Alaska Region Programmatic Agreement

ah.Fire Management – General Guidelines

Procedures in an approved Fire Management Plan shall be followed in the event of a fire. If a Fire Management Plan which prescribes treatment measures for historic properties is not in place, the following shall apply to fire management during fires that have the potential to affect historic properties. In each instance the goal is to minimize impacts to historic properties from both fires and firefighting activities, and post-fire rehabilitation activities:

1. 
   Fire shelter fabric or other protective materials, including fire retardant foam and other wetting agents, or equipment may be utilized to protect historic properties.
   
2. 
   Vegetation, including trees that may impact historic properties, may be removed and fire lines or breaks may be constructed within the boundaries of known cultural resources or historic properties using hand tools, so long as ground disturbance is minimized, and features are avoided.
   
3. 
   Prescribed fire is allowed in areas that fit one or more of the following: burned within the last 40 years; without heavy fuel buildup; area of low intensity fire. APE includes burn areas, staging areas, hand lines, escape routes, and safety zones.
   
4. 
   Hazard fuel management including thinning operations and removal of dead and downed trees and vegetation are approved provided that management activities occur outside of cultural or historic landscapes and/or concentration(s) of culturally modified trees and equipment used will not introduce ground disturbance.
   

ai.Mine Closures – General Guidelines

Mine closures may be carried out under this PA as long as no actions compromise the mine’s eligibility to the National Register and actions are reversible:

1. 
   Removal of petroleum products and other hazardous substances that are in modern-age containers do not constitute an action with the potential to affect historic properties, so long as this can be accomplished without any ground disturbance or disturbance or removal of any historic artifacts or features within the historic property.
   
2. 
   Routine maintenance at active mines that includes replacing timber sets with rock bolts, steel bands and wire screening, and barring down loose rocks.
   
3. 
   Installation of gates or grates for mine openings that provide bat habitat or where future access is required.
   
4. 
   Backfill with rock material or overburden. Blasting or other ‘cave in’ options are considered ground disturbing and have the potential to affect a historic property. These methods require standard Section 106 procedures.
   
5. 
   Installation of foam plugs, corrugated metal pipe, mortar and stone wall, or concrete caps with inlaid natural rock to reduce UV degradation and for visual affect.
   
6. 
   Installation of corrugated metal pipe with a front stabilization at the portal provided that any shoring and the removal of hazardous rock/material from above the portal do not constitute an action with the potential to adversely affect historic properties.
   

APPENDIX C: Forms and Templates

This appendix contains standard forms and templates to be used under the terms of this PA.

National Forest Service Cultural Resource Record (NFS CRR):

APPENDIX D: Inventory Strategy

This appendix describes the procedures for meeting the requirements of 36 CFR 800.4(b) by: 1) defining cultural resource probability zones; 2) describing the survey intensity appropriate to each probability zone; and 3) defining standards and guidelines for the conduct of on-the-ground inventories within the APE.

1. Identification

1. 
   In all cases, areas previously surveyed with techniques and/or documentation that do not meet current standards as identified in this appendix, will require additional survey and documentation for the current project APE under consideration.
   
2. 
   The FS shall use predictive models that identify “Probability Zones” in order to better calculate the probability that historic properties exist or have the potential to exist within any given area. At all times, the FS will use the best available, and most current, model for the area being analyzed.
   
3. 
   Probability Zones are defined as areas of land where the probability that a cultural resource will be discovered is either “high” or “low” based on models that take into account the physical, biological, and cultural features and history of those areas or in approximately similar areas. The basic premise is that areas with suitable habitat or resources, both currently and in the past, are more likely to have a greater cultural resource density, and probability of discovery, than areas without suitable habitat or resources. Probability zones are dynamic approximations based on previous cultural resource discoveries and analyses, and are iteratively updated and applied as new data is acquired.
   
4. 
   Probability zones will be revised annually at the time of the annual report to reflect current predictive models as they are updated.
   
5. 
   The FS in the Alaska Region recognizes “high” and “low” probability zones, with slight differences in their meaning between the Tongass National Forest and the Chugach National Forest. For both Forests, anything that is not included in the high probability zone are considered to be in the “low” probability zone.
   
   1. 
      High probability zones include FS managed and adjacent lands with the following elements that are common to both Forests:
      
      1. 
         Areas identified through historic or ethnographic research or oral history.
         
      2. 
         Paleo-shoreline systems including elevated/fossil marine, river, and lake terrace systems.
         
      3. 
         Landscapes altered by catastrophic events such as earthquakes which might cause a rise or lowering of lands; or shorelines and riverbanks with immediate short term erosion due to rising sea levels, storm surges and other erosional processes.
         
