The Cultural and Historical Resources Technical Advisory Team
met in regular session in Conference Room B at the Pima County
Public Works Center, 201 N. Stone Avenue, Tucson, Arizona on Monday,
August 21, 2000 at 10:30 a.m. Those present and absent were listed
as follows:
Present:
Dr. Paul Fish, Arizona State Museum (Chair)
Dr. Beth Grindell, Arizona State Museum
Ms. Susan Wells, National Parks Service
Ms. Mary Farrell, Coronado National Forest
Ms. Marty McCune, Historic Program Administrator, City of Tucson
Mr. Peter Steere, Tohono O'odham Nation Cultural Preservation
Office
Mr. David Cushman, Pima County Archaeological and Historic Preservation
Office
Absent:
Mr. Max Witkind, Bureau of Land Management
Mr. Jerry Kyle, Arizona Historical Society
Mr. Joe Joaquin, Tohono O'odham Nation Cultural Preservation Office
(alternate)
Ms. Linda Mayro, Pima County Archaeological and Historic Preservation
Office
There were two members of the public present:
Mr. Henry Wallace, Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Mr. Lucas Premo, Graduate Student, University of Arizona.
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Paul Fish at approximately
10:30 a.m.
OLD BUSINESS
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JUNE 12, 2000 MEETING
Paul Fish moved to approve the draft minutes and Beth Grindell
seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved.
NEW BUSINESS
SDCP UPDATES
Linda Mayro was absent so David Cushman started the meeting by
announcing that a developer in Green Valley had violated the county's
grading requirements and in doing so had impacted an archaeological
site.
Dr. Fish brought up the subject of the Honey Bee Village site
in Oro Valley explaining that this site was threatened by impending
development. He noted that the site was one of those identified
by the Team in the preliminary constraint list. He asked if the
team could write a letter expressing concern. Peter Steere said
that the Tohono O'odham Nation would be willing to express this
concern for the site on its own.
Henry Wallace noted that Honey Bee Village was the only Ball Court
village site left in Oro Valley. He explained the history of the
development that threatens the site. He noted that some data recovery
was being planned for the site starting this week that will be
done by a company called Tularosa Research out of New Mexico.
Mr. Cushman said that he was not sure that the Team could speak
for the county in this matter. Perhaps Linda Mayro could as the
county cultural resources manager; however, this site is in another
jurisdiction and the county has no authority in Oro Valley.
Dr. Fish said that the Museum had already sent a letter to the
Oro Valley Planning Department.
Mr. Cushman asked what citizen groups might be able to speak to
this issue and have some influence.
Marty McCune asked about the media. She observed that she was
meeting with Tony Davis of the Starr and that she would be happy
to pass on any information about this situation.
Mr. Wallace offered to provide her with the information.
Mr. Cushman then gave a short update on the status of the SDCP
drawing attention to two of the hand outs. The first was the latest
summary of the reports prepared for the preliminary SDCP. It indicated
that 20 reports had been prepared for the Cultural and Historic
Preservation element culminating in the element report. The second
handout entitled, "Draft Schedule for Processing the Sonoran
Desert Conservation Plan with US Fish & Wildlife," laid out
a time table for compliance with the federally mandated Environmental
Impact Statement Process. He observed that the time schedule is
aggressive with a final Record of Decision and permit being issued
in December 2002.
Mr. Cushman went on to explain that in essence Phase I of the
SDCP has been completed with the preparation of the element report.
The report findings will be included in the Preliminary SDCP to
be issued by the county in the next month or so. Once the US Fish
and Wildlife Service publishes notice of intent to prepare an
EIS for the SDCP, then the NEPA process and Phase II of the planning
process will begin. Cultural and historical resources will be
included in the EIS process, so there will be lots of work for
the Team to do in the next two years.
4. SRI RESEARCH PRODUCTS
Mr. Cushman then reported to the Team on the research products
that Pima County contracted for with Statistical Research, Inc.
