SOW_STR_and_Alder_Gulch_Class_III_Cultural_Resources_Inventory.docx

United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Western Montana District – Dillon Field Office SOUTH TOBACCO ROOTS and ALDER GULCH PRESCRIBED FIRE PROJECT

SECTION 106 CLASS III CULTURAL RESOURCE INVENTORY

MADISON COUNTY

STATEMENT OF WORK

I. Introduction and Background:

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Dillon Field Office (DFO) is soliciting quotes for a Class III Cultural Resources Inventory of 5016 acres of land in Madison County, Montana. The DFO is planning for landscape-level prescribed burns and mechanical vegetation treatments (cutting small diameter trees down by chainsaw and/or masticator on a rubber-tracked skid steer). The project includes 10 discontinuous units that range in size from 187 acres to 851 acres. The final deliverables will be the results of the inventory in two separate reports – one for the units in the South Tobacco Roots (Laurin, Granite 2, Ramshorn, California 1 and 2, California North, and California South) and the other for units in the Alder Gulch area (Alder Gulch 1, Alder Gulch 2, Christenot, and Axolotl Lakes)

The BLM is required to identify, evaluate, and protect historic properties on public lands under its jurisdiction; and to ensure that BLM initiated, or BLM authorized actions do not inadvertently harm or destroy historic properties. These requirements are mandated by the National Historic Preservation Act and related regulations found at 36 CFR Part 800.

II. Project Location:

The Project is in the South Tobacco Root Mountains, near Alder, Montana and in the northern Gravelly Mountains, near Virginia City, Montana. The project is located on BLM-managed and private lands in Madison County and is accessible using a high clearance, 4WD vehicle via county gravel and two-track roads. A utility terrain vehicle (UTV) or similar is recommended for the Axolotl Unit as this unit is in the Axolotl Lakes Wilderness Study Area. All land within unit boundaries, regardless of ownership, is to be inventoried. BLM will provide the names and contact information for the private landowners involved in the units to be surveyed. BLM will obtain permission from the landowners for the inventory. The contractor is responsible for obtaining permission from the landowners what days the contractor will be on their properties.

The following summarizes the legal description and acres for each unit and a project map is attached:

Sections 27, 28, 33 and 34

Sections 2 and 11

Sections 25 and 26

Section 15 Township 5S Range 4W Section 13

Sections 13 and 14

Sections 9, 10, and 15

Section 26

Sections 26 and 35

Sections 7, 12, and 18

Sections 5, 7, 8, 17, and 18

III. Specific Background:

A Class III Cultural Resources Inventory is a professionally conducted, continuous, intensive pedestrian survey of an entire target area aimed at locating and recording all cultural properties that have surface and exposed-profile indications. In general, a Class III survey is accomplished through systematic inspection carried out by walking a series of close-interval parallel transects until the area has been thoroughly examined. Artificial exposure of the subsurface (metal detecting, auger probing or cursory shovel probing/testing) is sometimes a necessary part of Class III surveys and should be included in identification efforts if ground/surface visibility is completely obscured by heavy vegetation cover. Paleontological localities, if identified, should be noted in the reports; however, complete documentation of paleontological sites is not part of this contract. The main objectives of the survey are to discover all cultural resources in a project area, evaluate the cultural resources for National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility, and provide recommendations for determinations of effect and management specific to the planned prescribed burning and mechanical vegetation treatment project. The Alder Gulch 1 Unit is within the boundary of the Virginia City National Historic Landmark (NHL) and sites within this boundary need to be evaluated for their potential contribution to the NHL.

There are several sites previously recorded in the project area. The following table lists known sites:

(Grandview Prospect)

Private California 1 and 2

IV. Objectives:

A. General Bureau Objective.

1. The overall Bureau objective is to meet the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act by identifying, documenting, and evaluating historic properties that have the potential to be either directly or indirectly affected by the proposed project. These requirements will be met in accordance with the requirements for a Class III Inventory as outlined in the BLM-Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota Handbook H-8110-1 Guidelines for Identifying Cultural Resources and Montana State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) guidance.

B. Specific Study Objectives.

1. To identify and evaluate, based primarily on surface indications, all cultural resources located on lands identified for survey within the project area. In general, site evaluations should be conducted using existing guidance from the Montana SHPO, the National Register Criteria (36 CFR 60.4), and the National Park Service National Register Bulletins.

