Cultural Resources Assessment Submitted to Port of Kingston December 19, 2019 Remote Ferry Holding Lot Feasibility Study, Kingston, Kitsap County CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION – NOT FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION PERTEET.COM 505 FIFTH AVENUE S, SUITE 300 SEATTLE, WA 98104 206.436.0515 CULTURAL RESOURCES REPORT COVER SHEET I. Author: Emily Peterson Title of Report: Cultural Resources Assessment for the Remote Ferry Holding Lot, Kingston, Kitsap County Date of Report: December 19, 2019 County(ies): Kitsap County Section: 26 Township: 27 North Range: 2 East Quad: Port Gamble Acres: 10.2 PDF of report submitted (REQUIRED) Yes Historic Property Export Files submitted? Yes No Archaeological Site(s)/Isolate(s) Found or Amended? Yes No TCP(s) found? Yes No Replace a draft? Yes No Satisfy a DAHP Archaeological Excavation Permit requirement? Yes # No DAHP Archaeological Site #: 45KP313 DECEMBER 19 2019 | CRA FOR THE KINGSTON FERRY HOLDING LOT FEASIBILITY STUDY CULTURAL RESOURCES SHORT REPORT A. INTRODUCTION 1. Proposed Project Activities and Elements: The Port of Kingston is conducting a feasibility study to determine if a remote ferry holding lot can be constructed on undeveloped land owned by the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT)at Lindvog Road NE and SR 104 (Figures 1 and 2). The lot is intended to ease traffic congestion in Kingston. The Port has contracted with Perteet to conduct a cultural resources assessment of the property as part of the feasibility study. Construction elements are expected to include grading, paving, stormwater management, and installation of signs and lighting. 2. Study Area Vertical and Horizontal Depth of Disturbance: At this stage the exact extent of disturbance is unknown but the proposed lot would occupy two parcels (1-033 and 1-030) totaling 10.2 acres. Stormwater management work is likely to require the deepest disturbance. Typically trenching for stormwater work can extend up to about six feet below surface (fbs). 3. Project Background Key Information: Location: Section 26, Township 27 North, Range 2 East, Willamette Meridian Size: 10.2 acres Project Proponent: Port of Kingston Agency Name: Washington State Department of Ecology Regulatory Setting: SEPA (feasibility study—ultimate funding sources unknown at this time) Survey Personnel: Emily Peterson, Melissa Ayvaz, Ryan Robinson, Nick DePalma, Joss Whittaker Survey Date: November 18-19, 2019 Report Author: Emily Peterson Report Date: December 18, 2019 Other Individuals/ Dennis Lewarch, THPO, Suquamish Tribe Organizations: B. NATURAL AND CULTURAL SETTING 1. Natural Setting: Geology and Geomorphology The project area is in the Puget Lowland geographic province where landforms were shaped by a combination of repeated glacial advances and retreats during the Pleistocene (1.8 million to about 10,000 years ago), followed by subsequent Holocene fluvial processes (Booth et al. 2004; Easterbrook 1992; Porter and Swanson 1998). The Puget lobe of the Cordilleran ice sheet covered the Kingston area by about 17,400 years before present (BP) and reached its maximum extent near Tenino during the Vashon Stade of the Fraser Glaciation at approximately 14,000 BP. (Booth et al. 2003, Kovanen and Slaymaker 2004, Porter and Swanson 1998; Thorson 1980). Glaciation blocked northward-flowing streams, dammed valleys, and formed proglacial lakes as ice sheets Contains Confidential Information Not for General Distribution 1 DECEMBER 19 2019 | CRA FOR THE KINGSTON FERRY HOLDING LOT FEASIBILITY STUDY Figure 1. Project location. Contains Confidential Information 2 Not for General Distribution DECEMBER 19 2019 | CRA FOR THE KINGSTON FERRY HOLDING LOT FEASIBILITY STUDY Figure 2. Aerial photo showing the project area an the location of archaeological site 45KP313. Contains Confidential Information Not for General Distribution 3 DECEMBER 19 2019 | CRA FOR THE KINGSTON FERRY HOLDING LOT FEASIBILITY STUDY advanced, causing, glacial scouring, and deposition of advance outwash, till, and recessional outwash (Porter and Swanson 1998). As the glacier shrank northward, glacial till and outwash were deposited over the Puget Trough, forming a drift upland plain between the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges estimated at up to 3,700 feet (1,100 m) thick in the Seattle area (Thorson 1980). As the ice sheet melted from the Strait of Juan de Fuca about 13,500 years ago, marine waters inundated the Puget Lowland before isostatic uplift from removal of the weight of the ice began (Dethier et al. 1995; Easterbrook 2003; Kovanen and Slaymaker 2004). By 11,500 years ago, isostatic rebound outpaced global sea level rise, and as a result, the land was lifted to 40 meters above present sea level (apsl) near Everett, and sea level in the Puget Lowland dropped to about 60 meters below present sea level (bpsl). Around 