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2023 Cultural Resource Site Assessments for Collom Expansion Project Colowyo <br />Tetra Tech June 2023 13 <br />For Official Use Only: Disclosure of Site Locations Prohibited (43 CFR 7.18) <br />occurred in the north end of the site at and immediately west of Buildings 1 and 2. The date of the <br />post-2005 disturbance is unknown. The remaining features/buildings had experienced normal <br />deterioration expected of abandoned historic era structures. Building 3 had one sunken wall and <br />the ceiling had collapsed. Building 4 had the roof collapse. The historic trash scatter consisted of <br />sanitary cans, paint cans, glass fragments, barbed wire, and metal debris. The prehistoric <br />component was relocated as well. Two manos, a stone tool, and a concentration of approximately <br />25 white chert tertiary flakes were all relocated. A sandstone groundstone pestle with one rounded <br />and one ground end measuring 9.3 cm by 3.3 cm by 3 cm was recorded. The vegetation was <br />noticeably higher than in 2005 and likely accounted for any prehistoric artifacts not relocated in <br />2015. No new significant impacts or changes to the prehistoric component were observed. <br />In 2019, Tetra Tech revisited the site as part of the second round of assessments. The site <br />condition had not changed since the 2015 revisit. The site had not been adversely affected by <br />mining activities. Vegetation coverage during the revisit was between 90 to 100 percent covered <br />ground surface. The condition of the prehistoric component remained the same as reported in <br />2015. One of the two lithic concentrations, the HAR concentration, and the pestle were relocated <br />in 2019. The remaining groundstone and tools were not relocated due to dense vegetation. The <br />condition of the historic component remained the same; the condition of Buildings 1 through 4 <br />had not changed since 2015 and the trash scatter was relocated and is unchanged since 2015. <br />In 2023, Tetra Tech revisited the site as part of the third round of assessments (Figure 8). The <br />site condition has not changed since the 2019 revisit and has not been adversely affected by <br />mining activities. The condition of the prehistoric component remains the same as reported in <br />2015. The condition of the historic component remains the same; the condition of Buildings 1 <br />through 4 (Figures 9 and 10) and artifact scatter have not changed since 2019. Tetra Tech <br />recommends that mining activities continue to avoid the site until further assessment is completed <br />to fully evaluated the site’s NRHP eligibility. <br />NRHP Status and Condition Assessment <br />In 1995, Site 5MF.4003 was recommended as needing more data during field evaluation by <br />Metcalf Archaeological Consultants. TRC agreed with their judgment in 2005. Both assessed that <br />the prehistoric portion of the site required subsurface testing to determine the extent of the cultural <br />component. The historic portion of the site was recommended as non-contributing as it has no <br />potential to further the understanding of local or regional historic settlement, subsistence, or <br />socioeconomic patterns. Based on the 2023 revisit, Tetra Tech still agrees with the <br />recommendation that additional data is needed to determine the potential NRHP eligibility of the <br />prehistoric component. Tetra Tech also agrees that the historic component does not contribute to <br />a potential NRHP eligible determination. No significant impacts were noted in 2023. The site <br />should continue to be avoided pending additional subsurface testing to determine whether <br />subsurface cultural material is present at the prehistoric component portion of the site. <br />