The Curlew Kai Community is proposing to upgrade its water system by adding two new reservoirs and new air vac locations. The area of potential effect (APE) covers approximately 1.0 acre. The reservoirs, each 30 feet in diameter and holding approximately 100,000 gallons, will be built adjacent to the existing well house. The installation of the reservoirs and necessary connection to the system will take place within an approximately 60 x 100 foot area.
Pre-field research revealed 19 cultural resources. None of these sites are located within the Project Area; however, the abundance of cultural resources concentrated around Lake Curlew supports the “very high risk” designation for encountering cultural resources provided by the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation’s predictive model for the Project Area.
The fieldwork included inspection techniques to identify both surface and subsurface archaeological resources. The pedestrian survey of the Curlew Kai Water Project did not identify any new cultural materials or features; however, shovel probing resulted in the recording of a pre-contact isolate. The artifact is a basalt thumbnail scraper. Radial shovel probes placed 3 m to the north, east, and south of this artifact were negative. Isolated finds such as this indicate past use of a location or the area. Thus, Plateau recommends archaeological monitoring for ground disturbance activities at the reservoir site. The ground disturbing work should be done under the guidance of an Inadvertent Discovery Plan (IDP). Provided an IDP is in place, Plateau does not recommend monitoring at the location of the air vac sites.
Location: Ferry County, Washington
