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26 • clause of criterion c, since it "represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components [sites] may lack individual distinction," and under criterion d, because the aggregate of these components or sites "may be likely to yield information important in prehistory." This reassessment opens new research avenues which will take better advantage of the information potential of the project's cultural resources, and fosters some new approaches to data recovery not available within the mandate ofcul[ural resource preservation laws and regulations if the project's sites are treated individually. All ofthe project area's sites within the boundaries of the district should be re-evaluated under the context of the district. Many of these sites will be considered contributing elements. The site reported here have been so evaluated. The significance of the LCRHL district lies in the information potential preserved in the numerous sites present in the project area (criterion d). These sites may contribute significantly to understanding the exploitation of a specific resource, in this case pinon nuts and atoms, and should also allow some illumination of the larger settlement system within which these activities occurred. Realizing the significance of [his district is enhanced by the size and nature of the proposed coal mine, whereby research can be directed at the larger landscape and aggregate assemblage of sites, rather than at a single site or a few sites. The archaeological investigations are being staged as the mine's proposed developments will be implemented, allowing for periodic reassessment of results and leaving room for modification or redirection of research efforts as findings warrant. • Certain sites within the boundaries of the district may be appropriately evaluated under contexts other than that of the district, and may in fact have little or nothing to do with the district. These particular resources will be evaluated for eligibility for the National Register in their own right, and may be considered non-contributing to the district. Boundaries of the Landscape The LCRHL encompasses 8529 acres. Of this total, approximately 1003 acres have been covered by intensive field inventory. Definition of the boundaries of the rural historic landscape district are made based on three factors: I) the extent of known cultural resources that belong to the landscape (based on existing survey results); 2) the geographical extent of the vegetation community which forms the basis of the landscape; and 3) determination of a reasonable and definable "edge" of the landscape. Taken one at a time, each of these three factors would produce a very different boundary, so a "middle ground" is proposed. It includes all of the surveyed areas in the mine's permit area where sites have been found that can be assigned to the landscape. It is expanded from that point to include additional and adjacent areas exhibiting the landscape's topographic qualities and vegetation community where a similar assemblage of sites is anticipated. From this point, a northern limit (at the Purgatoire River) and a southern limit (at the transition between pinon- juniper/oak scrub and coniferous forest communities), are well within the scope of the project. However, tracing the area east and west up and down the Picketwire Valley opens thepossibility for . extending the boundaries for many miles. For this reason, arbitrary limits are imposed on the district at definable landforms or geographic features that bracket the project area, but do not include extensive areas outside the immediate vicinity of the present project area. There is certainly no