Final Environmental Impact Statement

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Vestal Final Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 3 1992). Ceremonies are performed at these sacred locations during specific periods on the celestial calendar or weather events (Goodman 1992). Historic Context Although influenced by Euro-American culture through the introduction of horses, guns, and disease as early as the 17 th century, sporadic use of the Black Hills by Euro- Americans largely began in the early 1800’s and consisted mainly of fur trappers and traders (Sundstrom 1989). The western half of South Dakota, including the Black Hills, portions of southern North Dakota, and nearly the entire area of the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana was recognized as unceded Indian Territory by the 1868 treaty between the United States and the Sioux and Arapaho. More intense Euro-American occupation in the Black Hills began shortly after gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874. It was this discovery that brought a full scale influx of Euro-American prospectors and miners to the Black Hills. Historic settlement in the Black Hills by Euro-Americans is generally auxiliary to this history of the mining industry. Homestead patents are common from the late 1800’s through the 1920’s. Industries such as the ranching and logging industry became common in the early 1900’s. However, much of the land was not patented and remains public land. During the Depression/New Deal Period (1920-1941), public works projects became common across the Black Hills landscape. The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) organized groups of men in camps to construct fire lookouts, roads, trails, dams, and wells throughout the area. Field Surveys and Eligible Sites Sections of the Level III cultural resource inventory were first contracted to Niwot Archaeological Consultants in 2008. A Level III Heritage Resource Inventory:Vestal Analysis Area, Calamity Unit by Brad Noisat (BKF # R2008020300101) resulted in the survey of 6,332 acres. The contract inventory consisted of new survey and the evaluation of newly discovered sites. No monitoring or evaluation of existing cultural resources was performed under the contract. The Forest Service conducted an in-house cultural resource survey of the remaining 5,788 acres distributed across the 26,223 acre Heritage Area of Potential Effect (APE). The Heritage APE is considered here as all National Forest System Lands within the Vestal Spring analysis area, and expanded to include some portions of Pennington County which originally considered for NEPA analysis, and a 100 meter buffer around the analysis area to encompass roads bordering or leading up to the project area and potential areas of federal undertaking in support of the NEPA action, such as landing areas for logging and staging areas for prescribed burns. Newly recorded and previously recorded unevaluated sites were evaluated for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places. All eligible sites were monitored and evaluated for effects from all project alternatives. There are 19 known cultural resources determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) within the Vestal analysis area. Additionally, six sites within the Vestal area remain unevaluated for listing, despite further attempts to evaluate their significance, and will be protected as potentially eligible for listing on the NRHP. Most of these sites are considered historic and range in age from 70-140 years 136
Vestal Final Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 3 before present. They include mines, homesteads, dams, and dumps. The historic sites are the remnants of the rich logging, mining, and settlement history of the local area. A number of historic sites are the remnants of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression and New Deal time periods. The prehistoric sites that are present within the analysis area are typically rock shelters and encampments of varied and often undetermined age. Environmental Consequences Alternative 1 If there is no federal action, then there is no undertaking, as defined in 36 CFR Part 800.16(y), for Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f). However, No Action may result in the destruction of cultural resources due to the increased fuel loading and tree mortality --both of which increase the potential for fire and subsequent ground disturbance and erosion. Many of the eligible sites in the Vestal project area are eligible for listing on the NRHP due to the presence of intact subsurface cultural deposits or standing architectural features. As such, any processes that disturb the soil/sediment matrices of an archaeological site (including erosion) or increase the intensity and probability of catastrophic wildfire, adversely impact the site’s eligibility. Both of these potentials exist within the Vestal project area and are perceived as an ongoing threat to cultural resources. Alternative 2 The Forest Service developed site specific recommendations for all eligible cultural resources to avoid adverse effects from this alternative. These recommendations were submitted within the Section 106 report for the Vestal project. The South Dakota SHPO concurs with these determinations (March 19, 2012). Furthermore, SHPO concurs with a finding of No Adverse Effect, provided that these cultural resources are avoided by all ground disturbing activities during project implementation. If during the course of any ground disturbance related to this project, any bones, artifacts, foundations, or other indications of past human occupation of the area are uncovered, all operations will cease within a 100-meter radius of the site location and a district archaeologist notified immediately. The SHPO and regional Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs) will be notified of the discovery and provided an opportunity to comment. Any cultural resources located during project implementation will be protected based on the recommendations of the district archaeologist and the SHPO. Adherence to the design criteria would result in no direct or indirect effects to cultural resources from Alternative 2. Cumulative Effects The nature of the cultural resources and the foreseeable actions in the project area dictate that the cumulative effects area should match the physical site boundaries. Therefore, the cumulative effects area is defined as the known archaeological sites in the identified burn, thinning units, and access roads to and from the project area. The timing limit for the cumulative effects analysis is 20 years; ten years prior to present and ten years in the future. 137
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Final Environmental Impact Statement

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