Environmental Assessment for Integrated Treatment of Exotic Invasive Plants 

on the Tonto National Forest 1

APPENDIX H

STANDARD CONSULTATION PROTOCOL FOR

NOXIOUS WEED CONTROL

Noxious weeds (non-native and noxious plant species, commonly referred to as “weeds”) pose a threat 

to existing plant populations and ecosystem health in many areas of the Southwest, including National 

Forests. Forests in Region 3 are in the process of preparing Forest-wide plans for noxious weed

control1. Treatments include manual methods with hand tools or hand-operated power tools, mechanical 

methods such as mowing and disking with heavy machinery, biological methods using live insect or 

plant pathogens, controlled grazing using goats and sheep, chemical methods using herbicides, plant 

cultural methods using native species to control weeds, and prescribed burning using fire to reduce weed 

populations. Several of these methods have the potential to affect historic properties eligible for 

nomination to the National Register.

The Forest Service has determined that it is not feasible to complete the identification, evaluation, and

effects consultation for future noxious weed control projects that may be conducted under the Forestwide noxious weed plans prior to signing the NEPA decisions for those plans. Because individual

projects will be planned and implemented on an annual basis over the course of several years, a phased 

approach is needed for the identification and evaluation of historic properties. 

Stipulation IV.A.4 of the Region 3 First Amended Programmatic Agreement Regarding Historic 

Property Protection and Responsibilities (Programmatic Agreement) provides for the development of 

“Standard Consultation Protocols” for certain classes of undertakings where effects on historic 

properties and resulting protection and treatment are similar and repetitive. Such protocols specify 

standard procedures for the identification, evaluation, and treatment of historic properties. In 

accordance with the Programmatic Agreement, in developing this protocol the Forest Service consulted 

with the Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs), the 

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (Council), and 50 Indian tribes for whom properties within 

National Forests might have traditional cultural or religious significance.

Once approved by the Forest Service, the Council, and the SHPOs and once formally incorporated into 

the Programmatic Agreement as Appendix F, the Forests may implement the procedures in this protocol, 

in lieu of standard consultation in the Programmatic Agreement or the Council’s regulations, to take into 

account the potential effects of the noxious weed control projects on historic properties.

PROCEDURES

The Forests shall ensure that the following procedures are carried out:

1. SCOPE. This protocol covers all projects authorized by Forest-wide noxious weed control plans. 

Activities covered by the protocol include: removal and eradication of noxious weed populations that 

 1 Each State has established a list of weed species considered to “noxious” or “invasive”, pursuant to the Noxious Weed 

Management Act of 1998. The Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974 defines weeds as “any living stage (including but not 

limited to seeds and reproductive parts) of any parasitic or other plant of a kind, or subdivision of a kind, which is of foreign 

origin, is new to or not widely prevalent in the United States, and can directly or indirectly injure crops, other useful plants, 

livestock, or poultry or other interests of agriculture, including irrigation or navigation, or the fish or wildlife resources of the 

United State, or the public health.”
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Environmental Assessment for Integrated Treatment of Exotic Invasive Plants

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pose a threat along roads, trails, recreation sites, administrative sites, range improvements and other 

plant locations. Treatments may include hand pulling, grubbing with hand tools or hand operated power 

tools, mowing and disking with tractor-mounted mower or plow, biological control using insects or plant 

pathogens introduced into weed habitat, controlled grazing using goats and sheep to intensively and 

repeatedly graze weeds, chemical or herbicidal application to weed populations using hand or vehicle 

mounted sprayer applications, cultural plant methods using native or appropriate plant species to 

supplant weed species, and prescribed burning using limited pile or broadcast burning to eliminate seed 

heads and resident populations of weeds.

