APPENDIX G Cultural Resources Inventory and Site Evaluation Reports
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APPENDIX G Cultural Resources Inventory and Site Evaluation Reports PG&E Strength Testing and ILI June 2018 for Lines 300A, 300B, 311 and 311-1 Environmental Assessment Cultural Resources Inventory and Site Evaluations in Support of the Proposed Hydrostatic Testing of Line 300, San Bernardino County, California By: Ryan M. Byerly Sharon A. Waechter Kaely Colligan Gina Caretti Courtney R. Higgins Kimberley Carpenter May 2018 FINAL Submitted to: Bureau of Land Management California District Office 22835 Calle San Juan de los Lagos Moreno Valley, CA 92553 On behalf of: Pacific Gas and Electric Company 245 Market Street San Francisco, CA 94105 FAR WESTERN ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH GROUP, INC. 2727 Del Rio Place, Suite A, Davis, California, 95618 http://www.farwestern.com 530-756-3941 Confidential Information – Not for Public Distribution Confidential Information – Not for Public Distribution Cultural Resources Inventory and Site Evaluations in Support of the Proposed Hydrostatic Testing of Line 300, San Bernardino County, California By: Ryan M. Byerly Sharon A. Waechter Kaely Colligan Gina Caretti Courtney R. Higgins Kimberley Carpenter Contributions by: William Hildebrandt Jack Meyer Sarah K. Rice Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc. Mary L. Maniery PAR Environmental Services, Inc. May 2018 FINAL Submitted to: Bureau of Land Management California District Office 22835 Calle San Juan de los Lagos Moreno Valley, CA 92553 On Behalf of: Pacific Gas and Electric Company 245 Market Street San Francisco, CA 94105 Confidential Information – Not for Public Distribution Confidential Information – Not for Public Distribution MANAGEMENT SUMMARY Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) proposes to conduct hydrostatic strength tests for existing high pressure natural gas transmission lines denoted L-300 (including parallel Lines 300A and 300B; see ahead to Figure 1). The segments of Line 300 to be tested are in San Bernardino County, crossing lands primarily administered by the Barstow and Needles Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Field Offices. The project areas are within or intersect lands managed by federal, state, and local agencies and thus require compliance with (1) Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (36 CFR § 800, revised 2004); and (2) the California Environmental Quality Act (Public Resources code, Section 21000 et seq., revised 2005), which mandates federal and California public agencies to consider the effects of projects on historic properties. As the Federal Lead Agency for the project, the BLM required a Class III cultural resources inventory of those portions of the project area that have not been previously examined, or which have not been examined in a manner that reflects current standards, to meet Section 106 review and compliance obligations. They also required National Register of Historic Places (National Register) evaluations of all resources which intersect the project’s Area of Potential Effects (APE). Line 300 extends west-east, roughly paralleling State Route 66 and US Highway 40 between Needles, to just east of Daggett, California. This project area is composed of 96 consolidated work locations (including bell holes, laydown areas, staging yards, and in-line [ILI] inspection locations) and roughly 103 miles of extant access roads and planned bridge bypass routes. The L-300 APE was developed in consultation with BLM to include 50-meter peripheral buffers around work locations, and 15 meters off either edge of access roads and bridge bypasses. The APE incorporates approximately 5,293 acres. This report describes cultural resources that intersect the L-300 project APE. National Register and California Register of Historical Resources (California Register) eligibility assessments for these resources are also provided. Evaluations are based on survey-level data collected by Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., (Far Western) between February 16, and March 6, 2018. Results include site record updates for 90 previously recorded sites and documentation of 99 newly recorded sites. The 99 newly found sites, include 19 prehistoric resources, four multicomponent, and 76 dating to the historic era, were documented and assessed for eligibility during the current project. Newly recorded historic-era sites include: the Essex townsite; a foundation; four mining sites; two railroad grades; 51 refuse deposits (of which seven are associated with other historical features or prehistoric isolated artifacts); seven road segments; eight rock feature sites (mining or recreation related); a telegraph line; and a late nineteenth- century Chinese worker’s camp. These variably date between the late nineteenth and mid- to late twentieth century. The historical components among multicomponent sites include foundations associated with refuse, two other refuse deposits, and a road segment. Prehistoric sites include a complex occupation with charcoal visibly surrounding surface ground stone, eight campsites (of