He presented Dr. Fish, as the Chair of the Team, with a set of
the reports and invited the team members to comment on the reports.
Ms. McCune asked for a set for the City of Tucson and both Mary
Farrell (Forest Service) and Peter Steere (Tohono O'odham) echoed
this request. Mr. Cushman said that a very limited number of reports
is available, having been distributed to the Board of Supervisors
and other officials first. However, he noted that eventually more
will be produced and that Pima County will try to get a complete
set to all those who need them. He noted that the reports will
all go the public library too. Dr. Fish said that he will give
the entire set to the Arizona State Museum library and said they
could be viewed there.
Peter Steere noted that the volume on historic map data entitled,
"Cultural Resource Sites Depicted on Early Maps of Pima County"
gave accurate site locations to which he objected because of the
potential that this information might be used by looters to vandalize
archaeological sites and other cultural resources. Mr. Cushman
responded that this possibility was the source of considerable
internal debate within Pima County staff, but that in the end
it was decided that since this information was all in the public
domain anyhow, Pima County was not releasing anything that couldn't
be gathered by looking at old maps in the public library. Moreover,
the county feels that there is a greater public benefit in releasing
this information than in withholding it. He noted that the SRI
was told not to include properties on the Tohono O'odham reservation
since tribal lands are not a part of the study area.
There was general discussion about the advantages and disadvantages
of revealing the location of cultural resources versus withholding
this information.
PRELIMINARY CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL RESOURCES ELEMENT REPORT
Mr. Cushman reported to the team that the Preliminary Cultural
and Historical Resources Element report entitled, "Saving
the Past for the Future: Cultural and Historical Resources Element
Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan" was complete and he presented
the team with a copy as well as a companion report on how it was
prepared entitled "Mapping and Modeling: The Making of the
Cultural and Historical Resources element Report." He drew
attention to a handout that was a copy of the cover memo that
accompanied the report upon presentation to the Board of County
Supervisors on August 16, 2000. This memo summarized the main
points of the report.
Mr. Cushman went through the report explaining the various sections
and its findings. He mentioned that the report was only preliminary
and that he expected changes would be made. Having said this,
he invited the Team members to make comments.
6. FUTURE SDCP PLANNING TASKS FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Mr. Cushman then turned to the last item on the agenda and
discussed the future tasks that he saw the technical team addressing
as part of the next phase in the SDCP planning process. This includes
developing a completed constraints list, of which only a preliminary
list has been prepared. He also spoke of the need to conduct the
archaeological probability model that had been proposed for the
NCPTT grant last fall. The work still needs to done because without
it Pima County will lack the kind of sophisticated tools needed
for regional preservation planning. Also, there is a need to conduct
traditional cultural places studies by working with the Tohono
O'odham and the Yaqui tribes. Lastly, he mentioned the need to
develop social histories/context studies, and needs assessments
relating to historic resources, particularly historic buildings,
in both rural and town settings.
Mr. Wallace suggested querying local history groups as a good
way to collect this kind of information. Ms. McCune suggested
working through the Arizona State Historical Society.
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Steere said that he had found some
places listed in the map report prepared by Statistical Research,
Inc. that looked to be within the limits of the Tohono O'odham
reservation and within the San Xavier District. He asked that
the map report not be distributed further. Mr. Cushman responded
by saying that if this is the case, then no further copies will
be distributed until changes are made so that sensitive information,
especially regarding cultural resources on tribal lands, is removed.
7. NEXT MEETING
There was some discussion about whether the timing of the meeting
should change, but the consensus was that the meeting time worked
fine for everybody. The next scheduled meeting will be on Monday,
September 25, 10:30 a.m. at the Pima County Public Works Center
Conference Room A.
ADJOURNMENT
As there was no further business to come before the Cultural and
Historic Resources Technical Advisory Team, the meeting was adjourned
at 12:30 p.m.
(Notes taken by David Cushman, Pima County Cultural Resources
Office)