CCRG Rebranding: Introducing Commonwealth Heritage Group

Happy New Year!  For me, the turning of the New Year is always a time of reflection and a time to look forward to ways to make this year better than the last.  I am proud to announce that on January 7th, 2016, all our companies (Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group, Coastal Carolina Research, Sagebrush Consultants and John Milner Associates (JMA)) will be operating under a new name: Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc.  This will help all our offices work more collaboratively and allow us to offer our clients streamlined services with a nationwide footprint.  I look forward to working with all of you during this exciting new chapter.

 

Andrew J. Weir, President

Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc.
www.commonwealthheritagegroup.com

Wintertime at Sagebrush Consultants

Winter has arrived in northern Utah. We just experienced the biggest snowstorm in the last three years here. This is a time when Sagebrush Consultants' crews have completed work in the field and are working on reports and beginning to focus on what we can do to help our clients be productive and competitive in the next year. It's also a time to reflect on how we have helped those same clients this year. Here are a few types of projects we carried out this year to help our clients move forward: 

1. In the spring we completed archaeological and architectural historical surveys for several proposed road widening projects in Springville, Spanish Fork and Logan. Through visual inspection of undisturbed areas adjacent to existing roads and recording of houses and other structures that are more than 50 years old, we help identify and preserve the history of Utah, while providing clearance for ongoing project work.
2. Many other projects this spring involved walkovers for small wetland areas from central Utah to the far north of the state where housing developments are planned. Most of these projects are undertaken in response to Corps of Engineers requirements to developers. In most cases, there is little or nothing to report and our clients move forward with their projects. In a few cases, we find archaeological and historical sites which are usually avoided.
3. In the summer field crews completed additional survey in northern Arizona for the Lake Powell Pipeline and recorded more than 100 archaeological sites, primarily prehistoric Puebloan ruins, most more than a 1000 years old. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps, roads, bridges, culverts and many other historic sites were also identified and recorded in advance of plans to construction the pipeline and associated facilities.
4. In the fall we had crews covering several thousand acres of Sage Grouse habitat in Tooele and Box Elder counties and another crew surveying roads and parcels in Sawtooth National Forest north of Fairfield, Idaho.

Sagebrush carries out a wide range of types of cultural resource projects throughout the Intermountain West. This year they were located in northern Arizona, Utah and Idaho. In past years we have ranged into Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada and even as far as New Mexico, Oregon and California.  

If you need or are interested in finding out more about our services, please email us or give us a call. We would love to speak to you.

 

 

Michael R. Polk, M.A., RPA

Principal Archaeologist/Regional Director

Sagebrush Consultants…moving into the future as part of CCRG, Inc.

Fall is almost upon us.  In the Intermountain region, that generally signals a dramatic increase in cultural resources project work, particularly in the energy sector and for those clients who need to get development and maintenance cultural resources projects undertaken and completed prior to the coming snow season.   For more than 30 years, this has been the time when Sagebrush Consultants has been at its busiest, and this year is no exception.  We are undertaking extensive surveys of phosphate mine areas in southeastern Idaho, oil well locations in Colorado, Utah and Nevada,  wetland and recreational development projects, and other water development projects in central Utah.  This, in addition to, moving forward to complete reporting on excavations at prehistoric sites in Wasatch County, Utah; at the new Courthouse in Salt Lake City; and the massive Lake Powell Pipeline Project in southern Utah and northern Arizona, a project that has been ongoing since 2008. 

It's been just over a year now, since Sagebrush was acquired by Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group, Inc. (CCRG).  Sagebrush personnel and operations remain largely the same as before.  Sagebrush provides clients all cultural resources services needed to address requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act, Section 106, and related Federal regulations, as well as State Regulations.  In addition, Sagebrush provides paleontological services as needed.  These services include:

1.            Archaeological surveys

2.            Test archaeological excavations
3.            Full scale archaeological excavations
4.            Reconnaissance and intensive level architectural evaluations
5.            National Register nominations
6.            Historic American Building Surveys (HABS)
7.            Historic American Engineering Record surveys (HAER)
8.            Historic American Landscape Surveys (HALS)
 

We also provide paleontological, ethnographic and geoarchaeological services through subconsultants.

 Acquisition by CCRG has also brought with it many advantages to our clients.   Sagebrush has acquired new capabilities including:

1.            More extensive architectural history expertise

2.            Geospatial Analysis and Imaging

3.            Geoarchaeological deep-site testing

4.            Paleoethnobotanical analyses
5.            Underwater cultural resources surveys

Sagebrush is growing and thriving here in the Intermountain West and we look forward to continuing our relationship with existing clients and to working with new clients in local and Federal government agencies,  and in the private industry.


Michael R. Polk, M.A., RPA
Principal Archaeologist/Regional Director 

Sagebrush Consultants, L.L.C., providing Cultural Resources Services to the Intermountain West for 30 years (June 15, 2013)

Welcome to Sagebrush Consultants, L.L.C.  (Sagebrush).  Sagebrush is celebrating 30 years of cultural resources service to the Intermountain West in 2013.  Thirty years ago my wife, Ann, and I began a small archaeological consulting company after Environment Consultants, Inc. (ECI) closed their branch office in Ogden in July 1983.  Since that time, our company has grown to a medium sized cultural resources firm employing 12-15 people.  Over the last 30 years, Sagebrush has, and continues to undertake both prehistoric and historic archaeological surveys and excavations, historic preservation projects, cultural landscape studies, National Register nominations, HABS, HAER and HAL projects, architectural history surveys and evaluations, and paleontological investigations. 

To date, Sagebrush personnel have completed more than 1800 reports covering the broad topics listed above throughout 10 Western states.  Projects have ranged from small well pad, access road, pipeline, highway and Corps of Engineers 404 permit projects, to large intrastate and interstate natural gas pipelines, water pipelines, power lines, fiber optic projects, land exchanges, mining projects and government construction projects. 

Sagebrush personnel are committed to provide the most professional service possible at a competitive price.  We work with federal and state agencies to make sure all work is done to the highest standards.  Sagebrush is also committed to contributing to the cultural resources community and the public who support our work.  This is done through active participation in local, regional and national professional organizations such as the Society for American Archaeology, Society for Historical Archaeology and the American Cultural Resources Association.  Sagebrush personnel have presented dozens of papers at these conferences and  published articles and books in a wide variety of publications.  We have also shared our work with local and regional interest groups and schools through talks as well as brochures, web site material, and information kiosks on many projects that we have undertaken to help educate and enlighten the interested public about the archaeology, history and paleontology of particular areas.   We believe that this is part of our obligation as professionals in the fields of archaeology, history, architectural history and paleontology.

You will find updated and informative information coming out in our website on an occasional basis.  We want to give you perspective on our company as well as interesting information about Utah and surrounding states that we have gathered over our professional lives here in Utah.   If you have questions or would like to contact us, please do at sageb@sagebrushconsultants.com.  We would love to hear from you. 

Mike

Michael R. Polk, M.A., RPA
Principal Archaeologist/Owner (and co-founder)