      4. 
         Caves and rockshelters, areas of karst landforms, and/or igneous rock formations known for caves and rockshelters, if in the professional estimation of the Heritage Professional, in consultation with the forest geologist as appropriate, that the land has significant potential to contain cultural resources.
         
      5. 
         River valleys, lake, and river systems providing passes or portages across larger land masses.
         
      6. 
         Lake and stream systems containing, or known to have contained, anadromous fish runs; including a focus on barrier falls locations in such systems.
         
      7. 
         Areas of known resource extraction activities including former lode and placer mining activity, fish processing, fur industry, and forest products industry.
         
      8. 
         Known sources of potential raw materials (obsidian sources; exceptional concentrations of cedar trees, etc.).
         
      9. 
         Alpine areas if historic or ethnographic research or previous surveys conducted nearby indicate cultural use, such as high elevation mountain peaks overlooking saltwater that may contain rock cairns.
         
      10. 
          Areas associated with cultural practices or beliefs of a living community that are rooted in a community’s history or are important in maintaining the continuing cultural identity of the community such as traditional cultural properties or cultural landscapes.
          
      11. 
          All land between mean lower low water (mllw) and 100 ft. of elevation above mean high water (mhw), regardless of slope.
          
   2. 
      Additional refinements of the model for each Forest or District are described below.
      
      1. 
         Tongass National Forest
         
         1. 
            Prince of Wales District - lands at the 60 ft. elevation above mhw are considered a high probability area for early Holocene sites based on recent and ongoing research.
            
      2. 
         Chugach National Forest
         
         1. 
            Ice patches and fossil ice patches as identified through satellite photography, digital ortho-photographs or direct observation.
            

aj.Survey Strategy

1. 
   If in the professional judgement of the Heritage Professional, the probability of encountering historic properties is low, then the Heritage Professional may rely on literature reviews and other non-field related research, and shall use their best professional judgement in deciding what, if any, level of on-the-ground survey is deemed necessary.
   
2. 
   In conducting field surveys for undertakings on FS and adjacent lands, the probability zones shall be inventoried as follows:
   

1. 
   High probability zones:
   

1. 
   Intensive survey of all locations of direct, indirect, and cumulative impact in the undertaking's APE. Indirect effects are determined on a case-by-case basis (e.g. visual effects for a historic property in which setting is a significant characteristic).
   
2. 
   Intensive survey of a sample of the high probability zone outside the undertaking's APE, but within the larger project area; location and acreage surveyed is to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
   
1. 
   Low probability zone:
   
   1. 
      Intensive survey of a sample of the locations of direct, indirect, and cumulative impact in the APE; location and acreage surveyed is to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
      

3. 
   The FS will continue to develop, test, and improve the accuracy of cultural resource locational modeling by employing post-implementation monitoring of previously surveyed areas in both high and low probability zones. Areas to be monitored and sampling strategy will be determined on a case-by-case basis relying on the professional judgement of the Heritage Professional.
   

ak.Standards and Guidelines for the Conduct of Field Surveys

1. 
   Surveys shall generally be guided by an explicit research design or scope of work. If a research design is not needed or used, the rationale shall be documented in the survey report.
   
2. 
   Cultural resource surveys that are performed specifically for compliance with NHPA or NEPA shall be designed and executed in such a manner as to provide reasonable assurance that all historic properties located in the APE will be discovered. A systematic, complete inspection of the areas surveyed is required (intensive survey), to ensure that decision-makers have sufficient cultural resource information to help them choose between alternatives.
   
   1. 
      Systematic means consistent use of procedures or methods of inspection that yield demonstrably reliable and replicable results.
      
   2. 
      Complete means use of pedestrian survey following transects (with intervals of no greater than 20 meters) coupled with frequent sampling of the subsurface with soil probes, and shovel-excavated test pits where needed, to verify the presence of cultural materials. Natural exposures are also closely examined.
      
   3. 
      Sampling and collection of materials for laboratory processing may be necessary for cultural resource discovery or verification.
      
3. 
   All surveys and archival record searches will be documented in the NFS DB, completing all national Heritage Core Data Fields where information is known.
   
4. 
   Each newly discovered cultural resource will be thoroughly recorded using the NFS CRR with all fields completed for which data is known.
   
5. 
   Each NFS CRR will have the following attached: appropriate area of USGS Quad map at the 1:36,360 scale with the cultural resource location clearly indicated; a good quality copy of an aerial photo with the cultural resource location clearly indicated; a sketch map of the cultural resource indicating the approximate locations of major features and/or artifact concentrations; photographs of the cultural resource in its setting, and of features and artifacts; and additional detailed feature drawings as needed.
   

1^ Formerly 16 USC 470 et seq.

2^ Formerly Section 112