MITIGATION OF PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED SIGNIFICANT HISTORIC SITES THROUGH
INTENSIVE DOCUMENTATION AND/ OR EXCAVATION
Summit Case Studies:
Client Name: Paiute Pipeline Company
Location: Carson City, Douglas, Elko, Eureka, Humboldt,
Lander, Pershing, and Washoe Counties, Nevada
Agency Review: BLM, USFS, FERC, SHPO
Project Description:
Comprehensive cultural resource services have been provided
for Paiute Pipeline’s Northern Nevada Expansion. Work included
implementing and documenting a program of archaeological survey, testing
and mitigation for proposed pipeline loop segments on federal, state
and private lands. Involved agencies included the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the United States
Forest Service (USFS) and the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office
(SHPO). Project locations for the various sections included segments
near Reno, Carson City, Incline Village, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain,
Paradise, and Elko. During 1994 and 1995, peak activities included the
concurrent mitigation of over twenty sites located in northern Nevada,
near Paradise and in the Lake Tahoe area. Crews were kept on call to
alternate between new survey of last minute route alternatives, testing
of sites as they proceeded through the regulatory process, and mitigation
of sites considered unavoidable. Treatment plans, mitigation plans,
and avoidance strategies were developed for many of the sites prior
to construction. All pipeline routes and cultural resource inventories
were complimented with total station mapping, many using GPS positioning.
Recorded sites included precontact and historic properties, notably
many historic sites representing economic activities, such as logging
and lumber milling, associated with the Comstock mining boom in western
Nevada.
Client Name: Private Developer
Location: Northern Nevada
Project Description:
Summit was contracted to "rescue" a developer in the middle
of a cultural resources project. Following a cultural resources inventory
by a third party contractor, the development permitting was delayed due
to unresolved mitigation of a site considered eligible to the National
Register of Historic Places. Summit completed successful negotiations
with the county planning division for protection of the site during development,
and authored agreement documents allowing the project to proceed on schedule.
Summit is currently preparing mitigation plans to complete the project.