which two also contain fire-altered rock [FAR]), five lithic reduction stations, and five pavement quarries or single segregated reduction locations (SRLs) surrounded by diffuse debitage scatters. Among multicomponent sites, prehistoric components include two campsites, a pavement quarry, and a lithic reduction station. Temporally diagnostic prehistoric artifacts were not found with any of these prehistoric components, although the complex occupation and two campsites with FAR have the potential to yield direct dates. Of the 189 total, 11 sites are recommended eligible or have eligible components/elements (SBR- 1908/H, -2340H, -4165H, -13115H, -13116H, -13117H, -15114H, -15440/H, P-36-027752, P-36-027757, and SN- Cultural Resources Inventory and Site Evaluations i Far Western in Support of the Proposed Hydrostatic Testing of Line 300, San Bernardino County, California Confidential Information – Not for Public Distribution X13); three others have been previously determined eligible or are associated with components/elements that have (SBR-2910H, -5794/13126/H, and -6693H). In all, 135 sites are wholly ineligible, have ineligible components, or have components/elements that require further research (SBR-2084/H, -3076, -4681, -5797, -6404H, -6515, -6530H, -10637, -10650H, -11583H, -11586H, -12918H, -12999H, -13038/13040/H, -13041, -13101/H, -13103/H, -13114H, -13118H, -13119H, -13619H, -13768, 15115H, -15439, -16742H, -16759H, -16782, -16784H, -16785, -16786H, -17101H, -29795H, -29796H, -29798H, -31747H, P-36-020271, -026456, -026459, -026460, -026468, -026469, -026470, -026490, -026491, -026492, -026493, -026494, -026496, -026499, -026518, -026519, -026532, -026541, -026542, -026543, AU-X1, AU-X2, AU-X3, EG-X10, EG-X11, EG-X12, EG-X13, EG-X15, EG-X17, EG-X20, EG-X21, EG-X22, EG-X23, EG-X24, EG-X25, EG-X26, EG-X27, EG-X28, EG-X29, EG-X31, EM-X16, EM-X17, EM-X18, EM-X19, EM-X20, EM-X21, EM-X22, EM-X23, EM-X26, EM-X27, EM-X28, EM-X29, EM-X32, EM-X33, EM-X34, EM-X35, EM-X36, EM-X38, EM-X39, EM-X40, EM-X41, EM-X42, EM-X43, EM-X44, EM-X46, EM-X47, EM-X48, EM-X49, EM-X50, EM-X53, EM-X55, EM-X56, EM-X57, EM-X58, KR-X1, MM-X1, NS-X1, NS-X2, RB-X10, RB-X12, RB-X13, SN-X14, SN-X15, SN-X16, SN-X17, SN-X19, SN-X20, SN-X22, SN-X23, SN-X24, SN-X27, SN-X29, SR-X6, SR-X7, SR-X8, SR-X10, SR-X11, SR-X12, SR-X13, and SR-X14). A total of 32 sites require further research to make eligibility determination (SBR-2328/H, -3276H, -3277H, -3278H, -3284H, -8920H, -13449/H, -15443/H, -15857H, -16773, -16787H, P-36-026486, -026495, -027530, EG-X7, EG-X8, EG-X9, EG-X14, EG-X16, EG-X18, EG-X19, EG-X30, EM-X24, EM-X25, EM-X30, EM- X31, EM-X37, EM-X45, RB-X2, RB-X6, RB-X11, and SR-X15). Eight prehistoric sites could not be re-located, are presumed destroyed and no further management is necessary (SBR-1804, -5798, -5799, -5800, -5801, -5807, -5808, and -10649). Included among these 32 is SBR-3284H (i.e., Amboy), for which a previous portion and the current APE are considered ineligible or non-contributing portions, although, the site, as a whole, remains unevaluated and requires further research to assess listing potential. No further management is recommended for all previously recorded/updated and newly recorded sites, or for those segments of extensive linears that intersect the project APE recommended ineligible for listing. No further management is also required for the eight sites which could not be relocated. No further management is also recommended for the 215 isolates newly found during the current study. Temporary construction fencing is recommended for portions of all sites intersecting the current project APE that are recommended/determined eligible or for which further research is necessary to assess eligibility. For those sites requiring further research intersected by proposed access roads, the road margin should be fenced for protection beginning 100 feet before the site boundary and ending 100 feet after the site boundary. Otherwise, temporary construction fencing should be placed around the APE-intersected boundaries of eligible sites, site components/elements, and those requiring further research to mitigate potential effects from proposed project work. The buried site sensitivity assessment indicates that work areas modeled to have high to moderate sensitivity are all in the far western portions of L-300 and include, from west to east: (1) all of Location T-1225 N/T-1229 N; (2) the southern third of Location T-1225 Q/T-1229 M; (3) the first roughly one-kilometer start of the access road west of Location T-1225 L/T-1229 K; (4) a sliver of the northwestern portion of T-1225 L/T-1229 K; and (5) the southern on-third of Location T-1225 K. Excavations in these work areas should be monitored by a qualified archaeologist. As detailed in Chapter 7, two previously recorded campsites were newly recorded in Location T-1225 N/T-1229 N (i.e., EG-X7 and EG-X8); a previously recorded lithic reduction station is within the first roughly 1-kilometer start of the access road west of Location T-1225 L/T-1229 K (i.e., P-36-026488 [no trinomial assigned]); a new campsite (RB-X2) was found outside of the APE of the northwestern portion of T-1225 L/T-1229 K.