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
June 27, 2011
EMS TRANSMISSION
Instruction Memorandum No. NV-2011-060
Expires September 30, 2011
To: District Managers and Field Office Managers, Nevada
From: Raul Morales Deputy State Director, Natural Resources, Lands & Planning
Subject: Revision of Cultural Resources Inventory General Guidelines, 4th Edition, Revised
DD: 08/5/2011
This instruction memorandum seeks final District and Field Office comments and suggestions for revising Bureau of Land Management (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 August 5, 2011. NV930 will review the comments and issue the revised Guidelines thereafter.
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 Memorandum NV-2011-012 was sent by the State Director, Nevada to all District and Field Office Managers on November 30, 2010, requesting comments and suggestions on revisions to the 1990 Guidelines. All District Cultural Resources Leads compiled comments from their staff and provided those comments to NSO. That IM also instructed each District to complete Native American notification/consultation on the revisions, which each District completed. All comments from tribes were sent to NSO. Additionally, NSO initiated consultation with the Nevada SHPO and received comments. NSO compiled all comments from the Districts, tribes, and SHPO, and in February, 2011, held a 3-day meeting with several BLM District cultural resources leads to produce the first draft revision. This draft revision was then made available to all BLM Nevada archaeologists prior to the March, 2011, BLM Nevada Cultural Resources Workshop. NSO and District cultural resources staff reviewed the draft revisions at the Workshop, and comments were incorporated into another revision. Finally, NSO met in May, 2011, via NetMeeting with another set of BLM District cultural resources leads, which resulted in this draft revision that is now available for final comment.
Instruction. NSO is requesting that District cultural resources program leads act as the points of contact for consolidating final comments from each District or Field Office. Program leads are asked to consolidate comments from cultural resources specialists and managers who have regular involvement in the Section 106 compliance process. Please submit all comments electronically as a table using a Word document format. A pdf copy of the latest draft, “Guidelines BLM Nevada 2011 June 22” is available on BLM Nevada’s Sharepoint website under the “Cultural Resources-Shared Documents” tabs, then the “Guidelines” folder.
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:
Jane Freeman
Acting, DSD, Resources, Lands & Planning
Authenticated By:
Ellyn Darrah
Administrative Assistant