vegetation from buffer areas at most study sites has caused unnatural line 

 and color contrasts that draw attention to the disturbed areas. Color con- 

 trasts are more visible from an elevated position where a viewer is looking 

 down onto the site. 



Rectangular, water-filled excavation pits, due to their unnatural shape, 

 generally create significant contrasts in all floodplain landscapes. The 

 contrast is accentuated when the vegetation bordering the pit is tall and 

 conforms to the rectangular shape. 



Sites that can be viewed from above, where the viewer is able to look 

 down onto a site, generally results in high visibility potential particularly 

 in areas of sparse or low-growing vegetation. 



Access roads also have resulted in significant contrasts in many study 

 sites. Access roads frequently create a high degree of visual prominence 

 and contrast where they traverse perpendicularly across existing slope con- 

 tours. This contrast is more disruptive in regions of rolling or steep ter- 

 rain, having sparse or low-growing vegetation, as exists on the Seward Penin- 

 sula and North Slope. The presence of more than one access road can produce a 

 multiplying effect with respect to increasing visual prominence. 



The presence of stockpiled gravel and overburden piles often increase 

 visual prominence to a site. Often due to their height or linear shape, or 

 both, the piled material tends to attract the viewer's attention to a site 

 even though the site itself may not be clearly visible. Large stockpiles are 

 detractive in most landscapes although less noticeable in broad floodplains 

 surrounded by tall, highly patterned, mixed stands of vegetation. Tall vege- 

 tation and terrain features can provide a visual screening effect particularly 

 where the viewing location is at ground level. 



Areas having more or less homogeneous vegetation and terrain generally 

 are more highly visible than those areas that are more diverse. The diverse 

 landscape character types general ly can accommodate gravel removal partic- 

 ularly at locations where the potential viewer is at a substantial distance 



309 