V. Statement of Work:

A. The Contractor shall conduct a site file and literature search with the Montana SHPO and contact the BLM Dillon Field Office Archaeologist for additional resources. The purpose of this file search is to ensure that the Contractor is familiar with all previous work conducted in the general area of the project. This information will be a necessary component of the inventory reports.

B. The Contractor shall perform an on-the-ground search for all cultural resources located for the project units after obtaining a field work authorization from the BLM Dillon Field Office. The Contractor shall serve as the Principal Investigator and Field Director of an inventory crew charged with identifying and evaluating cultural resources located in the project area; and with writing inventory reports upon completion of field work.

C. Formal testing will not be conducted; however, limited shovel testing or metal detecting, at the discretion of the field director, may be performed to establish potential for site deposition, site boundaries, or significance. If historic period architectural structures or remains are located the contractor is expected to conduct a land title examination as part of the site identification and evaluation effort.

D. The Contractor shall employ the Montana SHPO criteria for minimum site definition; i.e., an archaeological or historical site consists of any feature alone or in association with other features (cairns, stone rings) or five or more artifacts situated in a discrete location within 50 meters of each other and/or artifacts or features located more than 100 meters from each other but in obvious association. Sites may also include locations which contain no physical evidence but are important for their associations with the traditions of a group, ethnic community, or Indian tribe; e.g., National Register Bulletin 38. Linear cultural resources (ie. historic roads) shall be recorded in their entirety (albeit only field checked for the portion of the linear site within project boundaries). Site update forms will be completed for all sites with Smithsonian numbers including previously documented sites that are not relocated. A site update form is not necessary for Site 24MA2512 since the site has formally been determined not eligible by BLM and SHPO. Isolated features, such as historic mining prospect pits or claim markers, shall be recorded as a site. Isolated finds are classified as any cultural artifact that is not a site and examples include a single projectile point, a few lithic flakes, or a bottle smash.

E. The Contractor shall:

1. Cover the area to be inventoried on foot by employing standard survey methodology. Systematic linear transect intervals will be spaced 30 meters or less. Steep landforms, such as rock faces, talus/scree slopes, and cliffs, should be inspected for the possibility of cultural remains including but not limited to human burials, rock shelters/caves, hunting blinds, rock art, and historic mining features. If transects are widened the contractor shall document the rationale employed which justifies deviation from the standard interval distance. In all cases, coverage must be thorough.

2. Identify from all surface and exposed indications all cultural properties or materials. A datum will be established at each site location from which all features and artifact concentrations will be sketched for the site map. Datums shall be natural features.

3. Collect time diagnostic and rare artifacts; e.g., projectile points and pre-contact ceramic artifacts. Include both those found on sites and those occurring in isolation.

4. Locate each cultural resource on a United States Geological Survey (USGS) 7.5' quadrangle topographic map.

5. Record all cultural properties, including previously recorded sites, on site or isolated find forms in line with BLM land ownership. BLM site forms and instructions can be found in BLM's Handbook (H-8110-1). Employ BLM/SHPO recording standards for stone circles as specified in Recordation Standards and Evaluation Guidelines for Stone Circle Sites, Planning Bulletin No. 22 (March 2002).

6. Take at least two photographs of each cultural resource and several of each survey unit. Noticeable changes in geography dictate that at least one photo of each land type within the unit should be included. Standing historic structures shall be photographed on all sides to illustrate architectural features. Label all photos with a description, date/time, and orientation. A photographic record shall be maintained and included in the final submission.

7. Prepare scale maps of all sites based on the location of the site datum and include topographic contour lines, cultural features, basic site contents, locations of all collected artifacts, and site boundaries. How site boundaries were determined should be fully explained in the site record and reports (ie. topography, distribution of site features/artifacts, and/or specific distance from site constituents). Use of digital aerial photographs zoomed in to show the site is not acceptable when the details of the maps are pixelated and no longer identifiable. While it is not necessary to map all artifacts, indicate areas of artifact concentration. When GPS technology is not available (i.e. no satellite coverage) all pre-contact cultural properties shall be mapped by compass and tape or paced in meters. All historic period Euro-American standing structures and mining features; e.g., cabins, barns, adits, etc., shall be mapped in feet. Plot each individual features, diagnostic artifact and site boundary using a GPS unit or field computer with one-meter GPS accuracy. Note the type of GPS equipment and level of accuracy employed.

