The Cultural and Historical Resources Technical Advisory Team met in regular session in Conference Room D at the Pima County Public Works Center, 201 N. Stone Avenue, Tucson, Arizona on Thursday, January 25, 2001 at 9:30 a.m. Those present and absent were listed as follows:
Present:
Dr. Paul Fish, Arizona State Museum (Chair)
Dr. Beth Grindell, Arizona State Museum
Mr. Jim McDonald, Coronado National Forest (USFS alternate)
Mr. Jerry Kyle, Arizona Historical Society
Mr. Max Witkind, Bureau of Land Management
Ms. Sue Wells, National Park Service
Mr. David Cushman, Pima County Archaeological and Historic Preservation Office
Ms. Linda Mayro, Pima County Archaeological and Historic Preservation Office
Absent:Ms. Marty McCune, Historic Program Administrator, City of Tucson
Mr. Peter Steere, Tohono O'odham Nation Cultural Preservation Office
There was one member of the public present:
Henry Wallace, Desert Archaeology, Inc.
The meeting got under way with a call to order by Dr. Fish at approximately 9.40 a.m.
OLD BUSINESS
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM DECEMBER 14, 2000 MEETING
The draft minutes for the last meeting was approved with changes recommended by Beth Grindell. Jerry Kyle made the motion to approve and Sue Wells seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.NEW BUSINESS
3. SDCP UPDATE
NCPTT Update: David Cushman gave a brief update on the County's resubmittal of the archaeological site probability model grant to the National Center for Preservation Training and Technology. He explained that this grant proposal will focus on model building without the field testing component that was originally included in the proposal submitted last year. Grant application is due on February 1 and will be submitted on time.
Max Witkind noted that the BLM needs to develop a budget for surveying the Ironwood National Monument and said that he wanted to bring the Cultural and Historical Resources Technical Advisory Team into the project. He said he thought it would cost approximately three million dollars to do the work.
Mr. Cushman mentioned that there is existing data on the area that has been collected through the SDCP planning efforts and that the area is predicted to be highly sensitive for archaeological sites. He went on to suggest that the agencies collaborate on modeling in the future if the NCPTT grant doesn't come through. Developing such a model using data in the AZSITE data file at the Arizona State Museum would benefit all the land managers in Pima County.
Paul Fish said that there is a development research group at the University of Arizona that might be willing to support the modeling. He will find out and report back to the group.
Jim McDonald offered to see if the Heritage Research Group of the US Forest Service would be able to help with cultural resources funding.
SDCP Planning Update: Ms. Mayro gave an update on the SDCP planning process for the Team. She referred the group to the proposed schedule for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which calls for a series of drafts to be produced over the next year, the first draft of which is due in March. Also that month, the draft Reserve Design will come out. The EIS and the Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan, are being coordinated to track with the drafting of Pima County's Comprehensive Plan over the next six months.
Henry Wallace asked how the cultural resource are going to come together with the biology. Ms. Mayro answered him by saying that where resources stack up together on the landscape will be the places with the highest conservation value. It is assumed that cultural resources will co-occur with riparian and ranch lands. The EIS will have a maximum, minimum, and a midpoint alternative for the conservation plan in Pima County.
ASM Contract: Beth Grindell reported that the Museum and Pima County staff had met and is in the process of defining a second contract to prepare a "flat file" of data on archaeological sites in Pima County that can be used to plot sites by function and time period. This will enhance the county's ability to plan for cultural resources conservation that is currently not possible with the existing site data. She offered to draft up the contract based on last year's contract with the Museum.
Dr. Fish wondered if the Museum had in the data base the sites recorded by the Amerind Foundation. Dr. Grindell said that she didn't know. Jerry Kyle said he was willing to help get these records if needed.
4. PRIORITY CULTURAL RESOURCES SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT
Dr. Grindell reported to the Team the progress of the Subcommittee on Priority Cultural Resources noting that the Subcommittee has met several times already. She explained that the purpose of the Subcommittee is to develop a list of "untouchable" historical and cultural places that should be considered for conservation under any reserve design scenario. Justifying the selection process will be critical. She noted that the list included in the Cultural and Historical Resources Element Report was based on a listing prepared for the 1997 heritage bond and that this is what the Subcommittee is starting with. She discussed the ratings criteria that are being prepared and explained that two teams of experts will be assembled to review the properties, one team of archaeologists and the other of historians and architectural specialists. The teams are scheduled to meet on February 21st (historians) and February 22 (archaeologists). The next subcommittee meeting is scheduled for February 5th.
Mr. Witkind asked about traditional cultural places (TCPs). Mr. Cushman explained that because of the time constraints on the planning process it is not possible to do the kinds of interviewing needed to identify TCPs and that other efforts will need to be made in the future. Ms. Mayro added that this is something that the county wants to do especially in conjunction with the federal land managers. Mr. Witkind noted that the BLM is doing some studies now working with Hopi elders and a study of Baboquivari Peak with the Tohono O'odham through Statistical Research, Inc. Ms. Mayro asked to see a copy of the report when it is available.
5. PIMA COUNTY ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN
Mr. Cushman explained that the county wants to prepare a regionally oriented management plan for cultural resources. He passed out a copy of the report outline and asked that the agency representatives provided him with information under their section. The report will describe what other agencies with cultural resource management responsibilities are doing in Pima County by way of background to a discussion of what Pima County has been doing, and should be doing in the future. He pointed out that the final recommendations would include inter-agency cooperation. He asked for their ideas in how this can be achieved and what specifically should be subject to cooperative efforts.
6. MARANA MOUND FIELD VISIT - DATES/CONTACTS
Final preparations for the field trip to the Marana Mound are set. Site visit will be held on Friday, February 16th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Meet at the Circle K West of the Interstate at the Marana exit off I-10.
It was suggested that in addition to inviting the Science and Ranching Technical Teams, that invitations be extended to the Tohono O'odham, the Board of Supervisors, the City of Tucson and the Tucson Pima County Historical Commission.
Dr. Fish said that the University will provide two passenger vans to ferry people from the Circle K to the site. Friday February 23rd was set as the rain date.
7. NEXT MEETING
The next scheduled meeting will be on Friday, January 23, 2000 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Pima County Public Works Center Conference Room D.8. ADJOURNMENT
As there was no further business to come before the Cultural and Historic Resources Technical Advisory Team, the meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.
(Notes taken by David Cushman, Pima County Cultural Resources Office)
Final preparations for the field trip to the Marana Mound are set. Site visit will be held on Friday, February 16th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Meet at the Circle K West of the Interstate at the Marana exit off I-10.