2023-07-24_PERMIT FILE - C1981019

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Cultural Resource Re-Visitation Form Resource Number: 5MF.3996 Temporary Resource Number: Page 2 of 3 14. Existing Protection: None Marked Fenced Patrolled Access controlled Other (specify): Colowyo is avoiding the site. OAHP is requiring a professional archaeologist to conduct regular revisits to assess the effectiveness of avoidance measures. Comments: 15. Recorder’s Management Recommendations: The site should continue to be avoided by any proposed mining related activities. 16. Known Collections, Reports, or Interviews: Karpinski, Mark and Jonathan Dugmore 2015 Cultural Resource Site Assessments for Western Fuels-Colorado, Colowyo Coal Company’s Collom Expansion Project, Moffat County, Colorado. Tetra Tech. Submitted to Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Copies available through Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Karpinski, Elizabeth, Cody Haisley, and Mark Karpinski 2019 Cultural Resource Site Assessments for Western Fuels-Colorado, Colowyo Coal Company’s Collom Expansion Project, Moffat County, Colorado. Tetra Tech. Submitted to Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Copies available through Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Lowe, James A., Bruce R. McClelland, Mark Karpinski, and Elizabeth Karpinski 2006 A Class III Cultural Resource Inventory for Colowyo Coal Company’s Collom Mine Project, Moffat and Rio Blanco Counties, Colorado. TRC Mariah Associates. Submitted to Bureau of Land Management, Little Snake River Field Office. Copies available through Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. 17. Site Description/Update: Site 5MF.3996 was originally recorded in 1995 by Metcalf Archaeological Consultants for the Colowyo Coal Company Lease and Exploration Areas: Class III Cultural Resource Inventory project. The recorders reported the site as containing three areas of burned bone and charcoal which were eroding out of the eastern and western cutbanks of the West Fork of Jubb Creek. The site has been revisited since the original recording. It was revisited in 2005 by TRC as part of the Collom Mine Expansion Class III Inventory project and in 2015 by Tetra Tech as part of the Collom Mine Expansion Site Assessment project. The datum was not relocated during either revisit; however, TRC discovered eight large mammal bones in addition to light staining and a single piece of charcoal. In 2015, Tetra Tech revisited the site as part of the Collom Mine Expansion Site Assessment project. During the revisit, none of the previously reported charcoal, stained sediments, or charred or uncharred bone were observed at the site. The site had been overgrown and the road had been unused in recent years with significant vegetation growth within its grade. One vertebra and one ilium of a medium sized ungulate, likely a deer, were found in the southern end of the site. The bones were unmodified, and likely due to a natural death and not associated with any potential cultural manifestation. No staining was identified, and it was still undetermined whether the site was cultural or natural in origin. The eastern cutbank appeared to have been heavily impacted by cattle grazing activities evidenced by hoof prints, trampled vegetation and manure piles. No evidence was observed that the cattle grazing impacts had adversely affected any reported cultural manifestations. Overall, site integrity remained fair. In 2019, Tetra Tech revisited the site as part of the second round of assessments. The site condition had not changed since the 2015 revisit. The site had not been adversely affected by mining activities but continues to be affected by natural erosion as reported in 2015. Vegetation growing on the site had reduced ground surface visibility and the original datum was not relocated. None of the previously reported cultural material, including bone and charcoal staining, was relocated due to the dense vegetation growth. In 2023, Tetra Tech revisited the site as part of the third round of assessments. The site has not been adversely affected by mining activities. Like the 2019 revisit, Tetra Tech did not relocate documented cultural material including the bone or charcoal staining. A small snow drift also remained in the wash bottom; but was not extensive enough to preclude sufficient visibility for the revisit. A section of the wash cut bank has naturally slumped into the wash. No cultural resources were observed in the sediments exposed by the slump. The slump event has not adversely affected the site. Tetra Tech recommends that mining activities continue to avoid the site until further assessment is completed to fully evaluated the site’s NRHP eligibility. 18. Photograph Numbers: 117-8108007:103-0284 to 0285