131 LA UR 03 5862 - National Nuclear Security Administration ...

3.9 Cultural ResourcesLANL has a large and diverse number of historic properties. Approximately 85 percent of DOE land in LosAlamos County has been surveyed for prehistoric and historic cultural resources. Over 1,800 prehistoric siteshave been recorded (Table 3.9-1). More than 85 percent of these archeological sites date from the 14th and15th centuries. Most of the sites are found in the piñon-juniper vegetation zone, with 80 percent lying between5,800 and 7,100 feet in elevation. Almost three-quarters of all sites are found on mesa tops.Table 3.9-1. Acreage Surveyed, Prehistoric Cultural Resource Sites Recorded, and CulturalResource Sites Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places at LANL FY 2002 aFISCALYEARLANLSWEIS RODabcdTOTALACREAGESURVEYEDTOTAL ACREAGESYSTEMATICALLYSURVEYED TO DATETOTALPREHISTORICCULTURALRESOURCE SITESRECORDED TODATE b(CUMULATIVE)TOTALNUMBER OFELIGIBLE ANDPOTENTIALLYELIGIBLENRHP SITESNUMBER OFNOTIFICATIONSTO INDIANTRIBES cNot reported Not Reported 1,295 d 1,092 231998 1,920 17,937 1,369 1,304 101999 1,074 19,011 1,392 1,321 132000 119 19,428 1,459 1,386 62001 4,112 19,790 1,424 d 1,297 d 22002 2,686 22,476 1,835 1,699 6Source: The Secretary of Interior's Report to Congress on Federal Archaeological Activities. Information on LANLprovided by DOE/Los Alamos Site Office and LANL Cultural Resources Management Team (CRMT).In the 1999 and 2000 Yearbooks, this column, then titled ‘Total Archaeological Sites Recorded to Date,’ includedHistoric Period cultural resources (A.D. 1600 to present), including buildings. In order to conform to the way culturalproperties were discussed in the SWEIS, historic period properties were removed beginning with the 2001 SWEISYearbook. Historic sites are now documented in a separate table (3.9-2).As part of the SWEIS preparation, 23 tribes were consulted in a single notification. Subsequent years, however, showthe number of separate projects for which tribal notifications were issued; the number of tribes notified is notindicated.As part of ongoing work to field verify sites recorded 20 to 25 years ago, LANL’s CRMT has identified sites thathave been recorded more than once and have multiple Laboratory of Anthropology (LA) site numbers. Therefore, thetotal number of recorded archaeological sites is less than indicated in FY 2000. This effort will continue overthe next several years and more sites with duplicate records will probably be identified.LANL continues to evaluate buildings and structures from the Manhattan Project and the early Cold Warperiod (1943–1963) for eligibility to the Natural Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Within LANL’s limitedaccess boundaries, there are ancestral villages, shrines, petroglyphs, sacred springs, trails, and traditional useareas that could be identified by Pueblo and Athabascan communities as traditional cultural properties.The SWEIS ROD lists 2,319 historic (A.D. 1600 to the present) cultural resource sites, including sitesdating from the Historic Pueblo, US Territorial, Statehood, Homestead, Manhattan Project, and Cold WarPeriods (Table 3.9-2). To date LANL has identified no sites associated with the Spanish Colonial or MexicanPeriods. Many of the 2,319 potential historic cultural resources are temporary and modular properties, sheds,and utility features associated with the Manhattan Project and Cold War Periods. Since the SWEIS ROD wasissued, these types of properties have been removed from the count of historic properties because they areexempt from review under the terms of the Programmatic Agreement (MOU DE-GM32-00AL77152) betweenthe DOE Los Alamos Area Office, the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office, and the AdvisoryCouncil on Historic Preservation. Additionally, the CRMT has evaluated many Manhattan Project and EarlyCold War properties (A.D. 1942–1963) and those properties built after 1963 that potentially have historicalSWEIS Yearbook—2002 3-33