2The eight archaeological sites subjected to unauthorized damage on May 10, 2014 arelocated in the bottom of Recapture canyon along an OHV trail illegally constructed there earlier.(All references to the "existing trail." or the "existing OHV trail" in subsequent sections of thisreport are to this illegally constructed trail.) Recapture Canyon and the trail through it run roughlynorth south and for most of their length are parallel to Utah State Highway 191. On their north andsouth ends, the canyon and the trail can be accessed by graded dirt roads. The total length of thetrail between the closure points is approximately eight miles. Its' average width is around six feet,but it is narrower in some locations and wider in others. Because the trail follows the naturaltopography of the canyon, it has both relatively level sections as well as steep portions. As isdiscussed further below, soil in this area derives from stone content of the local geologicalformation and the surface of the trail tends to be rocky in most locations. This type of terraintypically appeals to OHV users and, as will be shown later, OHV use is a popular recreationalactivity in the area where the trail is located.

Recapture Canyon was heavily utilized by Ancestral Pueblo people during the pre-European contact period, referred to by archaeologists as the "prehistoric" period, and the trailcrosses a number of prehistoric archaeological sites, including the eight sites damaged by theunauthorized May 10, 2014 trail ride. Prior use of the trail by OHV's, as well as other uses of thetrail, particularly by hoofed animals, caused damage to these sites. The BLM administrativelyclosed the trail to use by OHV's as a result of significant unauthorized damage to archaeologicalsites in the canyon caused by users of OHV's in 2007. (The archaeological damage assessment forthe 2007 OHV damage in Recapture Canyon was the subject of a contract from BLM with the firmof Archaeological Resource Investigations, as ADIA was known prior to 2010; see McAllister andWheeler 2007 and McAllister and Wheeler 2008).

The damage to archaeological resources that is the subject of this report resulted from theMay 10, 2014 unauthorized OHV ride through the northern portion of the canyon. In an article thatappeared in the Salt Lake City Tribune on May 11, 2014, the OHV ride was described as follows:

Blanding residents along with out-of-town supporters on Saturday drove all-terrain vehiclesinto Recapture Canyon, an area rich in prehistoric sites the Bureau of Land Managementclosed to motorized use seven years ago ... [A]t least 50 OHVs carrying multiple riders ...motored across an invisible line in the dust ... beyond which the canyon is off limits ...(http://wvvw.sltrib.com/sltribinews/57909181-78/canyon-amp-blm-federal.html.csp)

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3ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCE LOCATION

Land Status

The eight archaeological sites in Recapture Canyon damaged by the May 10, 2014unauthorized OHV trail ride are located on BLM managed federal public land in the vicinity ofBlanding, Utah (see Figure 1). The "Definitions" section of ARPA defines "public lands" asfollows:

The term "public lands" means:

(A) lands which are owned and administered by the United States as part of:(i) the national park system,(ii) the national wildlife refuge system, or(iii) the national forest system; and

(B) all other lands the fee title to which is held by the United States, other than lands onthe Outer Continental Shelf and lands which are under the jurisdiction of theSmithsonian Institution (16 USC 470bb(3)).

The land on which these eight archaeological sites are located meets the (B) component ofthis definition of public (federal) lands. Because public lands are subject to the provisions of theprohibited acts section of ARPA cited above, the archaeological resources at these sites areprotected by ARPA.

Location, General Description, and Physical Setting of Project Area

The legal descriptions of the locations of the eight sites damaged by the May 10, 2014unauthorized OHV trail ride are as follows:

Township: 36 South, Range: 23 East, Sections: 19 and 31 (four of the sites and the northernportion of one site); and

Township: 37 South, Range: 23 East, Section: 6 (the southern portion of one site and threeof the sites).

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4!

Steep Hil

Brown's Canyon'Site

Steep Hill \JSite A

iBeav,er Pond(Site -

Boulder Rockfall- 'Site

1110 ' 1 , North End

eSite A

..f,,North EndSite B

,1 Above the Rocky* Drainage Site

. ljedge,Aichitecture

-*-Ledge ArchitectureSite'13 !

Steep,HilSite E

, Steep HillSite D

HillSite B

cn

Archaeological Site

MilesNE MM

0.5 1Kilometers

ME=11.11E=0 0.8 1.6Service Layer Credits: CapyrightA 2013 NationalGeographic Society, I-cubed

Figure 1: Recapture Canyon Archaeological Damage Assessment Project Location Map.

