Revision of Cultural Resources Inventory General Guidelines, 4th Edition, Revised
In Reply Refer to:
8100 (NV933) P
United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Nevada State Office
P.O. Box 12000 (1340 Financial Blvd.)
Reno, Nevada 89520-0006
http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en.html
November 30, 2010
EMS TRANSMISSION
Instruction Memorandum No. NV-2011-012
To: District and Field Office Managers, Nevada
From: State Director, Nevada
Subject: Revision of Cultural Resources Inventory General Guidelines, 4th Edition, Revised
DD: 01/28/2011
This instruction memorandum seeks district and field office comments and suggestions for revising BLM Nevada’s Cultural Resources Inventory General Guidelines, 4th Edition, revised (Guidelines).
Each district or field office should review the Guidelines and provide consolidated comments electronically to Bryan Hockett, NV930 Associate State Archaeologist, by January 28, 2011. NV930 will review the comments with a small team consisting of several District cultural leads, and complete a draft version of the revised Guidelines prior to the BLM Nevada cultural resources workshop scheduled for March 28-30, 2011. Discussions of the draft revised Guidelines at the workshop are expected to lead to final Guidelines revision by the Fall of 2011.
Background. BLM Nevada’s Guidelines supplement the BLM Manual Series 8100 and State Protocol Agreement between the Nevada State Office (NSO) and the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in providing policy to guide compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Among other items, the Guidelines provide technical standards concerning permitting, inventory procedures, and reporting. In addition, the Guidelines provide standards for the use of inventory reporting forms such as the Intermountain Antiquities Computer System (IMACS) forms.
The Guidelines were last revised in 1990. Since that time, several laws, regulations, programmatic agreements, instruction memoranda, and information bulletins have been issued that impact the effective use of the Guidelines in complying with Section 106 of the NHPA. These include, but are not limited to, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and its implementing regulations, amendments to the regulations implementing the NHPA, BLM’s National Programmatic Agreement and the recent revisions to the Nevada State Protocol Agreement, and Instruction Memorandum NV 2011-008 and Information Bulletin NV 2011-009 concerning BLM Nevada’s permitting process. As a result, BLM Nevada State, District, and Field Offices, as well as the Nevada SHPO, agree on the need for Guidelines revisions.
Instruction. NSO is requesting that District cultural resources program leads assist in this process as the points of contact for consolidating comments from each District Office. Program leads are asked to consolidate comments from cultural resources specialists and managers who have regular involvement in the Section 106 compliance process. In addition, each District Office is asked to notify the appropriate tribal governments and groups who may be interested in providing input into the revised Guidelines. Districts who consult with the same tribal governments and groups are asked to coordinate and designate a lead in this effort to avoid multiple Districts consulting with a single tribal government or group. Each District should include tribal comments and suggestions with their consolidated submission to NV930, but clearly delineate tribal comments from those of the District. An example template letter is attached to this IM for your consideration in initiating tribal notification.
Please submit all comments using a Word document format. A Word copy of the Guidelines is available on BLM Nevada’s Sharepoint website under the “Cultural Resources-Shared Documents” tabs, then the “Laws, Regulations, Manuals” folder. Suggested changes should be made to a Word copy using the “Track Changes” feature. NV-930 will coordinate and consult with the Nevada SHPO on the revised Guidelines.
Affected Policy: Revisions will affect portions of the Nevada State Protocol Agreement that reference the Guidelines, especially parts III.C. and XI.B.
Questions or suggestions should be directed to Bryan Hockett, Associate State Archaeologist, BLM Nevada State Office at (775) 861-6546 or bryan_hockett@blm.gov.
Signed By:
Ron Wenker
State Director
Authenticated By:
Ellyn Darrah
Administrative Assistant
Attachment
1- Sample Tribal Ltr Template (1pp)