Department Spotlight: Cultural Resources
Cultural Resources Group Manager Beth Bagwell
Aspen’s Cultural Resources group is growing. Group Manager Dr. Beth Bagwell and her team of cultural resources specialists are Registered Professional Archaeologists who meet the Secretary of the Interior’s qualification criteria. The group offers a variety of services in the western United States and has in-house expertise in areas such as archaeological field work, mitigation planning, and compliance with regulations including Section 106 of the NHRA, NEPA, NAGPRA, and CEQA. The group members are proficient in a wide range of related disciplines and have used a cadre of specialized consultants as necessary to address unique project needs for a number of infrastructure projects. From the smallest survey to the largest programmatic document, the Aspen Cultural Resources group has the experience needed to identify practical solutions to cultural resources challenges.
Recent examples of the group’s work include drafting the Cultural Resources and Native American Interests chapters for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan EIR/EIS sponsored by the California Energy Commission, Bureau of Land Management, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. For this complex document, Aspen identified new directions to explore in the Native American Interests section and developed new methods for identifying Native Americans with Environmental Justice concerns.
Cultural Resources Specialist Evan Elliott
As part of a recent on-call contract with Western Power Administration’s Desert Southwest Region (DSW), Aspen completed more than 20 cultural resources task orders associated with transmission system maintenance activities in Arizona, California and Nevada. These task orders covered a wide range of cultural resources services from pedestrian survey to authoring an historic context covering all DSW facilities including approximately 3,300 miles of transmission lines and 95 substations. During one of the pedestrian surveys, Aspen revisited and re-evaluated 56 cultural resources sites for National Register of Historic Places eligibility along the Blythe–Headgate Rock and Parker–Blythe transmission lines. Most sites were prehistoric in age and ranged from a single trail segment to complex camps with trails, cleared areas, and geoglyphs.
The Aspen Cultural Resources group is looking forward to expanding and taking on new and exciting projects in the future. For more information about the kind of cultural resources services Aspen can provide, contact Beth Bagwell.