Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences, Volume 1

This chapter describes the existing natural and human environment that would potentially be affected by the proposed action and its alternatives (“Affected Environment”) and presents the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the proposed action and its alternatives (“Environmental Consequences”). This chapter is divided into three categories—Physical Environment, Biological Resources, and Social Environment—and the resources analyzed in this draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) are sorted accordingly into these three categories. Each resource section is divided into three subsections: “Introduction,” “Affected Environment,” and “Environmental Consequences.”