Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
and associated impacts to cultural resources. Finally, the larger APE allows RHR room to relocate
project components during planning and design of the facilities in order to reduce potential
impacts to resources or for other reasons.
The surveys included background research to determine the prehistoric and historic contexts of
the project area and vicinity, site file searches for information on previously recorded
archaeological resources, 100 percent coverage pedestrian survey of the project area, and
recording to State or Forest Service standards all identified archaeological resources aged 50
years or older. The results are presented in eight survey reports, listed in table 66.
Table 66. Archaeological surveys conducted of the physical APE
Portion of Physical APE
Land
Status
Acreage
Surveyed
Reference
Sections 9 and 10 of mine permit area USFS 1,280 Walley et al., 2006
Section 16 of mine permit area NMSLO 640 Walley, 2006
Section 11 haul road USFS 28 Allison, 2010
Sections 17 and 20 haul road private 49 McCormack, 2010
Section 15 utility corridor/access road reroute private 23 McCormack, 2012
Reroute of Section 11 haul road, reroute of Section 17 haul
road, reroute of Section 15 utility corridor/access road
private,
USFS
Dewatering discharge pipeline USFS,
private
Additional site recording USFS,
NMSLO
NMSLO = New Mexico State Land Office; USFS = United States Forest Service
170 Boggess, 2012
220 McCormack and
Boggess 2012
NA in progress
For each survey, the Forest Service evaluated the identified archaeological resources for NRHP
eligibility, and submitted the report and eligibility determinations to the New Mexico State
Historic Preservation Officer (NMSHPO) for review and concurrence. The Forest Service made
the reports available to the consulting parties, with a request for input on resource eligibility. The
reports or their findings were also available to the four tribes conducting ethnographic
assessments. Information from these reports is incorporated into the analysis in this draft EIS.
The report for the dewatering discharge pipeline survey has only recently been provided to the
consulting parties for their input. After consideration and appropriate incorporation of the input
from the consulting parties, the report will be submitted to the NMSHPO as part of formal
Section 106 consultation. Information from this survey is incorporated into the analysis in this
draft EIS.
Based on information received from the involved tribes during their ethnographic assessments
and from project area visits, the Forest Service has initiated recording of additional archaeological
resources identified by the tribes. Some of these resources will be recorded as new sites, and
some will be incorporated into existing recorded sites as new features, as appropriate. Currently,
it is estimated that 15 already recorded sites will be modified to include new features, and 15 new
sites will be recorded. Because the fieldwork is currently underway, the results will not be
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 307