Regulatory
There are no federal laws regarding visual resource protection. However, several agencies (NPS, NRCS, FAA) have specific visual resource management policies. Visual resources include natural landscape features that are visually important or have unique characteristics. In unique circumstances, the nighttime sky may be considered a visual resource. Visual character of an area can be defined by the landscape, i.e., urban, aquatic, coastal, desert, sagebrush scrublands, rural agricultural. Visual resources include aesthetic value and can be linked to an individual’s or community’s sense of culture and identity.
Landscape represents the dynamic interaction between cultural and natural processes. The relations developed with surroundings create and establish belonging, meaning, and informs people’s identity. The European Landscape Convention recognise landscapes in law as an essential component of people’s surroundings, an expression of shared cultural and natural heritage, and a foundation of their identity. Alterations to the landscape affect how people see themselves. If changes are negative or non-democratic, it undermines the relationships individuals and communities have with their surroundings. Change has the potential to create ‘landscape induced alienation’ or solastalgia, homesickness without leaving home (Butler and Sarlöv-Herlin, 2019.)
Baseline Conditions
Visual character in the Project area are typified by open pinyon-juniper woodlands, sagebrush scrublands and rural ranching agriculture. The viewshed in general is an open landscape of pastures, cattle and sheep, with sagebrush scrub and pinyon-juniper woodlands to the south. Lone Cone Road (44Z S) bisects the proposed Project area south to north, creating a contrasting strip of dark pavement in the otherwise subtly colored landscape. Barbed wire and cedar post fences line the perimeter. An electrical distribution line runs along Y43, 44ZS, and Y45; it is made of tall wooden poles with multiple cross braces and insulators. To the west are the LaSalle Mountains which create the skyline beyond which the sun sets, a mountainous backdrop to the otherwise shades of green of the sagebrush and pastures. The Rocky Mountains rise to the east, creating an eye-catching, jagged background to Wright’s Mesa in the lower foreground viewshed. The overwhelming visual element is Lone Cone Mountain to the South, which is the Town’s iconic identifier.
Consequences
The Project would result in significant adverse impacts to the viewshed in areas surrounding to Project Site. Instead of the open juniper-pinyon sagebrush scrublands and wildlife habitat, neighboring properties would have an industrial solar facility consisting of hard dark angular shapes dominating the viewshed. The nearest town is Norwood, approximately 2.25 miles northwest of the proposed Project area. The Project would create an extreme contrast to the existing setting, and be visible by residents of Norwood and on the Uncompahgre Plateau, nearly 25 miles to the north. North and southbound travelers along on 44ZS would have a shockingly contrasted viewshed as they approach the Project. The Project would be visible to travelers on Hwy 145, for approximately 2.25 miles between Y45 and Norwood.
Perceptible impacts to the viewshed can vary depending on elevation change, vegetation, lighting, and distance from the Project. In general, the further from the Project, the less obvious or visually confronting the Project would be perceived within the viewscape. Topography in the area would likely hide the Project from some points. However, the 1009.4-acre Project would become one of the primary visual elements on an otherwise rural scenery, typified by open fields, and pastures of cattle and flocks of sheep. The sharp angles and lake effect would be especially distracting as a drastically different visual element within the bucolic environment.
Clearing vegetation and earth moving required to construct the Project would create distinct and harsh visual changes during construction and result in long-term adverse changes to the viewshed. The presence of large panels, perimeter fencing, and associated structures will change the character of the landscape and thus the viewshed. The reflective surfaces of solar panels can cause glare, increasing its visual impact on the landscape and potentially causing discomfort to nearby residents and drivers. Glare also causes the lake effect, whereby the entire array appears as a body of water. This reflective quality causes the array to be more visible at greater distances.
Change has the potential to create ‘landscape induced alienation’ or solastalgia, homesickness without leaving home. Converting land for solar arrays means a change in land use, which will be significant compared to the current undeveloped state. The community of Norwood and Wright’s Mesa identify with a rural agricultural way of life. The proposed industrial solar facility would be an intrusion on the community. This uninvited and unwelcome change to the landscape would be a negative, non-democratic change to the land. It would be perceived as a violation of land and lifestyle that threatens the shared cultural and natural heritage of the area. (Butler and Sarlöv-Herlin, 2019.)
No Action Alternative
Under the No Action Alternative, the landscape values and visual resources would remain as is.