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5.7
CULTURAL RESOURCES
5.7.1 Description of Existing Cultural Resources
A literature search was conducted by Western Cultural Resources Management, Inc. (WCRM)
at the Forest Service Bearlodge Ranger District, with the Wyoming State Historic Preservation
Office Cultural Records Office (WYCRO) (#27283), and online through the WYCRO web
database; project reports and files were examined for any cultural properties that might be
impacted by this project. Results of the file search showed that 69 cultural resource compliance
projects had been performed within the current study boundary and in a 1-mile radius of the
overall study area. Fifty-three of these projects are located within the current study boundary
and 57 of the current individual survey locations were situated within 22 of the previous
inventories. The file search results also identified 51 previously recorded sites and isolated
resources (IR) in a 1-mile radius of the study area, 23 of which are within the overall study
boundary and only two are within the current survey area. Of the 51 sites and IRs within the 1-
mile radius, 24 are prehistoric and 27 are historic.
5.7.2 Cultural Resource Surveys
WRCM conducted Class III Cultural Resource Inventories for the baseline environmental
monitoring component of the Bear Lodge Project. This cultural resource work is in accordance
and compliance with the mandates for the protection of cultural resources on public lands and/or
publicly funded or permitted projects. These mandates are set forth in Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act (as amended) and the implementing regulations of the
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (36 CFR Part 800, Protection of Historic Properties),
Wyoming Antiquities Act of 1935 (36-1-114) (as amended 1945, 1957, and 1997), the Wyoming
Environmental Quality Act of 1973, Antiquities Act of 1906, the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969, and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979.
In September and October, 2011, WCRM conducted a Class III cultural resource inventory of
approximately 22.6 acres of combined individual inventory locations at the proposed Project
Area in Crook County, Wyoming. The surveys were conducted in support of proposed
environmental data collection for evaluation of water, soil, and wetlands. The findings of the
Class III cultural resource inventory were documented in a technical report entitled
A Class III
Cultural Resource Inventory for the Rare Element Resources Wyoming Mine Baseline Data
Collection Project, Crook County, Wyoming
(Guy Hays, 2012). The report was submitted to the
Forest Service and was submitted to the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office in March
2012.
In October, 2011, WCRM began Class III inventory of federal (Forest Service administered)
state, and private lands that may be impacted by the Bull Hill Mine and associated facilities in
Crook County, Wyoming. Approximately 22.6 acres have been surveyed and two sites were
newly identified. WCRM conducted further cultural resource inventory in 2013 for the Bear
Lodge Project. A technical report will be written documenting these future surveys and will be
submitted to the Forest Service for their review.
5.7.3 Design Features/Environmental Protection Measures
RER has identified the following design features/environmental protection measures to reduce
potential impacts to cultural resources:
RER will, if at all possible, avoid identified cultural resources that are deemed
“eligible” under the National Historic Resources Protection Act. If these resources
cannot be avoided, they will be mitigated prior to construction. Mitigation means
doing something to either preserve the actual cultural resource itself or to recover