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5The sites are located in Recapture Canyon, approximately 2.5 miles east of Blanding.Recapture Canyon is a portion of the north to south trending drainage course of Recapture Creek.Recapture Creek begins in the Abajo Mountains approximately 14 miles north of the site area and,prior to the modem period, would have drained into the San Juan River located approximately 22miles to the south near Bluff, Utah. The creek was dammed in the 1980's at the point where StateHighway 191 crosses this drainage approximately three miles northeast of Blanding. This damcreated Recapture Reservoir on the north side of the highway and the stream flow in the creekbelow the dam is now only intermittent.

Recapture Canyon is relatively wide (approximately 2,000 feet) just below the darn andhighway crossing, but narrows to widths of less than 1,000 feet as the creek flows southward. Thesites damaged by the unauthorized OHV trail ride are located in a segment of the canyon thatbegins approximately four miles south of Recapture Reservoir, just south of where the existingtrail was closed administratively by the BLM, and is approximately three miles in length. Twonamed tributary drainages intersect the canyon from the west in this area, Lem's Draw andBrown's Creek. Elevations in the area where the sites are located range from 5,960 feet on thenorth end to 5,530 feet on south end.

Geologically, this southeastern portion of Utah drains most of the Utah portion of theColorado Plateau as well as the east drainages of the Wasatch Plateau and southern drainages ofthe Tavaputs Plateau. The portion of Recapture Canyon where the sites damaged by theunauthorized trail ride are located falls within the Morrison Formation that was formed in theUpper Jurassic. It includes limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone (Harshbarger et al. 1957).This portion of Recapture Canyon is near the contact zone of the Great Basin Desert Scrub andGreat Basin Conifer Woodland biotic communities (Brown 1994). Vegetation observed at the sitesdamaged by the unauthorized OHV trail ride included Pinyon pine, Juniper, Yucca, Sage andvarious grasses.

The canyon is currently heavily wooded and vegetated and undoubtedly was in earliertimes also. This narrow sheltered canyon with its water source created by Recapture Creek and itsgood supply of wood and other usable types of vegetation was an ideal location for habitation anduse by prehistoric Ancestral Pueblo people and it contains a number of archaeological sites fromthat period.

FIELD DAMAGE ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES

The field damage assessment procedures for this project were conducted from Monday, May19 through Thursday, May 22, 2014. (Project personnel travel to and from the project area took placeon Sunday, May 18 and Friday, May 23, 2014.) Weather during the field damage assessment periodvaried only slightly from clear, sunny, and breezy to high clouds and breezy and with warntemperatures.

ADIA personnel participating in the field damage assessment procedures on all four fielddays were Martin E. McAllister, MA, RPA, Archaeologist / Owner, James E. Moriarty, IV,Archaeologist / Investigator, and David E. Griffel, Investigator. All damage areas involved in theproject were documented using 3D laser scanning (to be discussed further below) conducted bythe firm of LandAir Surveying Company of Roswell, Georgia. LandAir Survey Company project

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6crew members were Brandon O'Kelley and Bo Dyer. McAllister, Moriarty, Griffel, O'Kelley, andDyer were the primary project staff members for the field damage assessment procedures.Logistical assistance was provided by various BLM staff members during different days.

As per BLM contract requirements, damage was documented at eight (8) archaeological sitesduring the field damage assessment procedures (see Figure 1 and Table 1). On Monday, May 19through Wednesday, May 21, a trail called the "Brown's Canyon Trail" was used by project personnelto access seven of these sites, those referred to here as the Brown's Canyon Trail Site, the BeaverPond Site, the Steep Hill Site, the Ledge Architecture Site, the Above the Rocky Drainage Site, theNorth End Site, and the Boulder Rockfall Site. The trailhead for this trail is located east of StateHighway 191 on the southeastern edge of Blanding. It joins the Recapture Canyon trail approximatelyone-third of the distance from the northern end of the trail. The northernmost site in the project area,referred to here as the Trail End Site, was accessed on Thursday, May 22 using the road that runssouth of State Highway 191 from the Recapture Reservoir just north of Blanding. This road ends atthe northern closure point of the Recapture Canyon trail.

