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<br />28 <br /> <br />Recent and Onf!oinf! Cultural Resource Investiflations: Current resource monitoring of <br />archaeological and traditional resources indicate that archaeological resources continue to be <br />impacted by physical impacts such as surface erosion and gullying in both the Grand and Glen <br />Canyon areas. In the CRE, some surface erosion is clearly due to natural processes that are <br />unrelated to dam operations; however, other sediment loss from archaeological sites is believed <br />to be related to darn operations, The contributing effects of darn operations to the ongoing <br />erosion of the river corridor's alluvial terraces (where many archaeological sites) are located <br />remains uncertain and a issue of continuing controversy. Furthermore, the contributing effects of <br />visitor use to the erosion of archaeological resources have never been systematically evaluated, <br />although a relationship between human recreational activities and soil compaction and erosion is <br />known to exist. <br />Qualitative monitoring of cultural resources continued in FY03, as it has since the <br />program began in 1992, Aside from the cultural resource monitoring program (which is <br />conducted under the auspices of the PA program and falls outside the purview of the GCMRC- <br />sponsored scientific peer-review process), several new initiatives have been implemented by <br />GCRMC in the last few years, following recommendations of the 2000 cultural PEP, A project <br />to evaluate the effectiveness of check darns as a mitigation strategy to slow erosion at <br />archaeological sites was initiated in FYOI and is due to be completed by December, 2003. The <br />initial results of this project (Pederson et al. 2003) suggest that check dams are effective if they <br />are situated appropriately, use appropriate materials (brush appears to be more effective and less <br />damaging than rock checks), and are continually maintained. Another related goal of this <br />research initiative was to test the accuracy ofphotogrammetry as a tool for detecting geomorphic <br />changes at archaeological sites. Pederson et al. (2003) concluded that errors associated with low- <br />level, high resolution photogrammetry are too great to detect meaningful changes in arroyo <br />depths and nick point migration at the level most desirable for tracking erosion at archaeological <br />sites (less than 20 em vertical change); however, they noted that newly developed remote sensing <br />technologies such as LiDAR may be able to provide remote data with the necessary accuracy, <br />One cultural project proposed for FY05 (8.2) will build upon the initial results of this research <br />project by continuing to evaluate the effectiveness of the check dams and by testing the accuracy <br />of LiDAR, This new project will also develop a mathematical model to predict areas of sites <br /> <br />GCMRC FY2005-2006 Draft Annual Work Plan (November 10, 2003) <br />