Managing the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project: A Federal Archaeologist's Perspective

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project: A Multivocal Analysis of the San Juan Basin as a Cultural Landscape" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 authorized Reclamation to construct the Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project (NGWSP) to provide a long-term water supply to the Navajo Nation, the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, and the City of Gallup. This project was subsequently expedited as the DOIs highest priority infrastructure project by Presidential Memorandum making it an out of the ordinary compliance project. The NGWSP goal of fulfilling long-outstanding water rights claims is complicated by the location and the density of the archaeological resources in the Greater Chaco Landscape. Being a congressionally mandated project brings additional complications to the large project such as determined starting and completion dates that have to be met as well as budget caps. Additional unique challenges are faced when constructing a project in a sovereign nation, as there is mixed land status, but the majority is on Navajo Nation land. Reclamation has made a concerted effort to manage this project with archaeological best practices with a high level of involvement with descendant communities. This project is a prime example of the unique challenges that federal cultural resource managers can face, and this paper is intended to give guidance for professionals who find themselves facing similar situations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project: A Multivocal Analysis of the San Juan Basin as a Cultural Landscape   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23738