The study team for the Upper Price River Watershed Plan-Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) announced that the first phase of the study, the scoping phase, is now complete.
Through this phase, the team conducted a number of steps, including hosting an agency scope meeting, a public scope meeting, a public comment period and developing the purpose and need. Through these meetings, various government agencies were met with, challenges were solved, input and ideas were obtained, and more.
The public was given various opportunities to learn about the environmental study process and provide input and feedback regarding the study. The study team then determined the problem to be solved and identified the objectives to address the problem. A full breakdown of the scoping phase can be found here.
The Upper Price River Watershed Plan-EIS is now in its second phase, which is the alternatives development and screening phase. The study team began developing a list of possible solutions, also known as “alternatives,” to meet the need that was identified in the scoping phase.
Alternatives are then preliminarily screened to see if they meet the purpose and need. Those that do will move forward for further study and once the alternatives are narrowed down, the team will look at what impact, both positive and negative, each one could have on a variety of resources.
The team will present the alternatives that are studied to the public for feedback. The opportunity for feedback will consist of a 30-day comment period. Following this, the third phase, the draft plan-EIS, will begin.