8. The Contractor shall obtain Smithsonian site numbers from the Montana SHPO for all cultural resources not previously assigned such numbers. The BLM will review all site forms for adequacy prior to the submission to the SHPO for site numbers. The USFS will review site forms for sites on BDNF lands. The Contractor is responsible for addressing SHPO comments on site forms.

F. Collections.

1. Collections shall be labeled and catalogued, using BLM catalog cards, and shall be processed in accordance with Billings Curation Center packaging standards (forms and packaging requirements are available from the Billings Curation Center).

2. All collections belong to the United States Government and will be delivered directly to the Billings Curation Center by the contractor as part of submitting the final inventory reports.

G. Methodologies.

The Contractor shall determine the methods and techniques necessary for completion of this study. The proposed work plan including proposed schedule of work to be completed and the use of qualified personnel in each stage of the project should be included in the quote. The Contractor shall conduct the work according to the proposed work plan and procedures so specified. Survey methodology or avoidance of those areas with greater than a 30-degree slope needs to be addressed in the work plan and the inventory reports. In all cases, coverage must be thorough.

H. Specifications and Standards.

1. Inventory guidelines and standards for BLM generated cultural resource investigations can be found in BLM's Guidelines for Identifying Cultural Resources (H-8110-1). The Handbook is available upon request to the Montana State Office, Billings, Montana. Additional requirements for the recordation of tipi rings are described in the Handbook and SHPO guidance. Investigators must record the GPS locations of each corner of the unit before they begin the inventory. This information shall be included in the unit summaries.

2. Additional guidance can be found on the Montana State Historic Preservation Office website: http://mhs.mt.gov/shpo/.

3. The DFO Archaeologist may accompany the inventory crew during survey depending on schedule.

I. Analysis and Report Preparation.

1. Upon completion of the Class III Cultural Resource Inventory; prepare two professional quality reports (one report for Granite, Laurin, Ramshorn, California 1 and 2, California North, and California South Units and the other report for the Alder Gulch 1, Alder Gulch 2, Christenot, and Axolotl Units), addressing the general categories outlined below for each report:

a. Title Sheet. Signed by the Principal Investigator.

b. Abstract. Provide a 250-word or less abstract of the report. The abstract must outline the report contents and refer to specific highlights from the narrative.

c. Table of Contents. Provide a complete inventory of report contents.

d. Introduction. Provide an overview of the project including its purpose. Identify the units inventoried for this project, by legal description in table form.

e. Literature Search. Provide a brief but complete discussion on the work that has been conducted in the project area.

f. Environmental and Cultural Setting. Provide a brief but complete overview of the environment in which the survey units are located. In addition, discuss the cultural setting, again briefly, including both the pre-contact and historic periods.

h. Methodology. Provide a summary of the methodology used, including names of field personnel, dates the fieldwork was conducted, field conditions (weather, ground survey coverage) and acreage surveyed for each land ownership (ie. BLM, USFS, State, and public).

g. Inventory Results. Provide a summary description of each cultural resource recorded that is narrative in nature and illustrates the environmental and cultural constituents of the site (refrain from simply rehashing the site data in a list format). Include photographs of cultural properties located during the surveys. Use other graphics and tables as appropriate. Note any issues connected with the property's recordation. If a site boundary extends outside of the project boundaries, the site will be recorded in its entirety if on public lands or if on private lands where landowner permission is obtained. If the site extends onto private property and landowner permission is not obtained, then other methods (ie. aerial photography) to document the site will be used, if possible.

Indicate results from evaluation of eligibility and determinations of effect (36 CFR 800.9). Measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse effect findings shall be identified in the inventory report and treated as recommendations to the BLM DFO.

Evaluate each cultural resource for its eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) using guidance found in National Registers Bulletin 15. Contractor shall use an appropriate "Context" in which to evaluate historic properties and shall employ the National Register Criteria (describing both significance and integrity) in those evaluations. The report should clearly identify the approach that is being taken to determine the significance of historic properties. This evaluation design should be reflective of the “Context” and cultural setting of the area. Contractor shall clearly describe the rationale used to determine which sites are eligible, unevaluated, and not eligible. Contractor shall recommend treatment needed to determine eligibility on unevaluated sites. It is assumed that the usual course of action for archaeological sites (at least for sites not considered to be potential Traditional Cultural Properties or human burials) would be formal site testing.

