Attachment 13 Cultural Resources Discipline Report CAPITOL LAKE – DESCHUTES ESTUARY Long-Term Management Project Environmental Impact Statement Cultural Resources Discipline Report Prepared for: Washington State Department of Enterprise Services 1500 Jefferson Street SE Olympia, WA 98501 Prepared by: Environmental Science Associates (ESA) & Northwest Vernacular June 2021 < Intentionally Blank > CAPITOL LAKECAPIT – DESCHUTESOL LAKE – DESCHUTESESTUARY ESTUARY Long-Term Management Project Environmental Impact Statement Long-Term Management Project Environmental Impact Statement Executive Summary This Cultural Resources Discipline Report describes the potential impacts of the Capitol Lake – Deschutes Estuary Long-Term Management Project on cultural resources in the area surrounding the project. The Capitol Lake – Deschutes Estuary includes the 260-acre Capitol Lake Basin, located on the Washington State Capitol Campus, in Olympia, Washington. Long-term management strategies and actions are needed to address issues in the Capitol Lake – Deschutes Estuary project area. An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is being prepared to document the potential environmental impacts of various alternatives and determine how these alternatives meet the long-term management objectives identified for the watershed. Two main categories of cultural resources were reviewed: archaeological resources and historic built environment resources. Built environment resource impacts are assessed based on the potential of project alternatives to diminish a built environment resource’s characteristics that qualify it for listing in federal, state, and local historic registers. Archaeological resources are non-renewable, and any impact on the depositional integrity (i.e., context) of a protected archaeological resource is considered a significant impact. Where impacts are identified, the report discusses measures that can be taken to mitigate or minimize impacts. This Discipline Report includes general discussion of the regulatory context, methods used to prepare this document, and a description of the affected environment. The analysis of the cultural resources setting discusses the study area’s precontact-era and indigenous use context, recorded archaeological resources, and the potential for encountering buried archaeological resources within the study area. A previously commissioned study of cultural and spiritual values associated with future alternatives for the Capitol Lake Basin (Geller et al. 2009), identifies cultural and spiritual values associated with the Capitol Lake Basin held by a variety of stakeholders and is attached to this report (Appendix A). The analysis of the historic built environment setting in the study area discusses information on historic districts (both listed and recommended), individually designated resources, and an inventory of historic resources in the study area. The historic built environment setting also includes historic development context and themes applicable to the history of the Capitol Lake area, such as early settlement, land development, State Capitol development and design, commercial development, transportation, and June 2021 Cultural Resources Discipline Report Page ES-1 CAPITOL LAKE – DESCHUTES ESTUARY Long-Term Management Project Environmental Impact Statement neighborhood development. Given the large volume of publicly available information on historic development context and history of the Capitol Lake area, there is a larger volume of information presented in this report on the historic built environment relative to cultural resources. Given the shoreline setting of the project area and its proximity to water, the project area is classified by the Statewide Predictive Model as Very High to High Risk for presence of precontact-era archaeological resources. The Statewide Predictive Model is focused on the potential for precontact- era archaeological sites only. It does not predict the presence of historic-era archaeological resources. The model does not account for historic and recent landform changes that may impact the precontact- era archaeological sensitivity of different portions of the project area. Two primary activities – dredging and filling – have likely impacted the archaeological sensitivity of the project area; however, natural landforms buried by and beneath previously placed fill have the potential to contain archaeological resources. Only in limited areas along the southern portion of the Middle Basin and west of the South Basin is the archaeological risk classified as Moderate, Moderately Low, or Low. A field inventory was conducted and historic property inventory (HPI) forms were prepared for historic resources that would be directly impacted by one or more of the action alternatives (intensive-level) and for historic resources that would potentially be impacted, or indirectly impacted (reconnaissance- level) (Appendix B). The completed HPI forms and survey information will help support future Section 106 consultation that would occur as part of permit evaluations of a selected alternative, and may be supplemented at that time with additional survey work as appropriate. The field inventory results were combined with those of previous historic resources investigations to create a comprehensive summary of the historic built environment of the study area. A total of 103 historic resources were identified in the historic built environment study area, along with five historic districts. This evaluation recommended a potential new historic district: the Des Chutes Basin Project1 and recommended the following individual resources as eligible for certain federal, state, and local historic registers: the Capitol Lake – Deschutes Estuary itself, 5th Avenue Dam, 5th Avenue Bridge, and Olympic Street W Bridge. Construction of the project is expected to cause potential impacts on archaeological resources from excavation, compaction, and other activities. Construction of the project is also expected to cause direct and indirect impacts on historic built environment resources from demolition, changes in setting and design, road realignment, construction staging and access, noise, dust, and construction traffic. For the purposes of the historic built environment analysis, long-term changes that result from project actions (e.g., dredging and removal of 5th Avenue Dam) are considered operational impacts. The Managed Lake Alternative would retain historic views in the North Basin, whereas the Estuary and 1 The Des Chutes Basin Project is recommended as a historic district in this report. This potential historic district possesses a significant concentration of associated structures, open space, and sites that present a unified entity and are historically interrelated and aesthetically mutually dependent. They are united by the 1948 Des Chutes Basin Project plan, constructed as an uninterrupted series (1949 to 1952), and they remain readily identifiable relative to surrounding properties. June 2021 Cultural Resources Discipline Report Page ES-2 CAPITOL LAKE – DESCHUTES ESTUARY Long-Term Management Project Environmental Impact Statement Hybrid alternatives would remove the 5th Avenue Dam and Bridge, eliminating the reflecting pool. If the recommended Des Chutes Basin Project Historic District is determined eligible for listing, this work would permanently diminish the integrity of the resource’s essential physical features, and would be a significant adverse impact. However, it is also noted that the return of the estuary due to this work re- establishes pre-Des Chutes Basin Project tidelands and estuary functions associated with historic use patterns of the estuary. Under the Hybrid Alternative, the barrier wall and establishment of a smaller reflecting pool would mitigate impacts on historic resources related to the 5th Avenue Dam and Bridge removal to less-than-significant levels. Construction and operation impacts of the alternatives are summarized in Tables ES.1 and ES.2. Table ES.1 Summary of Construction Impacts and Mitigation Measures Significant and Impact Unavoidable Finding Mitigation (Summarized) Adverse Impact? Managed Lake Alternative Archaeological Resources Significant Measures to minimize impacts are Yes (potentially) (potentially) included in Section 5.7.1.1. Less-than- Measures to minimize impacts are Historic Resources No significant included in Section 5.7.1.1 Estuary Alternative Archaeological Resources Significant Measures to minimize impacts are Yes (potentially) (potentially) included in Section 5.7.1.1. Historic Resources Less-than- In addition to measures included in No significant Section 5.7.1.1: • Develop a protection and monitoring plan for historic resources adjacent to the Deschutes Parkway SW realignment. • Monitor construction work adjacent to the Deschutes Parkway SW realignment work as needed based on the protection and monitoring plan for historic resources. Hybrid Alternative Archaeological Resources Significant Measures to minimize impacts are Yes (potentially) (potentially) included in Section 5.7.1.1. Historic Resources Less-than- Mitigation measures include those No significant described in Section 5.7.1.1 and above for the Estuary Alternative. June 2021 Cultural Resources Discipline Report Page ES-3 CAPITOL LAKE – DESCHUTES ESTUARY Long-Term Management Project Environmental Impact Statement Table ES.2 Summary of Operations Impacts (including Benefits) and Mitigation Measures Significant and Unavoidable Impact Finding Mitigation (Summarized) Adverse Impact?