Federal Agencies Work Group Opportunities for Federal Action: Protecting Cultural Heritage Resources

Identify, preserve, enhance and protect the irreplaceable cultural heritage resources of the Champlain Basin for the public benefit, now and for generations to come, and promote an appreciation of their value as a vital aspect of the Basin's economic and community life.

KEY FEDERAL ACTIONS Environmental Protection Agency The EPA, through the LCBP, has funded an underwater survey of Lake Champlain since 1996 by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. More than 300 square miles of lake bottom have been surveyed, and more than 75 new shipwrecks have been located and documented. These new cultural resources and the many previously-known shipwrecks give Lake Champlain the most extraordinary archaeological collection of historic wooden ships in North America. The survey has also raised public awareness about the significant history of Lake Champlain and the threat that zebra mussels hold for these irreplaceable resources. U.S. Coast Guard To cap off the $6 million Corps of Engineers rehabilitation of the 19th century breakwater, Senator Leahy obtained a $250,000 Coast Guard appropriation to install historically accurate light towers with state-of-the-art lighting technology in the harbor. The light towers help tell the story of Burlington’s commercial maritime heritage, and provide another attraction for residents and visitors to the waterfront.

LAKE CHAMPLAIN MARITIME MUSEUM Artist Ernie Haas' depiction of the gunboat Spitfire on the bottom of Lake Champlain.

National Park Service

The Service facilitated an inventory of cultural resources in the Basin, which culminated in the Champlain Valley Heritage Corridor report. The Service also provided LCBP funding and assistance for Historic Landings signage, underwater mapping, survey and preserves development, the Unknown Treasures project, and supported the Cultural Heritage and Recreation Coordinator position. The NPS serves on the Cultural Heritage and Recreation Advisory Committee, providing program assistance and coordination.

NPS and EPA funds have supported the LCBP's Wayside Exhibit. The LCBP has provided design services for 125 wayside exhibits
for communities and organizations in New York, Vermont, and Quebec, using the template developed for signage in the Champlain Valley. Wayside exhibits are excellent tools for interpreting the environmental, cultural, natural and/or historical significance of a site. This interpretation leads to better public understanding and stewardship of the Basin’s resources.

LCBP This wayside exhibit, located in Burlington, interprets the cultural and natural history of the Basin.

The passage of the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership Act by the U.S. Government in October 2006 could strengthen the role of the NPS in the Basin region. This legislation establishes the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership with the States of Vermont and New York. This partnership will help preserve, protect, and interpret the historical, cultural, and recreational resources of the Champlain Valley. The Partnership Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide technical and, if funds are appropriated, financial assistance to the management entity (the LCBP) to carry out the purposes of the act.

Natural Resources Conservation Service

The NRCS conducts cultural resources reviews of all land disturbing practices during planning assistance to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act. Six hundred earth moving conservation practices planned in the Vermont portion of the Champlain Basin were reviewed from 2004 through 2006 to determine if installation of these projects would adversely affect significant cultural resources. Three hundred and eighteen site visits were conducted that included a systematic surface survey, subsurface testing or a combination of methodologies used to locate archeological resources within and adjacent to the project limits.

In Vermont sixty three archeological sites were encountered during the planning process from 2004–2006. A majority of these sites are Native American short-term encampments or special use sites from the pre-contact cultural period and the others are from the historic period, such as abandoned farmsteads and small industrial sites. None of the 600 conservation practices planned by NRCS during this period disturbed any of the cultural resources encountered. Nine projects were redesigned and moved to avoid disturbing the nearby archeological site. One homestead found on the Lake shore is attributed to the French occupation of Lake Champlain circa 1730–1758; however, most of the historic sites are from the 19th century. One of these historic sites is a lime kiln, another is a sawmill, and several others are the ruins of farmsteads or residential sites.

In 2004, the Vermont NRCS, in cooperation with the St. Francis/Sokoki band of the Abenaki Nation, the towns of Swanton and Highgate and the Vermont Land Trust, conducted ground penetrating radar studies on privately owned properties near the Missisquoi River to search for unmarked Abenaki graves in advance of house development. Although no unmarked burials were identified, two Abenaki encampments were discovered that dated anywhere from 500–3,000 years ago.

Thirty cultural resource investigations have been completed by NRCS in New York in the Lake Champlain Basin over the last three years.

Department of Defense

The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) received support from the Department of Defense (DOD) Legacy Resource Management Program in 1995, 1998, and 2000–2003. Working through the Naval Historical Center, LCMM manages the Federally owned properties on the lake bottom, such as military related shipwrecks and artifacts. The centerpiece of LCMM’s research is Benedict Arnold’s Gunboat Spitfire, lost on October 12, 1776, during the American retreat from the Battle of Valcour Island. On behalf of the Navy, LCMM monitors the site to ensure that ill-intentioned divers do not damage it, conducts a yearly inspection of the vessel, and is completing a management plan for the boat. DOD Legacy funding also supports the Valcour Bay Research Project. This is an underwater archaeological survey, undertaken since 1999, to study Revolutionary War battlefield scatter and preserve sites from artifact collectors by fostering site stewardship with local recreational divers.

OTHER FEDERAL ACTIONS

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cooperates with local Native Americans, Universities, and state and Federal cultural resource agencies to protect and interpret archaeological resources at Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, which is culturally one of the most significant sites in Vermont.

In 2001 and 2003, the LCMM received funding from the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) of the National Park Service in support of the Valcour Bay Research Project. In the 2003 grant, the ABPP has also asked LCMM to inventory the privately held collections of artifacts taken from Valcour Bay over the past several decades.

The Environmental Protection Agency, through the LCBP, funded the design and printing of the Vermont Cultural Heritage Tourism Toolkit in 2003. The Toolkit furnishes parties interested in cultural heritage tourism with the information they need to develop cultural heritage tourism “products” that are authentic, engaging, and sustainable.