Case History — Obtaining Unit Wide Archeological Clearance to Speed Up Federal APD Approvals

Abstract

When an extensive amount of oil or gas exploration is projected for a homogenous area which apparently contains a low cultural resource density, a sample survey of the area can be utilized to identify and define environmental variables associated with cultural site presence. Through the implementation of a large scale sampling study, the archeologist can determine those topographic features and vegetation zones containing high to low resource density and can provide the developer with archeological clearance recommendations based upon the site sensitivity of specific environments. This procedure can reduce the need for archeological evaluations in the area by concentrating future examinations in those localities where environmental factors indicate a moderate to high potential for cultural site presence. The Archeological-Environmental Research Corporation (AERC) has successfully utilized this technique on several large areas in the overthrust belt region of northeastern Utah.