Hoopa Tribe 2017 Timber Sale

Location: Hoopa Valley, California
Client: Hoopa Tribe

The H Valley Tribe Forestry Division is proposed a sustainable Douglas fir timber harvest sale across thirty-five harvest units, covering 507 acres within the Hoopa Valley Tribe Reservation. The project entailed the creation or recontouring of ten miles of new logging roads, eleven landings or staging areas, the use of existing log roads, refurbishment of existing landings, and the use of a tractor and cable yarding system for harvest implementation. Standard mechanical and manual timber harvest techniques, including tractor yarding, end yarding, and full suspension systems, would be employed to remove these trees.

DZC Archaeology & Cultural Resource Management (DZC) was retained to complete a Cultural Resource Inventory Report (CRIR) to meet Hoopa Valley Tribe Forestry Division requirements, which are subject to NEPA/Section 106 and final review by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The archaeological scope of work required the following components: intensive pedestrian survey of 507 acres to be directly impacted by harvesting in the project area; a desktop evaluation of 860 acres that lie with 500-ft of the proposed harvest units; intensive pedestrian survey of 10 miles of existing roads; interviews of Hoopa Tribal Cultural Committee members for the purposes of clarifying resource or sacred spaces; review of previously recorded resources within the vicinity of the proposed harvest units; recordation of newly discovered resources; updates of resources within the cut units or buffers;

Furthermore, the contract required that the reporting and field work be a collaborative effort by which members of the Hoopa Tribe would be trained in archaeological survey techniques by the contractor and participate in the technical writing aspect as well. As a result of this survey, seven new archaeology sites were recorded. The deliverable, a Cultural Resource Inventory Report, was approved by both the THPO and the BIA without comment.

Feedback regarding the deliverable and the cooperative efforts were provided to DZC by the THPO. The Tribe had been utilizing the same incumbent for nearly 20 of the last 30 years for this annual work, and had departed from their usual contractor to award the work to DZC. The THPO stated that the Tribe was very pleased with the level of professionalism and especially the quality of the deliverable, which conveyed a higher level of detailed research and analysis than they had been receiving in recent years. As a result of this project, DZC maintains a very transparent and trustworthy relationship with the Hoopa Valley Tribe and is confident regarding future awards.