Phase I Archaeological Survey of the Big Rock Stream Restoration Tract in Mason County, KY

This proposal has been prepared in response to a request from Mr. Scott Fennell of the Northern Kentucky University Center for Environmental Restoration (NKU-CER; the Client) for a proposal and cost estimate for conducting Phase I archaeological survey of the proposed Big Rock Stream Restoration Tract in Mason County, Kentucky. About 70,000 linear feet of stream courses are involved in the project, and these will be subjected to various stream restoration tasks including, preservation, stream rehabilitation, and stream re-establishment. The Big Rock tract (project area) measures about 960 acres (389 ha) in extent and is located about 1.0 km southeast of the city of Maysville, Kentucky. The tract is a former ATV park, and multiple ATV trails traverse the property, contributing to erosion in upland settings and unwanted sedimentation in valley settings. The tract includes portions of two permanent streams—Kennedy Creek and Sleepy Hollow—as well as surrounding sideslopes and uplands within these drainages. Both streams flow generally northward to meet the Ohio River some 1.0 km north of the project area. Various portions of both uplands and stream valleys will be directly affected by the proposed stream restoration work, and will therefore require archaeological survey. Other areas that have high archaeological potential, in particular upland ridge crests that have not been impacted by ATV traffic, also will require systematic archaeological survey so that the ultimate landowners of the Big Rock Tract (Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources) can more effectively manage the land and preserve known and potentially significant cultural resources. The work that will be conducted will conform to the Kentucky Heritage Council’s Specifications for Conducting Fieldwork and Preparing Cultural Resource Assessment Reports (revised 2006). The Phase I archaeological survey will provide an inventory of the cultural resources within the investigated portions of the project area and will provide preliminary evaluations of the research potential of each cultural resource (archaeological site) identified and of each site’s eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). An archaeological site is any location on the landscape that produces artifacts more than 50 years old from intact deposits. Agricultural activities alone do not constitute disturbance of a site under current guidelines.