Archaeology Services Leader EDR Rochester, New York
Presentation Description: Impacts on cultural resources (i.e., archaeological sites and historic properties) can result in critical risks for renewable energy development projects. Developing proactive, project-specific strategies for identifying and mitigating cultural resource impacts early in the permitting and development process can help to manage those risks and reduce the likelihood of agency or stakeholder interventions. In addition, thoughtful engagement with local stakeholders and/or agency staff concerned about historic properties can yield genuine public relations and community benefits. This poster presentation will recommend best practices and lessons learned drawing on case studies from cultural resources review of solar and wind projects in the northeast. Topics will include strategies for State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and Native American Nations outreach, the use of archaeological sensitivity models and viewshed analyses to negotiate reasonable scopes of work for cultural resources surveys, and approaches to cultural resources mitigation that have resulted in the successful resolution of stakeholder concerns for projects with significant archaeology and/or historic properties impacts.