8000 to 7000 BP, sea levels began to rise, drowning those early Holocene shorelines. By 5000 BP, sea level was within 6.5 to 16 feet (2 to 5 m) of present level (Clague et al. 1982). Soils in the project area are mapped as Poulsbo-Ragnar complex and Ragnar –Poulsbo complex. These are closely related soil units that form from glacial outwash parent material on terraces or moraines and vary primarily in abundance of gravels (Natural Resources Conservation Service 2019). Recent geotechnical investigation of the project area identified unweathered glacial till at two to four feet below the ground surface below 12 to 18 inches of weathered till (Chad McMullen, Terracon personal communication). Geotechnical and archaeological investigations in the project area in 1999 identified four stratigraphic units with an organic silty sand to sand surface layer up to 30-60 centimeters thick overlying as advance glacial deposit and a glacially over-consolidated deposit (Bard and McClintock 1999). Carpenter Creek, a groundwater fed stream, currently flows from Carpenter Lake, approximately one-half mile west of the project area, to the Carpenter Creek Estuary, a saltmarsh along Appletree Cove approximately one- half mile to the southwest. An 1860 GLO map shows the creek passing through the southwest corner of the project area (Figure 3). Historical maps show the creek in this position through the 1940s, but a 1953 USGS shows the creek in its present position, west of the project area (Figure4). It was most likely re-routed as part of road work on route 104. The creek channel was further modified in 1959 with the installation of a small culvert under South Kingston Road, which was recently replaced by a concrete bridge (WDFW 2016). Flora and Fauna The area was once covered with extensive stands of coniferous forest that comprise the Tsuga heterophylla (western hemlock) vegetation zone. The dominant species in this zone are western hemlock, western red cedar (Thuja placata), and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). Old growth forest understories are typically dense, consisting of shrubs and herbaceous species dominated by sword fern (Polystichum munitum), salal (Gaultheria shallon), Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium), ocean spray (Holodiscus discolor), blackberry (Rubus ursinus), red huckleberry (Vaccinium parviforlium), and red elderberry (Sambucus racemose) (Franklin and Dyrness 1973). Bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) and red alder (Alnus rubra) are common in moist areas subject to disturbance; stream courses and flood plains are dominated by red alder, black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa), bigleaf maple, and other riparian plants. Wetlands are common in river and creek valleys and typically support willow (Salix spp.), alder (A. rubra), cranberries (Viburnum spp.), cattail (Typha latifolia), reeds (Phramites australis), wapato (Sagittaria latifolia), nettles (Urtica dioica), and skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus). Prior to modern development, the immediate project vicinity would have provided a range of habitats supporting large terrestrial mammals like deer, elk, black bear, and mountain lion. Habitats also supported smaller fur bearing mammals, including rabbit, wolf, muskrat, beaver, mink, coyote, raccoon, and bobcat and gained great Contains Confidential Information 4 Not for General Distribution DECEMBER 19 2019 | CRA FOR THE KINGSTON FERRY HOLDING LOT FEASIBILITY STUDY Figure 3. GLO map, 1860, showing project area and the old creek channel. Contains Confidential Information Not for General Distribution 5 DECEMBER 19 2019 | CRA FOR THE KINGSTON FERRY HOLDING LOT FEASIBILITY STUDY Figure 4. Location of Carpenter Creek from historical maps 1860 to present. Contains Confidential Information 6 Not for General Distribution DECEMBER 19 2019 | CRA FOR THE KINGSTON FERRY HOLDING LOT FEASIBILITY STUDY economic importance during the fur trade era and again during the economic depressions of the early twentieth century. Historically, salmon have been a singularly important species for Native American populations. Carpenter Creek provided riparian habitat near, or possibly within, the project area. The stream is currently used by coho (Onchorhynchus kisutch), chum (Onchorhynchus keta), cutthroat trout (Onchorhynchus clarkii), and Chinook (Onchorhynchus tshawytscha). Other important fish and shellfish species include Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi), surf smelt (Hypomesus pretiosus), Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus), clams, oyster (Ostrea lurida), geoduck (Panopea generosa), and Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister). 2. Cultural Setting Archaeological evidence indicates that humans arrived in the Pacific Northwest at the end of the Pleistocene glaciation over 14,000 years before present,