Cultural Resources Survey of 34 Acres Along Fossil Creek

USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

Cultural Resources Survey of 34 Acres Along Fossil Creek

Summary

At the request of the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted an intensive cultural resources survey of approximately 34.4 acres to provide an inventory and assessment of cultural resources that might be affected by the proposed undertaking. The Central Arizona Project (CAP) conveys Colorado River water through a 336–mile– long system of pumping plants, aqueducts, dams, and reservoirs. In 2001, the Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that interbasin water transfer through the CAP adversely affects several endangered fish. In that opinion, canal systems using CAP–supplied water and associated irrigation releases to the rivers of the Gila River basin were identified as principal routes by which nonnative species could move from the CAP to the Gila River and its tributaries. The opinion also identified a number of conservation measures; these included construction and operation of a single drop–type fish barrier in Fossil Creek and other specified drainage systems of the Gila River basin in Arizona and New Mexico. To accomplish this task a concrete barrier was constructed in the floodplain along Fossil Creek. The current project surveyed approximately 34.4 acres of land located along the creek. A crew of up to ten laborers camped in the project area and constructed the fish barrier in the Fossil Creek Drainage. The project area lies north of the confluence with the Verde River, on the west side of Fossil Creek, south of the Irving Power Plant site in the Mazatzal Mountains in central Arizona and includes the northern portion or the Mazatzal Wilderness.