When a
large prehistoric site was found during a Phase One Survey
of an area planned for a grassed waterway earlier this
summer, our first thought was that NRCS would have to
withdraw assistance for the project based on our policy of
avoidance. However, we soon learned that the cultural
resources review process wasn’t going to be quite as
obvious. It turns out that the grassed waterway could,
potentially, protect portions of the prehistoric site that
are still intact, not to mention the environmental highway
safety benefits it will provide by preventing the movement
of fine silt onto an adjacent roadway.
With this
understanding, we approached our consulting partners
including the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation,
and Historic Preservation (NYS OPRHP or SHPO), the Seneca
Nation of Indians, and the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. (This
was our first contact with the Tonawanda Seneca Nation
concerning cultural resources although Jim Seiler has been
working with their tribal office for years.) After much
communication including phone calls, emails, and a
conference call, we agreed to meet at the project location
as a first step towards developing a strategy for allowing
the project to go forward while at the same time, ensuring
that potentially significant artifacts could be protected.
Left to right: Steve Sprecher, NRCS Soil
Scientist, Hisdee Hallett, archeology student, Chief
Roger Hill, Tonawanda Seneca Nation of Indians, and
Jason Goldbach, Environment and Archeology Field
Archeologist conduct a field survey. |
The
meeting in the field was very constructive in that it
allowed all of us to see the setting for the project and the
archaeological site. Much of the material in the center of
the natural channel has already eroded away and been
deposited at the base of the slope. Furthermore, the natural
shape of the footprint for the grassed waterway showed that
minimal excavation would be needed to establish the grassed
waterway. Given these circumstances, we agreed that
additional field investigations would be limited to those
areas that would be excavated (shaped) during
construction. Furthermore, in addition to the archaeologist
who conducted the initial fieldwork, our newest Soil Scientist, Steve Sprecher, would be present to examine soil
statigraphy in areas to be disturbed.
The
additional field testing was conducted a couple of weeks
later and appears to indicate that the proposed waterway
will have little or no effect on intact cultural resources
in the project area. We are waiting for a final report from
the archaeologist which will be provided to the consulting
parties for their comment. We are confident that the project
will move forward in some fashion whether it means simply
seeding the area in its current state or moving forward with
the original plan to shape the waterway using standard
construction techniques.
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