I feel this is a slippery slope. I heartily agree about the discrepancy of anybody can do archaeology, but you have to have trained professionals to do other fields of work. Here in the SW Region of the Bur. of Indian Affairs, we do not allow paraprofessionals to conduct survey on the Indian lands under our purview. However when I worked for Cibola National Forest in NM they allowed paras but limited them to 10 acres. The terms of the PPA seems excessive. As Patrick alluded to, it seems there is the possibility of conflict of interest letting non-archaeological staff conduct surveys for their own projects; or would they have to recuse themselves? Also as Patrick mentioned about NRCS surveys coming up with remarkably few sites. We had the same problem here in NM. Case in point, a ~500 acre survey conducted by NRCS staff archaeologists turned up 2 sites.  A similar sized survey by BIA archaeologists 2 miles away turned up in excess of 50. A resurvey of the NCRS project by an independent consultant resulted in 20+ sites. All in all a waste of time and money. 

This attitude of letting non-professionals do archaeological work sticks in my craw. It demeans the profession. 



Harding Polk II
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-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Martin <[log in to unmask]>
To: HISTARCH <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Fri, Aug 18, 2017 11:05 am
Subject: Re: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service seeks public comment on draft programmatic agreement

Just an anecdote...
In the late 70s, when USFS in R9 started using forestry staff as
"paraprofessional archaeologists" to do archaeological survey, with tongue
only partly in cheek I offered to provide minimal forestry training to our
archaeology students so that they could do the necessary timber and
wildlife surveys at the same time as archaeological work.  This was met
first with shock and outrage, but in some circles gradual recognition that
their practice was unsound.  More discussion also noted that they were
putting their technicians into a serious bind, with conflicting missions of
getting the timber cut and slowing or halting that work if they reported
any significant cultural resources.

Of course, making foresters and others sensitive to cultural resources is a
good thing.  They are out there on the ground infinitely more than
archaeologists, and can advocate for protection outside the range of formal
surveys and 106 work.  But to expect them to take up all of that
responsibility is ridiculous on the face of it.  Dunno how much the USFS
paraprofessional program still operates.
PEMartin

On Fri, Aug 18, 2017 at 11:45 AM, Williams, Scott <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> I don't know if NRCS still collects annual data on the number of
> archaeological surveys done by each state with the number of acres surveyed
> and the number of sties found, but they used to (a decade or so ago).
> Reading those state-by-state reports, my fellow archaeologists and I used
> to be amazed how one state in the west (not AZ) would report doing
> thousands of archaeological surveys each year, over thousands of acres--
> and never find a site. It was because they had "trained" staff doing the
> "surveys" and not archaeologists.
>
> It became a bad joke- "Guess there were no Indians in the entire state."
> And no settlers before 1950.
>
> We see the same issue here with other agencies, using staff with a few
> days of training to do surveys. It doesn't matter (to me) if they aren't
> doing significance evaluations- if they aren't recognizing or finding
> sites, the significance issue is moot.  And we get people constantly asking
> us that, if they have a biologist or geologist out doing the survey, why
> can't they just look for and record the archaeological sites?
>
> I understand NRCS-AZ's position, but I don't think it's a good idea- as
> Michael noted, you'd expect that from the NRCS admin, but not from
> archaeologists.
>
> Scott S. Williams
> Cultural Resources Program Manager, WSDOT
> Ph: 360.570.6651
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Michael Trinkley
> Sent: Friday, August 18, 2017 7:32 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service seeks public
> comment on draft programmatic agreement
>
> I really wasn't going to get involved - until Dan brought up the point of,
> " If you don’t need archaeologists to conduct archaeological surveys, do
> you need biologists to conduct biological assessments? Do you need air and
> noise specialists, or environmental justice specialists, or HAZMAT
> specialists?" And I must also agree with the observation that,  "this
> agreement seems to concur with the approach that anyone can do archaeology
> (no real commitment required) and dovetails with what appears to be an
> overall decline in scientific and critical thinking."
>
> While I would expect such reasoning from the NRCS bureaucracy, I find it
> hard to accept from archaeologists.Sorry.
>
> Best,
>
> Michael Trinkley, Ph.D.
> Director
> Chicora Foundation, Inc.
> PO Box 8664
> Columbia, SC  29202-8664
> 803-787-6910
> www.chicora.org
>  Please consider the environment before printing this email.
>
>
>
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-- 
*Patrick E. Martin, PhD*


*Research Professor of ArchaeologyPresident, The International Committee
for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage*
*Department of Social Sciences*
*Michigan Technological University*
*Houghton, MI  USA  49931*
*[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>*
*(906) 487-2070*



*www.industrialarchaeology.net
<http://www.industrialarchaeology.net>www.ticcih.org
<http://www.ticcih.org>*

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