for future correspondence concerning this proposal. We appreciate your help and continuing cooperation with our forest planning projects. Should you have any questions, or need additional information, please contact Beth Dykstra at (928) 527-3419, Coconino National Forest.

Sincerely,

/s/ M. EARL STEWART M. EARL STEWART Forest Supervisor

SADDLE MOUNTAIN COMMUNICATIONS SITE FACILITIES

SCOPING DOCUMENT

BACKGROUND The public and government agencies have come to expect reliable wireless telephone and internet service while traveling major highways for general use and emergencies. The Highway 180 corridor north of Flagstaff, Arizona is a major route to the Grand Canyon. The area has also experienced accelerated residential growth, which increases demand for communications services. More than 30 miles exist between wireless communications towers on Highway 180 between Valle and Flagstaff. The highway corridor approximately 7 miles southeast of Valle, through a point approximately 3 miles north of Kendrick Park is currently not receiving adequate wireless service. The Saddle Mountain Communication Site, located northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona on the Coconino National Forest, is a low power site for government agencies and commercial mobile radio service. The existing Saddle Mountain Communication Site facilities consist of a small 80 foot tall guyed tower and a small equipment building. The Forest Service has a radio repeater for internal communications located at the site. ALLTEL Wireless has been operating from this site for several years under a temporary special use permit. Saddle Mountain is the best location to provide extended coverage to the southern portion of the Highway 180 corridor. Other communication needs have been identified in this area. The Grand Canyon area is reaching wireless interconnect capacity for communications in and out of Tusayan and the National Park. Additional facilities that would improve and increase regional microwave interconnection, e.g. connecting one cellular carrier’s wireless network to a local exchange, The Coconino and Kaibab National Forests issued a prospectus soliciting proposals to provide facilities for wireless carriers to serve the highway corridor. The prospectus offered the successful applicant (s) the rights to pursue development of a single site or multiple sites under one or more communication site leases. Forest Service selected the proposal from a tower company that proposed new facilities on Saddle Mountain. In addition to Saddle Mountain, the tower company proposes to construct a new tower on private land (Ebert 2). The Ebert 2 site is subject to Coconino County zoning processes and therefore is not included in the FS analysis. See Figure 1 for proposed tower locations. Initial Concern – Visual Quality The proposed action addresses initial concerns about the effects to the visual quality by locating the new facilities below the crest of Saddle Mountain, by design and construction materials, and limiting height to same or lower than existing FS tower. It is anticipated the improved facilities will meet Partial Retention, as defined in the Forest Plan, by using the proposed design, choice of construction materials, and location.

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PURPOSE AND NEED There is a need to:

1. Improve wireless personal communication services in northern Arizona, principally along the Highway 180 corridor where such services are not currently available and/or reliable.

2. Provide for expanded microwave interconnect for the Grand Canyon area. 3. Identify site development constraints for inclusion into a FS Communications Site

Management Plan that will guide development and management of the Saddle Mountain site; and authorized further use of the site.

PROPOSED ACTION The Forest Service proposes to authorize use of the National Forest System lands as a communication site by issuing leases to facility owners or managers, construction, operation, and maintenance of additional communications facilities at the existing Saddle Mountain Communications Site. The new facilities are designed to accommodate anticipated communications needs at this site for the next 10 years. The major components of the proposed action, showed in Figures 3 and 4, are summarized below.

1. Construct a freestanding tower 90 feet above ground level (AGL) and equipment buildings capable of accommodating four wireless carriers to provide wireless service for the Highway 180 corridor.

2. Construct a freestanding tower 90 foot AGL, located approximately 50 feet from the wireless tower, to accommodate broader regional microwave communications needs.

3. Construct a hybrid electrical power system on site that uses solar panels, a propane generator, and wind generators.

4. Include the following development and management constraints into the Saddle Mountain Communications Site Management Plan: Limit tower heights to 90 feet AGL. All towers shall be free standing, no guyed towers. Allow non-government low power, two-way radio, microwave and cellular

communications site uses. i. The maximum power output expressed as ERP is based on the maximum output

allowed for two-way radio under the Federal Communications Commission’s rules at Title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 90. As of the 2003 regulation, that is 500 watts ERP. Each use must operate at or below the power level authorized by their respective FCC license as long as it does not exceed the site limitation.

ii. Continuously transmitting uses will not be authorized at this site, excluding microwave.

Maintain visual resource objectives by requiring design standards that are unobtrusive and by utilizing earth tone colors and non-reflective surface material consistent with the standards in the Land and Resource Management Plan, including:

i. Building paint, antennas and antenna covers must be a Forest Service approved, non-reflective shade.

ii. Allow towers to weather naturally.

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iii. White dish antennas and covers will not be approved. iv. Microwave (dish) antennas and other than ground-mounted satellite dishes will

not exceed 10 feet in diameter / or minimum diameter necessary to meet needs. Co-location, when practical, will be required, including the multiple-use of buildings,

towers, solar generating systems, back-up generators, grounding systems, fuel containers, access ways, and parking areas.

Identify and monument a boundary for the communications site plan representing the land area allocated for current and future communications uses.

5. Allow for hazard tree removal and fuels reduction within the site boundary

DECISION TO BE MADE The decision to be made is whether to implement the proposed action, an alternative to the proposed action, or whether further environmental documentation is needed. A final decision is anticipated in July 2010.

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Figure 1. Highway 180 Corridor existing and proposed communications sites.

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Figure 2. Existing Saddle Mountain Communications Site Location.

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Figure 3. Profile View of Proposed Facilities.

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Figure 4. Overhead View of Proposed Facilities.