Table 1. Summary Findings of May 19-22, 2014 ADIA2014 Unauthorized Damage to Eight Sites in Recapture

Site Name andNumberTrail End Site;42SA29895

ArchaeologicalResourcesDamagedOne stone linedcist

Boulder Rockfall One stone linedSite; 42SA30999 cist

North End Site; Two midden42SA27008 areas

Above the RockyDrainage Site;42SA29889

LedgeArchitecture Site;42SA29890

One stone linedcist

One surfaceartifact scatterand one possiblearchaeologicalcharcoal stain

Field Damage Assessment Procedures for May 10,Canyon, Utah.

Type of DamageAlteration of the archaeologicalcontext of the cist and damage toassociated archaeologicalresources in the portion of traildriven over at the cist locationAlteration of the archaeologicalcontext of the cist and damage toassociated archaeologicalresources in the portion of traildriven over at the cist locationAlteration of the archaeologicalcontext of the midden areas anddamage to associatedarchaeological resources in theportion of the trail driven over atthe midden locationsAlteration of the archaeologicalcontext of the cist and damage toassociated archaeologicalresources in the portion of traildriven over at the cist locationAlteration of the archaeologicalcontext of the artifact scatter anddamage to associatedarchaeological resources,including the charcoal stain, inportion of the trail driven over atthe artifact scatter location

Number ofDamageAreas1

Total SurfaceArea of AllPotential Damage123.86 square feet

Depth ofDamage Could not bedetermined

1 91.77 square feet Could not bedetermined

2(designatedA and B)

1

2(designatedA and B)

A: 198.28 square Could not befeet; B: 408.02 determinedsquare feet(Total: 606.30square feet)

147.50 square feet Could not bedetermined

A: 346.10 square Could not befeet; B: 505.73 determinedsquare feet(Total: 851.83square feet)

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7Table 1 continued: Summary Findings of May 19-22, 2014 ADIA Field Damage Assessment Procedures forMay 10, 2014 Unauthorized Damage to Eight Sites in Recapture Canyon, Utah.

Archaeological Number of Total SurfaceSite Name and Resources Damage Area of All Depth ofNumber Damaged Type of Damage Areas Potential Damage Damage Steep Hill Site; One midden area; Alteration of the archaeological 5 A: 665.70 square Could not be42SA29893 one possible context of all of these features (designated feet; B: 414.48 determined

stone lined cist; and artifacts and damage to A, B, C, D, square feet; C:three charcoal associated archaeological and E) 280.60 squarestains; two stone resources in the portions of the feet; D: 311.35grinding slab trail driven over at their square feet; E:fragments; one locations 158.02 square feetfire cracked rock; (Total: 1,830.15four pottery square feet)sherds

Beaver Pond Site; One surface Alteration of the archaeological 1 925.67 square feet Could not be42SA26998 artifact scatter context of the artifact scatter and determined

damage to associatedarchaeological resources in theportion of the trail driven over atthe artifact scatter location

Brown's Canyon 1 stone lined cist Alteration of the archaeological 1 187.32 square feet Could not beTrail Site; context of the cist and damage to determined42SA31000 associated archaeological

resources in the portion of traildriven over at the cist location

All Sites Total SurfaceArea of Damage:4,764.40 squarefeet

Four specific operations were conducted during the field damage assessment procedures ateach of the eight damaged sites:

1) The sites were examined by McAllister, Moriarty, and Griffel using initial post-damagedocumentation provided by the BLM and damage areas were identified (when more than onedamage area existed at a site, a sequential letter designation was assigned to each, such as"Damage Area A" and "Damage Area B"; BLM Monticello Field Office Archaeologist LairdNaylor provided valuable assistance to ADIA project personnel in identifying damage at sixof the eight sites on Monday, May 19 based on his extensive experience with the archaeologyof Recapture Canyon and the archaeological sites present there);

2) McAllister took field notes on the damage areas at the sites, assisted by Moriarty;

3) Griffel photographed the damage areas at the sites in the condition they were in at that timeusing the ADIA Canon 60D digital single lens reflex camera and Canon EF-S 18-135mm1:3.5-5.6 IS lens (all digital photographs at the sites were taken with this camera and lens); and

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