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Protecting More Than the Landscape: The Cultural Resource Review Process
Note: We encourage those interested in cultural resources to visit abenakination.com to learn more about the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, who have shaped the cultural and environmental landscape of Franklin County and surrounding areas for thousands of years.
When we think about conservation, we often think about what we can see: a stream winding through a field, a wetland holding back floodwaters, a forest providing wildlife habitat, or a newly planted riparian buffer taking root along a river.
But landscapes can hold another kind of history—one that may not be visible at the surface.
Beneath our feet and within the buildings, stone walls, roads, fields, and forests around us are clues to the people who have lived, worked, traveled, and cared for these places for thousands of years. Protecting these cultural resources is an important part of responsible conservation work. That is why some conservation and restoration projects in Vermont include a cultural resource review before work begins.
What is a cultural resource?
Cultural resources are places, structures, objects, landscapes, and archaeological sites that can tell us about the past. In Vermont, this can include historic buildings and structures, historic landscapes, and archaeological sites.
Vermont's archaeological record stretches back nearly 13,000 years and contains evidence of generations of people and their relationships with the landscape. Archaeological sites can provide information about settlement, transportation, trade, agriculture, industry, subsistence, and many other aspects of the past.
Some cultural resources are easy to recognize, such as a historic farmhouse or cemetery. Others may be much less obvious. Archaeological resources can be buried beneath soil and may leave little or no visible evidence on the landscape. This is one reason cultural resource review is important when a project involves ground disturbance.
Why does this matter for conservation projects?
Conservation work often involves changing or disturbing the landscape in some way. Installing a culvert, excavating for a stormwater practice, constructing a trail, planting a large restoration area, or stabilizing a streambank can all involve digging or moving soil.
Before that work happens, it is important to understand what may already be there. Cultural resource review helps project planners identify historic and archaeological resources that could potentially be affected by a proposed project. It also creates an opportunity to adjust project plans when necessary to avoid or minimize impacts.
In Vermont, the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation (VDHP) serves as the State Historic Preservation Office, or SHPO. VDHP reviews projects for their potential effects on historic buildings and structures, historic districts, landscapes and settings, and known or potential archaeological resources.
The process is intended to happen early in project planning. VDHP specifically encourages applicants to contact the Division early and often, so potential concerns can be addressed before a project is underway.
So, what actually happens?
While every project is different, cultural resource review generally starts with understanding the project itself.
Project planners provide information about what they are proposing to do, where the work will occur, how much ground will be disturbed, and what buildings, structures, or other resources are located within or near the project area.
The project review is submitted through CHAMP—the Cultural and Historic Architectural and Archaeological Management Program. This online system allows applicants and consultants to submit project information and supporting materials to VDHP. Required materials can include a project description, location and site maps, project plans, photographs, and available archaeological or historic building reports.
One important concept in this process is the Area of Potential Effects (APE). The APE identifies the area where a project could potentially affect historic properties. For some projects, this may closely follow the physical limits of construction; for others, potential effects can extend beyond the immediate area of ground disturbance. For projects that involve heavy machinery, the APE typically includes construction staging and access areas, as well as designated fill disposal sites.
Looking at what is already known
Before anyone starts digging, researchers can learn a great deal from existing information.
Vermont maintains the Vermont Archaeological Inventory (VAI), which contains records of known archaeological sites and related project documentation. The State also maintains extensive records of historic properties through its historic resource survey and the Online Resource Center.
Researchers may examine historic maps, previous archaeological studies, photographs, property records, environmental information, and other documentation to understand the history and archaeological sensitivity of a project area.
Vermont also has an archaeological predictive model that can be used as an initial tool for evaluating the potential sensitivity of an area. Importantly, the State describes this model as a coarse filter, rather than a substitute for a complete archaeological investigation. Because Vermont’s Indigenous peoples have used the region’s rivers and lakes as primary travel corridors for thousands of years, a project’s proximity to surface waters has a significant influence on its potential archaeological sensitivity. As a result, conservation projects, such as floodplain restorations, are often flagged as potentially sensitive under Vermont’s predictive model.
When more investigation is needed
Sometimes the existing information provides enough information for VDHP to determine that additional archaeological work is not necessary. In other cases, the project area may have a higher potential for archaeological resources, particularly when proposed work will disturb previously undisturbed soils.
A project may then require an Archaeological Resource Assessment (ARA) or additional archaeological investigation. If a more detailed investigation is needed, a Phase I archaeological survey may be recommended. Phase I investigations are generally intended to identify archaeological resources within a project area and determine whether additional investigation may be necessary. This work is conducted by qualified archaeological professionals.
Depending on the project, archaeological fieldwork can involve methods such as background research, pedestrian surveys, shovel testing, mapping, and documentation. The methods used are determined by the project's circumstances and the requirements established during the review process.
What happens if something is found?
Finding an archaeological resource does not necessarily mean that a conservation project has to stop.
Instead, the discovery becomes part of the consultation process. Project planners, archaeological professionals, VDHP, and other appropriate parties can work together to determine what the resource is, how significant it may be, and whether the project can be redesigned to avoid or minimize impacts.
In many cases, avoiding archaeological resources is the preferred approach. A project might be adjusted by moving the location of a practice, changing the footprint of an excavation, or using a different construction approach. The goal is to balance the project's purpose with the protection of cultural resources.
The test pit dug during the Phase 1 investigation and the sifted soil from the pit. The soil is sifted to search for artifacts.
Consulting with Indigenous Peoples
It is important to consider the potential sociocultural and ethical ramifications of the ground disturbance associated with conservation projects and archaeological investigations, including the harm it may cause local Indigenous peoples. FCNRCD recommends that project implementers build trust with local Indigenous peoples in the area to include them in the cultural resources process if they so choose.
In Vermont, there are four state-recognized tribes:
In addition, the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, while federally recognized in the State of Wisconsin, historically occupied a large territory in the northeastern United States that included portions of southern Vermont.
Oftentimes, the cultural resources being investigated throughout this process predate European settlement in Vermont and therefore belong to this land’s original peoples.
Conservation is often about thinking long-term.
When we restore a stream, protect a wetland, plant a riparian buffer, or improve stormwater management, we are thinking about how today's decisions will affect the landscape years or even generations from now.
Cultural resource review asks us to consider another part of that long-term perspective: What stories and resources from the past are already part of this landscape, and how can we protect them while improving the land for the future?
For conservation organizations like FCNRCD, that perspective is especially meaningful. The landscapes we work to protect are not simply ecological systems. They are places where people have lived, worked, traveled, farmed, gathered, and built communities for generations.
Protecting clean water, healthy soils, wildlife habitat, and historic and archaeological resources can all be part of being a good steward of the same place. Sometimes conservation means looking at what is growing above the ground. Sometimes it means looking at what is flowing through the soil. And sometimes, before we put a shovel in the ground, it means taking the time to understand what may be waiting beneath our feet.
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