2. PHASED IMPLEMENTATION OF NOXIOUS WEED CONTROL PROJECTS. The consulting 

parties agree that Forests may use a phased approach to the identification and evaluation of historic 

properties that may be affected by future projects planned and carried out under Forest-wide plans for 

noxious weed control. 

a. Forest-wide Plans. A final NEPA decision on a Forest-wide plan for noxious weed control may be 

made prior to completion of project-specific identification, evaluation, and effect determinations

provided that all of the following requirements are met:

1) the expected nature and distribution of properties that may be present in weed control project 

areas and anticipated effects are discussed and considered in the initial Section 106 report and in 

the NEPA analysis;

2) there is no reason to believe that the protection measures in Item 6 below will not be sufficient to 

protect potentially affected historic properties;

3) a condition of the Forest satisfying responsibilities under Section 106, clearly stated in the initial 

Section 106 report and on the IS&A Form, is that the identification and protection requirements 

of this protocol, including the written approval of the Forest Archaeologist or other FS 

archaeologist with delegated responsibilities and Forest Supervisor, shall be completed prior to 

the award of any contract, issuance of any permit, or other action authorizing on-the-ground 

activities associated with a noxious weed control project. Written approval will be based on the

project inventory report and will be documented on the Inventory, Standards and Accounting 

(IS&A) Form.

4) the NEPA decision document clearly states that initiation of noxious weed control projects will 

be contingent upon completion of the identification and protection of historic properties, and 

compliance with applicable provisions of NHPA in accordance with this protocol.

b. Individual Projects. The identification and evaluation of historic properties and the assessment of 

effects for individual noxious weed control projects shall be completed on a case-by-case basis prior to 

Forest authorizations to proceed with those projects.

1) Each Forest shall develop an annual schedule of noxious weed control projects to be submitted to 

the Forest Archaeologist to evaluate identification and evaluation needs. The annual schedule of 

noxious weed control projects requiring consultation, including proposed herbicide projects, will 

be included in the annual list of projects submitted to the tribes or will be consulted on in 

accordance with Forest tribal consultation Memoranda of Understanding. The annual schedule of 

noxious weed control projects will be provided to the SHPOs and the public upon request and 

may be made available to the public on Forest websites. If new areas and treatments are 

identified and planned during the year, the Forest Archaeologist will be contacted to evaluate 

identification and evaluation needs, including tribal consultation for proposed herbicide projects.
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2) Each Forest shall ensure that heritage specialists are brought into the planning for noxious weed 

control activities as early as possible in the planning process, that a system is in place to track 

Section 106 compliance and the implementation of heritage resource protection and monitoring 

requirements, and that necessary communication and coordination between project specialists 

and heritage specialists will continue throughout the implementation of noxious weed control 

activities carried out under this protocol. 

3. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT. Each Forest shall use the NEPA scoping process and the procedures in 

Section II of the Programmatic Agreement to seek and consider the views of the public regarding Forestwide noxious weed control plans. In addition, an annual list of proposed noxious weed control projects 

will be made available to the public upon request and information on proposed herbicide treatments will 

be posted at treatment sites. Any concerns expressed about a project’s possible effects on historic 

properties will be addressed in the inventory report and considered with respect to Stipulation 13.b of 

the Programmatic Agreement.

4. TRIBAL CONSULTATION. The Forest shall use the principles and procedures in Section III of the 

Programmatic Agreement to assure that tribes are consulted as early as possible in the planning process 

and that properties of traditional cultural and religious significance are identified and addressed. If 

traditional cultural properties are identified, the Forest shall consult with the affected tribes regarding 

inventory, evaluation, effect, and protection or treatment measures.

 

5. PROJECT-SPECIFIC CONSULTATION PROCEDURES. The Forest shall use the procedures in 

Section V of the Programmatic Agreement to complete the identification, evaluation, and determination 

of effects for specific noxious weed control projects, including State-specific requirements for 

submitting inventory reports to the SHPOs. It is agreed that, in accordance with the Programmatic 

Agreement, Appendix A.II, Exemptions, the following projects do not require further consultation: 

• biological methods using live insect or plant pathogens that do not involve ground or surface 

disturbance

• cultural methods using native species to control weeds that do not involve ground or surface 

disturbance

• herbicide spray projects that will not affect properties of traditional cultural and religious value 

identified by tribes

• hand treatments that involve little or no ground or surface disturbance, e.g. flower and seed head 

removal from annual plants, hand pulling young plants without the use of tools, cutting 

incidentally-discovered isolated or widely-scattered plants with a hand tool

6. PROTECTION. For other projects, if sites are present, the Forest Archeologist or other FS 

archaeologist with delegated responsibilities shall draw from the following measures to ensure that 

effects to historic properties are avoided or minimized: 

a. Protection measures and situations appropriate for No Historic Properties Affected:

