Idaho National Laboratory Cultural Resource Management Plan

INL lands and facilities are under the direction
of DOE-ID, with the exception of NRF, which is
under the direction of DOE’s Office of Naval
Reactors. Day-to-day operations are managed by
contractors selected by DOE.
Prior to 1949, the region that now includes
INL was used by explorers, Oregon Trail
emigrants, ranchers, homesteaders, canal builders,
and stagecoach and freighter companies. Old
trails, basalt foundations, trash dumps, and canal
works are a testament to the tenacity of these early
historic occupants. At the same time, and
extending at least as far back as 13,500 years ago,
American Indian hunter-gatherers found a
multitude of useful resources on the high desert
that would become INL. Remnants of their
activities suggest that prehistoric groups visited
the area regularly, but probably seasonally, for
thousands of years.
The sections to follow present additional
details on past land use at INL and the cultural
resources that preserve a record of it. The
descriptions begin with an overview of the natural
setting and landscape, which have been important
in different ways to the people who have travelled
through, lived, and worked in the region.
American Indian prehistoric and historic land use,
which is tied so intimately to the resources that the
landscape offered, is described next. Euro
American immigrants made various attempts to
use INL lands during the historic period. These
efforts, which are subsequently described, may
have failed, at least in part, because of a general
lack of understanding of the high-desert setting
and landscape. The final land use description in
this section focuses on more recent historic
activities associated with INL and its predecessors.
Historical highlights drawn from the World War II
and nuclear science and engineering contextual
period of significance (1942 to 1970) are provided
for major INL facilities and programs. (More
detailed historic contexts are presented in
Appendix F, primarily for the period extending
from World War II to the present.) This most
recent account of historical INL land use
concludes with the potential impacts to all types of
cultural resources as a result of ongoing and future
INL operations.
Natural Setting
INL is located in the northeastern portion of
the Snake River Plain near the foothills of the Lost
River, Lemhi, and Bitterroot mountains in
southeastern Idaho (Bonnichsen and Breckenridge
1982; Kuntz et al. 1984; Link and Hackett 1988;
Nace et al. 1972; Nace et al. 1975). The general
region is a high altitude “cold desert” or, more
accurately, a sagebrush-grassland steppe, with
minimal precipitation of 23 cm (9 in.) annually,
mostly falling as winter snow and early spring and
late fall rains. Seasonal and daily temperature
extremes vary widely.
The Snake River Plain is a large topographic
depression approximately 50 to 100 km (31 to 62
mi) wide that extends from the Idaho communities
of Payette in the west, to Twin Falls in the south,
and up to Ashton 300 km (186 mi) northeast,
forming a curved swath across southern Idaho
(Hackett and Morgan 1988; Kuntz 1978). The
Plain is divided into two distinct parts: the western
Snake River Plain (Payette to Twin Falls) and the
eastern Snake River Plain (Twin Falls to Ashton),
which are defined by geologic and geophysical
features unique to each (Kuntz 1978). The eastern
Snake River Plain, where INL is situated, is a
broad, flat Cenozoic volcanic feature that is filled
by thick sequences of rhyolitic tuffs overlain by
1 to 2 km (0.6 to 1.2 mi) of basaltic lava flows and
interbedded sediments (NRF Geotechnical
Investigation 1991).
The northern border of the eastern Snake
River Plain near INL is formed by the
northernmost extent of the fault-block mountains
of the Basin and Range Province (Lost River,
Lemhi, Bitterroot). Far to the south of INL,
fault-block mountains of this province also form
the southern boundary of the eastern Snake River
Plain. To the west, the rolling terrain of the Plain
itself continues uninterrupted. The Yellowstone
Plateau lies to the east-northeast and is an
extension of the Snake River Plain (Kuntz 1978)
and the geologic events that created it. Mountain
ranges to the east of the INL region are part of the
northern Rocky Mountain Province.
At INL, the Snake River Plain is composed of
many superimposed flows of basaltic lava
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