To determine if a site possesses Criterion D values, it must be able to contribute to the theoretical and substantive knowledge of archaeology. A justification of eligibility under this value, should clearly state which research issues can be addressed by investigation of the site, especially through reference to existing pre-contact and/or historic context documents; and it should outline the most pertinent methods of analysis, comparison, and synthesis of archaeological materials.

h. Summary and Recommendations. Discuss the results of the inventory in summary form. Include the following information in one table:

i. Identify the sites recorded, whether the sites are pre-contact or historic, and what type of site is represented by unit.

ii. Identify the land ownership that the site is located on.

iii. Identify the NRHP evaluation (ie. Eligible Criterion D/Not Eligible/Unevaluated), determinations of effect and measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse effect findings for each site.

i. References Cited. Include a list of all sources cited in report.

j. Appendices. Provide an appendix to incorporate typed site and isolated find forms, copies of USGS maps with the depicted units, and photographs of individual units.

k. Maps and Graphics. Provide appropriate maps, charts, tabulations and graphics necessary to support the report narrative. Maps, graphics, and photos in all copies of reports must show the same degree of detail as the electronic images.

VI. Health and Safety Concerns:

The Field Director shall ensure that all field work is done a safe manner. Areas considered by the Field Director to pose health or safety concerns shall not be inventoried or otherwise entered by any field crew members. In such cases, the Contractor shall immediately report these conditions to the BLM DFO Archaeologist who will then advise the contractor on how to proceed. BLM will provide the names and contact information for the two private landowners involved in the units to be surveyed. BLM will obtain permission from the landowners for the inventory. The contractor is responsible for obtaining permission from the landowners what days the contractor will be on their properties.

VII. Acceptance:

Final acceptance of all items/services to be delivered under this contract shall be the responsibility of the Contracting Officer. The government may withhold final payment pending completion of any necessary rework by the Contractor.

VIII. Deliverables (to be submitted to the COR):

A. The Contractor shall submit digital copies of typed site forms with original photographs to the BLM for review prior to submission to the Montana SHPO for issuance of site numbers. Site form maps should have both the location of the cultural resource described and the delineated survey unit plotted and labeled in black. After review and changes, if any, the Contractor will obtain site numbers. The Contractor will be responsible for addressing comments SHPO may have on site forms.

B. One electronic copy of the draft Class III cultural resource inventory reports.

C. Two (2) bound copies for each of the final Class III Cultural Resource Inventory reports. The reports shall be typed and printed on 8 ½ " x 11" paper and shall be single-spaced.

D. Two sets of final site forms with Smithsonian site numbers and with original black & white or color photos.

E. One copy of photographic record.

F. One copy of all field notes.

G. All catalog records and associated forms as specified by the Billings Curation Center.

H. One electronic copy (thumb drive or FTP download only; no CD) of each report, site forms, photos, photo log, GIS data and associated metadata. GIS data should contain, at a minimum, shapefiles of unit boundaries, area surveyed, site boundaries, and both temporary site number and Smithsonian numbers. The Contractor will use NAD 1983 Albers as the projected coordinate system.

IX. Period of Performance:

A. Site file and literature search shall begin no later than 30 calendar days after the order has been issued and completed within 10 calendar days. A summary table of this information shall be turned in with the fieldwork authorization request.

B. Contractor shall prepare a table summarizing the results of the inventory and site shapefiles to the COR within 15 days of completing fieldwork. The table shall contain unit name and results of survey (i.e., indicate type/number of cultural resources located and recorded).

C. One digital copy of the draft Class III Cultural Resources Inventory reports and the draft site forms shall be submitted no later than February 3, 2023. The COR will review all deliverables and comment on their adequacy within 30 calendar days of submission.

D. All final deliverables (including collected artifacts and associated documentation and completed CRABS forms) are due April 7, 2023.

X. Payment Schedule:

A. Payment shall be tied to completion and acceptance of tasks identified in Section IX. Period of Performance per the following: A (10%), B (40%), C (30%), and D (20%).

Map Reference: Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest/BLM Interagency Travel Map (Central).

Units are in black.

Laurin Unit

Ramshorn, Granite 2, California 2 North, California 2 South, California 1 and 2 Units

Axolotl, Christenot, Alder Gulch 1 and Alder Gulch 2 Units image1.jpeg image2.jpeg image3.jpeg