Friday, December 18, 2015

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