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-42- <br />VII. UNAVOIDABLE ADVERSE IMPACTS TO CULTURAL AND PALEONTOLOGICAL <br />RESOURCES THAT CANNOT BE AVOIDED SHOULD THE FEDERAL PROPOSAL • <br />BE IMPLEMENTED <br />Excavation of sites to mitigate adverse direct or indirect impacts <br />essentially eliminates those cultural resources and destroys potential <br />information that cannot be obtained by present techniques but which could <br />possibly be recovered by techniques developed in the future. <br />Unavoidable adverse impacts on paleontological resources are discussed <br />in the paleontological report included in the appendix. <br />VIII. SHORT-TERM USES OF CULTURAL AND PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES VS. <br />LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF PROPOSED ACTION <br />As far as cultural resources are concerned, excavation of a site <br />effectively destroys that site. Future archeologists may have improved <br />recovery techniques and new methods of obtaining information that are <br />unavailable today, and site preservation will ensure that sites will be <br />available in the future for application of the new techniques. Preserva- • <br />tion of all sites, however, would essentially eliminate the possibilities <br />for current research and the establishment of the ground work for future <br />research. Any long term planning must include both consideration of <br />current research needs and the necessity of preserving representative <br />sites and portions of sites for future research. <br />The short-term vs. long-term uses of paleontological resources are <br />discussed in the paleontological report included in the appendix. <br />IX. IRREVERSIBLE AND IRRETRIEVABLE COMMITMENTS OF CULTURAL AND <br />PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES <br />Historic and prehistoric sites constitute non-renewable resources <br />in that each site is unique. Destruction of that site, either by excavation <br />or some other means, permanently removes that site from the cultural <br />• <br />