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<br />Section 4 <br />Step I of Continyency Plan: Test Excavation <br />This step involves confirmation of prehistoric occupation at the <br />rock shelter designated 5DT700. This will be accomplished by a formal <br />test excavation program designed to definitivley demonstrate the <br />presence or absence of the suspected evidence for prehistoric occupation <br />at this resource. If the program herein outlined fails to confirm that <br />meaningful (National Register Eligible) prehistoric cultural or <br />environmental data exist at this site, an appropriate recommendation <br />will be made to OSM and the State Historic Preservation Offices in the <br />final report. Such a recommendation will suggest that the provisional <br />status of 5DT700 be abandoned, it's number returned to the site number <br />pool for Delta County and that Colorado Westmoreland be relieved of any <br />further responsibilities to the feature as outlined in Special Condition <br />3. In the event that test excavation findings are positive, it will be <br />necessary to conduct enough of a test program to develop data which can <br />be used to develop final mitigation strategies and cost estimates for a <br />full scale mitigation effort at this resource. <br />The test excavation program will consist of initiation of formal <br />excavations of the areas of the rock shelter believed to have the <br />potential of yielding cultural and/or paleo environmental data. In this <br />regard, a formal sequence of one (I) meter wide trenches will be <br />established at the Rock Shelter. One (I) meter square test units will <br />then be selected from the grid forming the trench sequence. At least <br />one one (1) meter square test unit will then be excavated by natural <br />and/or arbitrary stratigraphic levels in the central area of the alcove <br />of the rock shelter itself. This will be excavated to the bottom of any <br />cultural deposits encountered. The bottom is defined as bedrock or <br />sterile undisturbed subsoil. In the event this unit encounters a rock <br />fall which cannot be removed and which precludes continuation of <br />excavation to the bottom of the shelter fill, an additional test square <br />will be excavated in the central area in an effort to bypass the rock <br />fall and reach the bottom of the shelter fill. If tests of the central <br />fill of the shelter reveal cultural materials, I meter square test <br />excavations will then be undertaken at the margin of the shelter fill <br />and in the colluvial deposits outside the front of the alcove. In this <br />manner, if there are prehistoric cultural and/or environmental deposits <br />in the fill of this rock shelter, sufficient excavation will have been <br />conducted so that the depth and horizontal extent of the deposit can be <br />established. A final evaluation of the resource's National Register <br />eligibility can be made and sufficient data will be in hand to plan a <br />detailed and formal mitigation plan if still justified. In the event <br />the resource does require furthur mitigation efforts, they will in part <br />have been accomplished by the test excavation. If the test program <br />proves negative, or that the resource is not eligible for the National <br />Register of Historic Places, then as mentioned, it can be written off <br />and nothing further will need to be expended on its behalf. <br />7- <br />