2008-08-18_REVISION - C1980007 (3)

Home Browse Search

Limited-Results Archaeological Survey Form (Page 5 of 10) WW. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES 27. Objectives: The primary objective of the archaeological survey was to identify any significant cultural resources that would be impacted by the construction of the drill pads and access roads. To achieve this objective, it was necessary to conduct a site file search to identify previously recorded cultural resources and to conduct a pedestrian inspection of the project area to detect hitherto unrecorded cultural resources. The criteria employed to assess the significance of recorded cultural resources were those published by the US Government Code of Federal Regulations (36CFR 60) for determining site eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places. These read as follows: National Register criteria for evaluation. The quality of significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association and (a) that are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or (b) that are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or (c) that embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or (d) that has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. Another objective of the inventory was to relocate cultural resource 5GN1102, which was thought to be a prehistoric lithic scatter site near the project parcels. The site file search conducted at the USDA Forest Service in Delta, however, revealed that 5GN1102 is not a site but rather an isolated find consisting of a single artifact. VII. FIELD METHODS 28. Definitions: Site: Sites were defined for this project as locales at which there were sufficient artifacts (usually five or more) or cultural features and which represented patterned human activity. Furthermore, the artifacts had to be localized in a given situation and had to evidence at least 50 years antiquity. IF: Cultural items older than 50 years not meeting the criteria for designation as a site were considered isolated finds. 29. Describe Survey Method: The center of each circular drill pad parcel was staked with wood lath hung with pink flagging tape. Three sizes of drill pads were defined, having diameters of 300 ft (91 m), 400 ft (122 m), and 600 ft (183 m) and encompassing areas of 1.6, 2.9, and 6.5 acres, respectively. If accessible, each survey area was examined by means of pedestrian transects spaced no more than 15 in apart. In cases where dense vegetative cover restricted pedestrian movement and few areas with visible ground were present, a less systematic-approach was adopted, consisting of the careful examination of each individual opening in the brush where the ground could be seen. Access roads were inventoried within 200 ft (61 m) wide corridors centered on the orange-flagged centerlines. The roads were inventoried by means of parallel pedestrian transects spaced 15 in apart. Like the drill pad parcels, if pedestrian movement was restricted by dense brush, only the more open areas within the road corridors were examined, using less systematic methods. Road and drainage cuts in the survey areas were examined wherever possible. In many cases, parcels and proposed access road routes were located entirely on slopes exceeding 30%, or which were inaccessible due to dense brush, or where both conditions obtained. These areas were assessed visually from vantage points that allowed good visibility of the entire parcel or road location. In this manner, survey areas on steep slopes or within dense forest or brush where pedestrian examination was not feasible were eliminated from the inventory. Employing the methods described above, 27 out of the 48 drill pads and 1.1 miles out of the 2 0 miles of access road corridors were examined for cultural resources to one degree or another, as indicated on the attached maps (Figures 2 and 3).