Draft EIS Appendix 5 

APPENDIX 5—CULTURAL RESOURCES 

MANAGEMENT 

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has developed a cultural resources program designed to 

inventory, evaluate, and manage cultural resources on BLM-administered public land and in areas of

BLM responsibility. BLM management of cultural resources (archaeological, historic, and socio-cultural

properties) is in accordance with the provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of

1966, as amended, and other applicable legislation. 

IDENTIFICATION OF CULTURAL RESOURCES

BLM requires cultural resource inventories for actions with federal responsibility that include surface 

disturbance as a part of the action. Three classes of inventory have been established; Class III is the most

intensive. 

Class I inventories are completed using existing data from cultural resource inventory files maintained by

both BLM and the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). Class I inventories are 

conducted at two different levels: at the planning stage of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to 

produce a regional overview and at the site-specific level for individual proposed projects to determine 

whether previous cultural resource inventories have been conducted within the Area of Potential Effects 

(APE). The purpose of class I inventories is to provide cultural resource specialists and managers with an

informed basis for understanding the nature of the archaeological record within the area in question. 

Class II inventories are statistically based sample surveys designed to aid in characterizing the probable 

density, diversity, and distribution of cultural properties in the area, to develop and test predictive models,

and to answer appropriate research questions. Within individual sample units, survey aims, methods, and 

intensity are the same as those applied in a Class III survey. Class II surveys may be conducted in several

phases that use different sample designs to improve statistical reliability.

Class III intensive field surveys are conducted by professionals thorough pedestrian survey of an entire

target area. The intent of a Class III inventory is to locate and record all historic properties in a manner

consistent with standards in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and

Historic Preservation (48 CFR 44716). Class III inventories conform to the prevailing professional

survey standards for the region involved, provided that the regional standards meet or exceed the

Secretary’s Standards and Guidelines. Because a Class III survey is designed to produce a total inventory 

of the cultural properties observable within the target area, once it has been completed, no further survey

work should be needed in the target area as long as the current standards have been met. Areas with a 

high probability of containing buried cultural materials or that are known to contain cultural materials 

may require additional professional monitoring and/or data recovery excavations. Areas that require 

additional work are analyzed on a case-by-case basis, depending on the proposed action and the types of 

cultural resources present in the project area. 

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BLM JURISDICTION ON PRIVATELY OWNED AND/OR SPLIT ESTATE 

LANDS

Class III inventories are generally required before surface-disturbing actions are authorized on publicly

owned surface lands and/or on private or state owned surface lands if the proposed project could not 

occur without the use of federally owned lands or if the project would require a BLM permit, license, or 

approval. If a project requires the use of federally owned surface lands as well as privately owned surface 

lands, two authorities require federal agencies to apply the same NHPA Section 106 compliance standards 

to private lands as they do to federal lands. The regulations at 36 CFR, Part 800.4(b) require the federal

agency to "take the steps necessary to identify historic properties within the area of potential effect." That 

this regulation covers both federal and nonfederal lands is implicit throughout the statute and the 

regulations because the regulatory definition of "area of potential effect is "the geographic area or areas 

within which an undertaking may directly or indirectly cause changes in the character or use of historic 

properties" [36 CFR, Part 800.16(d)]. It makes no distinction between federal and nonfederal lands. 

More explicit, however, is Executive Order (EO) No. 11593, entitled "Protection and Enhancement of the 

Cultural Environment." Under the EO, Section 1(3), it states that all federal agencies: "...in consultation 

with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, institute procedures to assure that federal plans and 

programs contribute to the preservation and enhancement of nonfederally owned sites, structures and

objects of historical, architectural, or archaeological significance." 

Split estate lands are defined as those lands where surface ownership transferred to private landowners

from the Federal Government but the Federal Government retained the mineral rights. These situations

arose either through patent under the 1914 amendment to the Homestead Act or purchase under the Stockraising Act of 1916. Each of these Acts also allowed for the Federal Government to "reenter and occupy 

so much of the surface...as may be required for all purposes reasonably incident to the mining or removal

of coal or other minerals." At the time of purchase, the buyer agreed to these terms. Because completing 

the NHPA Section 106 process is required of a federal agency by statute and regulation prior to the 

federal action, then completion of that process is a purpose reasonably incident to the extraction of the 

minerals. 

EVALUATION OF CULTURAL RESOURCE SITES

BLM evaluates the significance of cultural resources identified during inventory in consultation with the 

Wyoming SHPO to determine whether the resources are eligible for inclusion in the National Register of 

Historic Places (NRHP). Cultural resource properties may be considered eligible for listing on the 

National Register if they meet one or more of the following criteria identified in 36 CFR 60.4:

Criterion A: An historic property is associated with an event or events that have made a 

significant contribution to the broad patterns of America’s history.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Criterion B: An historic property is associated with the lives of persons significant to our past. 

Criterion C: An historic property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or

method of construction, or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic value, or

represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual 

distinction. 

Criterion D: An historic property has yielded or may be likely to yield information important in 

prehistory or history. 

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Draft EIS Appendix 5 

To facilitate evaluation of cultural resource values in Wyoming, BLM has devised guidelines for 

determining the eligibility of archaeological and historical sites and historic trails (BLM Manual

8110.32). The guidelines supplement the National Register criteria for evaluation (36 CFR 60.4) and 

provide consistency across the state. Application of the guidelines ensures that significant cultural 

resources are recognized and managed accordingly. 

Properties that encompass large areas can be deemed to have contributing and non-contributing portions. 

Contributing portions are seen to retain integrity of the values for which the property is considered

eligible for the NRHP. Non-contributing portions are identified portions of the property that are not 

deemed to retain the integrity of values that would render the property eligible for the NRHP. The 

determination of contributing versus non-contributing portions of an eligible property can be made at any

time after adequate evaluation has been conducted. 

Historic trails, including the Overland and Cherokee, the Rawlins to Fort Washakie Freight Road, and the

Rawlins to Baggs Freight Road, are considered eligible for the National Register under Criterion A. 

However, some portions of the trails no longer retain the aspects of integrity necessary for eligibility.

Because no encompassing inventories of entire trails within the Rawlins Resource Management Plan

Planning Area (RMPPA) have been conducted, portions of trails are evaluated to determine whether they 

contribute to the eligibility of the property on a case-by-case basis. Trail segments are evaluated pursuant 

to the National Register criteria of integrity (location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling,

and association). If most of the criteria are met, the segment will be considered to contribute to the

property’s overall NRHP eligibility. 

After determination of eligibility, significant cultural resource properties are further evaluated for 

assignment to one or more use categories. BLM has established six use categories as follows: 

1. Scientific Use. This category applies to any cultural property determined to be available for

scientific or historical study using currently available research techniques, including methods that

would result in the property’s physical alteration or destruction. Recommendations to allocate 

individual properties to this use must be based on documentation of the kinds of data the property 

is thought to contain and the data’s importance for pursuing specified research topics. 

2. Conservation for Future Use. A cultural property included in this category is deemed worthy of

segregation from all other land or resource uses, including cultural resource uses, that threaten the 

maintenance of its present condition or setting, and that property will remain in this use category

until specified provisions are met in the future. 

3. Traditional Use. This category is to be applied to any cultural resource known to be perceived

by a specified social and/or cultural group as important in maintaining the cultural identity, 

heritage, or well being of the group. Cultural properties assigned to this category are to be

managed in ways that recognize the importance ascribed to them and that seek to accommodate

their continuing traditional use. 

4. Public Use. This category may be applied to a cultural property found to be appropriate for use 

as an interpretive exhibit in place or for related educational and recreational uses by members of

the general public. 

5. Experimental Use. This category may be applied to a cultural property judged well-suited for

controlled experimental study, to be conducted by BLM or others, concerned with the techniques

of managing cultural properties, that would result in the property’s alteration, possibly including

loss of integrity and destruction of physical elements. It should not be applied to cultural

Rawlins RMP A5-3 
Appendix 5 Draft EIS 

properties with strong research potential, traditional cultural importance, or good public use 

potential, if such designation would significantly diminish those uses. 

6. Discharged from Management. This category is assigned to cultural properties that have no

remaining, identifiable use. Most often these are prehistoric and historic archaeological 

properties, such as small surface scatters of artifacts or debris, whose limited research potential is

effectively exhausted as soon as they have been documented. Properties discharged from 

management remain in the inventory, but they are removed from further management attention

and do not constrain other land uses. 

When a cultural resource property is assigned to one or more use categories, a decision is made pertaining 

to the management of that property. The criteria and guidelines for the evaluation of cultural resources

and the assignment of significant cultural resource properties to specific use categories would remain

unchanged under all the alternatives addressed in this plan. 

According to the Protocol Agreement between the Wyoming BLM and the Wyoming SHPO, BLM is 

required to consult with the SHPO on eligibility and effects to each cultural property. Those sites 

recommended as eligible under Criteria A, B, or C requires case-by-case consultation with the Wyoming 

SHPO. Under the Protocol Agreement between the Wyoming BLM and the Wyoming SHPO, the

Wyoming BLM has the implied concurrence of Wyoming SHPO in determining eligibility and effects for 

sites under Criterion D of the NHPA. Determination of effects to sites follows the criteria outlined in 36

CFR 800.5. 

In addition to consultation with the Wyoming SHPO office, BLM conducts Native American consultation 

in compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, and

EO No. 13007. Consultations with Native American tribes occur during the planning process of EISs and 

when individual projects are proposed that may impact properties that have traditional use (i.e., 

Traditional Cultural Properties [TCP]) or are sacred to Native American cultures. The consultation 

process includes requesting information pertaining to the nature of the site and asking for concurrence on 

the effects of the project on sites. 

MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL RESOURCES

Management objectives for significant cultural resource values provide a direct link between the 

assignment of properties to use categories and the achievement of the cultural resource program

objectives. The basic management objectives for significant cultural resource values would remain

unchanged under all of the alternatives addressed in this plan. 

Specific management actions that could be taken to achieve these objectives at selected significant 

properties are described in the discussions of the various alternatives. Management objectives for

significant properties that have not yet been identified or for which inventory data are insufficient as of 

this writing will remain unchanged, but management actions for these properties will be prescribed on a 

case-by-case basis and will be addressed in amendments to this plan when appropriate. 

Standard Protective Measures 

Description 

Within the framework described above, BLM has developed protective measures to minimize adverse

effects (as defined in 36 CFR 800.5[1]) on significant cultural resource values. Protective measures are 

used in response to the proposed actions of BLM programs involving surface disturbance. These 

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Draft EIS Appendix 5 

measures include cultural resource inventories, evaluation of cultural resources located during inventory, 

and mitigation of potential adverse impacts on significant cultural resources. Mitigation measures are 

determined based on the types of proposed actions and the nature of the historic property. Mitigation 

may include avoidance, data recovery, or the presence of a BLM-authorized archaeologist during surfacedisturbing activities. Avoidance, through modification of the proposed undertaking, is the primary and

preferred mitigative measure used to protect cultural resources. For properties where the visual integrity 

contributes to NRHP eligibility, additional mitigative measures are undertaken to ensure no adverse 

effects occur. When a proposed project is found to be within the viewshed of an historic property that

contributes to NRHP eligibility, an assessment of potential impacts is conducted through viewshed 

analyses, on-site inspection, and photo inspection. Mitigation measures used to ensure that the 

contributing viewshed of historic properties are not adversely affected include, but are not limited to,

decreasing the height of structures, using paint and topography to blend structures into the background, 

mowing and reseeding right-of-way corridors, and using materials that match the existing environment to

construct access roads. Consultation with the Wyoming SHPO and the Advisory Council on Historic

Preservation is required when proposed actions are expected to adversely affect properties eligible for the

National Register. 

For historic trails, such as the Cherokee Trail, Overland Trail, Rawlins to Fort Washakie Road and 

Rawlins to Baggs Road, protection measures would be carried out similarly to other historic properties if 

any project were found to be located within 1⁄4 mile of a contributing portion of the historic trail. When a 

proposed project is outside of the 1⁄4 mile buffer of the trail, but found to be within the 2-mile viewshed

that contributes to NRHP eligibility, analyses of potential impacts to the trails are conducted through 

viewshed analyses, on-site inspection, and photo inspection. Mitigation measures used to ensure that the 

contributing viewshed of historic trails are not adversely affected include, but are not limited to, 

decreasing the height of well tanks, using paint and topography to blend well locations into the

background, mowing and reseeding pipeline corridors, and using materials that match the existing 

environment to construct access roads. 

Modification 

Under certain circumstances, the protective measures described are modified to take into account 

emergency situations and the surface management regulations for leasable and locatable minerals. 

Wildland Fire Management 

The locations of known Native American gravesites would be provided to the Fire Management Officer 

so that they would not be impacted by wildland fire suppression activities. 

Cultural resource inventories would not be required prior to firefighting activities in most cases. On a

case-by-case basis, the field office archaeologist may request the opportunity to inventory specific areas 

prior to their impact by firefighting activities. 

The cultural program may conduct post-fire inventory of areas where fire lines were bladed or other

substantial surface disturbance took place, and mitigation efforts may be undertaken at the discretion of

the Field Office Manager. 

Leasable Minerals—Coal 

Actions involving coal mining are subject to standard protective measures; however, these procedures are 

not implemented until a lease has been issued and a mine plan has been prepared. Although some

protective measures are addressed in the mine plan, inventory and evaluation of cultural resources are

Rawlins RMP A5-5 
Appendix 5 Draft EIS 

generally not completed until the mine plan is to be implemented. Responsibility for ensuring that the 

Section 106 requirements are completed for the mine plan implementation rests with the Office of Surface

Mining (OSM). Before a lease is issued, lands that could be included in the lease are reviewed under the 

coal unsuitability criteria (43 CFR 3461). One criterion that would render lands unsuitable is the presence 

of cultural resource properties that are included in the NRHP. Cultural resource properties that have been 

determined to be eligible, but have not been listed, do not fulfill this unsuitability criterion. 

Locatable Minerals 

For actions involving locatable minerals, standard protective measures are modified to take into account

the regulations of 43 CFR 3809. These regulations limit BLM’s authority to control surface-disturbing 

activities associated with locatable minerals activity, particularly where mining activity involves fewer 

than 5 acres of surface disturbance. Protective measures required for mining activity on fewer than 5

acres are— 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

A 15-day notification period before mining activity can begin 

A provision that the operator may not knowingly disturb “any historical or archaeological site, 

structure, or building on federal lands” (43 CFR 3809.2-2(e)(1)) 

A 10-day period in which known cultural resources jeopardized by mining operations can be 

evaluated, protected, and/or removed by BLM. 

Protective measures are less limited when operations involve more than 5 acres. In these cases, a plan of 

operations must be submitted to BLM for approval. This gives BLM greater latitude to complete

inventories and mitigate impacts, although each must be accomplished at BLM’s expense and within 

established time limits. Plans of operations are required for all mining activity within areas of critical

environmental concern. 

CULTURAL RESOURCE LAWS AND REGULATIONS

American Antiquities Act of 1906—provides for permits to authorize scholarly use of properties, for 

misdemeanor-level penalties to control unauthorized use, and for Presidential designation of outstanding

properties as national monuments for long-term preservation. 

National Historic Preservation Act of 1966— 

Section 106 directs all federal agencies to take into account effects of their undertakings (actions

and authorizations) on properties included in or eligible for the NRHP. 

Section 110 sets inventory, nomination, protection, and preservation responsibilities for federally 

owned cultural properties. Section 110(c) requires each federal agency to designate a 

Preservation Officer to coordinate activities under the Act. 

American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978—establishes the policy of the United States to protect 

and preserve for the American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawaiian the inherent right of freedom

to believe, express, and exercise their traditional religions. Federal agencies are directed to evaluate their

policies and procedures to determine whether changes are needed to ensure that such rights and freedoms 

are not disrupted by agency practices. 

Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979—provides felony-level penalties for the unauthorized

excavation, removal, damage, alteration, defacement, or the attempted unauthorized removal, damage, 

A5-6 Rawlins RMP 
Draft EIS Appendix 5 

alteration, or defacement of any archaeological resource, more than 100 years of age, found on public

lands or Indian lands. The act also prohibits the sale, purchase, exchange, transportation, receipt, or

offering of any archaeological resource obtained from public lands or Indian lands. 

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990—requires Native American

consultation for the excavation and/or removal of “cultural items” including human remains, funerary 

objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. Consultation is also required if “cultural 

items” are discovered during land use activities. 

Executive Order No. 13007: Indian Sacred Sites—establishes access to and ceremonial use of Indian 

sacred sites by Indian religious practitioners on federal lands. The federal agencies shall avoid adversely

affecting the physical integrity of such sacred sites and maintain confidentiality of said sites. 

Rawlins RMP A5-7