11 Mary Hopkins SHPO

Wyoming Wind Task Force
August 26, 2009
Casper, Wyoming
Mary Hopkins
Interim SHPO Wyoming
State Historic Preservation Office
Programs
National Register of Historic Places
Historic Preservation Tax Credits
Review and Consultation
Certified Local Governments (CLG’s)
Survey and Inventory (WYCRO)
Architectural Technical Assistance
Planning (Historic Contexts
and Statewide HP Plan)
Centennial Farm and Ranch
Monuments and Markers
Archaeological Awareness Month
Site Stewardship
Public Outreach and Training
National Historic Preservation Act
1966 (NHPA)
• Established Federal Policy to:
– Foster productive harmony between modern
society and historic resources
– Provide preservation leadership
– Administer historic resources in spirit of
stewardship
– Assist preservation efforts of state and local
governments, Tribes, and the public
Requirements of Section 106
• Prior to taking any action on an undertaking,
agencies must:
– Take into account the effect of the undertaking on
historic properties
– Afford the Advisory Council on Historic preservation a
reasonable opportunity to comment
Wyoming has streamlined this process with BLM, USFS,
NRCS and NPS through Programmatic Agreements
Participants
• Federal agencies
– BLM, USFS, BOR (One is the “lead” agency)
• Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
– (a cabinet level federal agency)
• Consulting Parties
– Local governments, Proponents,
– Landowners, Tribes
• Public
– Interest Groups
• (OCTA, Alliance for Historic Wyoming)
Basic Steps in the Process
• Step I: Initiate the Process
– Public Involvement
• Step II: Identify historic properties
– Public Involvement
• Step III: Assess adverse effects
– Public Involvement
• Step IV: Resolve any adverse effects
– Public Involvement
What are Cultural Resources?
• Building
(house, store, theater)
• Structure
(bridge, kiln, tunnel)
• Object (fountain, monument)
• Site
(trail, prehistoric camp, cairn)
• District (linkage of many sites)
•
Traditional Cultural Properties
(rooted in a community's history
and are important in maintaining
the continuing cultural identity of
the community)
*National, State, or Local Significance
The National Park Service defines these resources in
“How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation”
What is the National Register?
• The National Register of Historic Places is the
official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of
preservation
– Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act
of 1966
– Administered by the National Park Service
– Managed by the SHPO at the state level
National Register Criteria
•
•
•
•
A. Association with events
B. Association with important people
C. Distinctive design /construction
D. Data potential (archaeological sites)
Seven Aspects of Integrity
• To be considered eligible, properties must have
integrity of (as appropriate):
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Location
Design
Materials
Workmanship
Feeling
Association
Setting
Determining Eligibility
• Federal agency makes determinations of
eligibility and consults with SHPO/THPO
– Federal agency must consult with, but agreement is
not required, with Indian tribes on TCP’s off tribal
lands.
– If a disagreement occurs, any party may ask the
Keeper of the NRHP to request a formal eligibility
determination
– This is the final decision (a rarity in Wyoming) applies
under 36CFR800 only.
• If no federal involvement, SHPO makes eligibility
recommendations. (SHPO follows NPS standards.)
Wyoming Breakdown
of Evaluated Resources
Eligible
Listed on NRHP
Not Eligible
Unevaluated
Eligible
Prehistoric
Listed
Historic
Not Eligible
Multicomponent
Unknow n
Unknown
19%
1%
49%
31%
Prehistoric
Historic
Both
Unknown
70%
26%
2%
2%
93,022 recorded cultural resources 8/1/2009
How are the NPS definitions
applied in Wyoming?
In general:
• Sites should be 50 years old or older (NPS guideline)
• Must contain 15 or more associated prehistoric artifacts
or 50 or more associated historic artifacts
• Historic and prehistoric features are sites
In general, resources which fall
below these thresholds are
considered “not eligible” to the
National Register of Historic
Places (NRHP) and are
documented with lower standards.
Criteria of “Adverse Effect”
Section 106:
– Adverse effect occurs when integrity of a historic
property (eligible to NRHP) is diminished
– Agency must:
• consider both direct and indirect effects
• consider reasonably foreseeable effects: cumulative, later in time,
or at a distance
• consider all qualifying characteristics of property
State/County projects:
– SHPO may provide comment and recommendations
– Final decision lies with State Agency or County
government.
Listing on the NRHP Does Not:
Restrict the rights of owners to use, develop, or sell the property
Prevent future alterations to the property
Require private owners to allow the public access to the property
Place restraints on the property
Make artifacts discovered on private land the property of the federal
government
Occur without owner notification
Cause the location of the property to become public information
Prevent a federal undertaking or state project
from going forward.
Historic Trails
National Trails System Act
1968
Oregon
Mormon Pioneer
Pony Express
California
Noteworthy Properties:
Ft. Laramie National
Historic Site
South Pass National
Historic Landmark
Fort Bridger
Independence Rock
Oregon Trail Ruts
Register Cliff
Overland, Cherokee, Bridger, and Bozeman are
NRHP Eligible, but are not NHTs
Management Issues and Historic Trails
Land Ownership Patterns
Split Estate
Checkerboard
Historic settings are
challenging to manage
and maintain.
Trails are dissected –
cumulative effects are
difficult to address.
Wyoming BLM/SHPO Protocol includes a process for assessing effect to
setting of historic properties eligible under Criterion A, B, and/or C.
Wyoming State Statutes
• Wyoming Antiquities Act 1935
• Wyoming State Archaeologist Statute 1967
• Wyoming Environmental Quality Act of 1973
– Land Quality
– Industrial Siting
• Wyoming State Lands Title 36 (36-1-114 – 116)
– Permits to inventory
– Permits to remove archaeological materials and artifacts
The Industrial Siting Process
• Siting application
– evaluation of the impact of the project
– plans and proposals for alleviating those impacts including
impacts on archeological and historic resources
•
Industrial Siting Council must find
– that the project won’t result in a significant detriment to. . .
impairment of the environment or socio-economic conditions
of the present or expected inhabitants
– “environment” includes historic impacts over which the
council has jurisdiction
State Lands and Other Regulations
• State Lands
– Chapter 3, Section 9 of the State Land Commissioner’s rules
and regulations addresses cultural resources and states that
steps must be taken in the construction and use of easements
across state lands to protect and preserve archeological,
paleontological, historical and any other cultural resources on
state land
• Local Regulations
– Varies from county to county. Check on the treatment of
archeological and historic properties in applicable county
regulations.
Foote Creek Rim Wind Farm
Federal Undertaking initiated in 1994
BLM, Rawlins Field Office Lead Agency
Memorandum of Agreement Negotiated to mitigate
adverse effect.
– Signed in 1997 by SHPO and BLM
Tribal Involvement in the Undertaking
– Numerous Tribal Consulting Parties
Simulation of Simpson Ridge Wind Farm
Historic Carbon Cemetery
Wyoming SHPO contact:
Mary Hopkins, Interim SHPO
hopkins@uwyo.edu
307-766-5324/777-6311
website: http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us
Carbon Cemetery, Near Hanna Wyoming