1) prohibit mechanical treatments within site boundaries

2) prohibit use or staging of heavy mechanized equipment within site boundaries

3) prohibit pile burning within site boundaries

4) allow broadcast burning of weeds on sites, provided fire-sensitive sites are protected

5) allow low-impact or low-intensity hand tool treatments within site boundaries, e.g. using hand 

tools to pull a few scattered, herbaceous plants, torch burning individual plants, subject to 

approval by the Forest Archaeologist or other FS archaeologist with delegated responsibilities
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b. Protection measures and situations appropriate for No Adverse Effect:

1) allow other hand tool treatments within site boundaries, e.g. grubbing out larger, established 

woody plants with a Pulaski or hoe, provided the treatment is designed to minimize surface 

disturbance, based on the nature of the site and the nature of the treatment, subject to approval by 

the Forest Archaeologist or other FS archaeologist with delegated responsibilities

2) allow goat or sheep grazing on sites with periodic monitoring to assure that surface disturbance, 

if present, is minimal 

3) other treatments within the boundaries of eligible or unevaluated sites if the Forest and the SHPO 

agree that the activities will have no adverse effect on historic properties. 

Site protection requirements shall be documented in the inventory report and on the IS&A form. Sites 

identified for protection will be monitored in accordance with Forest Service policy.

 

7. DISCOVERY SITUATIONS. There is some potential for encountering previously unrecorded 

properties or for affecting properties in an unanticipated manner during the course of noxious weed 

control activity implementation. Previously unrecorded properties that are encountered during the 

course of a noxious weed control activity shall be protected in the same manner as other eligible or 

unevaluated properties, using the protection measures in Item 6 above. If a Forest determines that an 

eligible or unevaluated property has been damaged, the Forest shall halt all activities that could result in 

further damage to the property and shall notify SHPO and any affected tribes concerning proposed 

actions to resolve adverse effects. The SHPO shall respond within 48 hours of notification. The Forest

shall carry out the agreed-upon actions. 

8. ANNUAL REVIEW. As part of the Annual Meeting carried out pursuant to the Programmatic 

Agreement (Stipulation XIII.D), the Forests, the SHPOs, and the Council, if it chooses to participate, 

shall discuss the activities carried out pursuant to this protocol, reevaluate its procedures, and determine 

whether continuation, modification, or cancellation is appropriate. Since individual projects will be 

submitted to SHPOs for review in accordance with the normal procedures in the Programmatic 

Agreement, a separate annual report summarizing these activities will not be prepared.

9. MODIFICATION. The Forest Service, Council, or the SHPOs may request modifications to this 

protocol whereupon the parties will consult to consider such change. Changes may be made by written 

consent of the Regional Forester, SHPOs, and Council after appropriate consultation.

10. CANCELLATION. The Forest Service, Council or the SHPOs may cancel this protocol by 

providing thirty (30) days notice. The parties will consult during the period prior to cancellation to seek 

agreement on modification or other actions that would avoid cancellation. In the event the protocol is 

canceled, the Forests shall comply with the Programmatic Agreement or 36 CFR 800 with regard to 

individual undertakings that otherwise would be covered by this protocol.

 

11. IMPLEMENTATION. This protocol becomes effective on the date of the last signature below and 

may be implemented immediately. 
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Environmental Assessment for Integrated Treatment of Exotic Invasive Plants

on the Tonto National Forest 5

SIGNATURES:

Lucia M. Turner, for_____________________________ 01/05/05___

Harv Forsgren Date

Regional Forester, USDA Forest Service – SW Region

James Garrison_________________________________ 01/24/05___

James W. Garrison Date

Arizona State Historic Preservation Officer

Katherine Slick________________________________ 01/12/05___

Katherine A. Slick Date

New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer

Bob Blackburn________________________________ 2/1/05_____

Bob L. Blackburn Date

Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Officer

F. Lawrence Oaks_____________________________ 2/10/05____

F. Lawerence Oaks Date 

Texas State Historic Preservation Officer

John M. Fowler_______________________________ 4/4/05_____

John M. Fowler, Executive Director Date

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation