This is a report of findings from an American Indian Rapid Cultural Assessment that was conducted in 1997. The focus of the study is a location on the Nevada Test Site (NTS) where the Kistler Aerospace Corporation proposes to build a launch site for a communications satellite. As such, this is a rapid cultural assessment of Water Bottle Canyon on which construction is expected in the near future. The purpose of this study is to summarize American Indian cultural resources, as these exist on and near to site 26NY10133 and to consider potential mitigation strategies. This report is a summary of the cultural assessments made by members of the American Indian Writers Subgroup (AIWS) which is representing in this study the cultural resource interests of the 17 tribes and 3 Indian organizations that constitute the CGTO.

A government-to-government consultation between the Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) and the Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations (CGTO) focused on the interpretation and determination of eligibility for nomination to the National Register of Water Bottle Canyon. The consultation entailed a systematic ethnographic study of the cultural resources found in the Water Bottle Canyon area. The main goal of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural significance of this unique area for contemporary Indian people and its role in Numic cultural landscapes. During the field visits Native American consultants were interviewed with standardized survey instruments and they provided ethnographers with observations, comments, and recommendations regarding the various features found at Water Bottle Canyon. The project involved 10 tribes and one organization. They represent the Indian people who have aboriginal and historic ties to the lands currently under use by the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The study was originally funded as rapid cultural assessment for an environmental assessment for the proposed construction of a rocket launch facility by the Kistler Aerospace Corporation. This present report builds upon first study and the studies that have followed. The four studies expanded upon previous work conducted on the NTS and will contribute to the DOE/NV’s further understanding of and continued efforts to manage and protect American Indian cultural resources.

This government-to-government consultation between the Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office (DOE /NV) and the Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations (CGTO) focused on the interpretation of 10 rock art sites; seven on the Nevada Test Site (NTS), and three on the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office (YMSCO). The consultation entailed a systematic ethnographic study of petroglyphs, pictographs, and other rock art manipulations. The objective of the project was to gain an understanding of the cultural significance of rock art for contemporary American Indians and its place in their traditional cultural landscapes. Research activities involved visits to rock art sites by tribal elders and tribal cultural experts. During the field visits, Indian consultants responded to standardized interviews and provided observations, comments, and recommendations regarding each of the sites under study. The project involved 14 American Indian tribes and two Indian organizations that represent Indian people having aboriginal and historic ties to lands currently occupied by the NTS. The study was initiated as part of the overall DOE /NV American Indian Program, which includes a decade of project - specific and general consultation efforts. This study built upon previous efforts and contributed to DOE /NV's understanding of American Indian cultural resources on the NTS.

This is a report of cultural resource identifications, evaluations, and potential impact assessments made by the American Indian Rapid Cultural Assessment team (RCA) who represent the Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations (CGTO). The RCA team is composed of the American Indian Writers Subgroup (AIWS) who were selected by the CGTO to participate in the development of the Nevada Test Site Environmental Impact Statement (NTS EIS). The study was part of the on-going consultation program established between the Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) and the 17 American Indian tribes and 3 Indian organizations who have traditional and historic ties to DOE/NV managed lands. This study responded to two DOE/NV American Indian consultation activities (1) the recent site-wide environmental impact statement for the NTS and (2) Presidential Executive Order #13007 regarding American Indian sacred sites protection. The study was an outgrowth of the on-going DOE/NV American Indian Consultation Program. The RCA team was asked to visit three different study locales (1) Double Tracks; (2) Clean Slates 1, 2, and 3; and (3) Central Nevada Test Area. The first study locale is on the Nellis Air Force Range (NAFR), the second place located on the TTR, and the third locale involves small sections of land surrounded by Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands in Hot Creek Valley. At each location the DOE/NV conducted some type of testing activity, which resulted in either radioactivity or hazardous wastes becoming part of the site. The DOE/NV Environmental Restoration Division then conducted actions that resulted in the removal or isolation of wastes from these past activities.

This report presents the results of ethnographic fieldwork conducted at Timber Mountain Caldera (TMC) on the NTS. Volcanic in origin, the caldera is a geologic feature that was formed when a large volcano collapse thousands of years ago producing the large circular crater that exists today. Since that event, the caldera has experienced other volcanic eruptions making a complex topographic landscape. The ethnographic fieldwork (conducted in 2005) that forms the foundation of this report included official tribal representatives from the Owens Valley Paiute, Western Shoshone, and Southern Paiute ethnic groups. This report presents the findings of the tribal representatives’ visits to several sites in the TMC and the cultural value associated with it. These research findings are based upon interviews conducted with tribal representatives selected by the American Indian Writers Subgroup of the culturally affiliated Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations (CGTO).

This is a summary of findings from an American Indian rapid cultural assessment. As such, this is not a formal report. The text in this summary of findings has been prepared to fit directly into the Intermodal Environmental Assessment (IM EA). This summary of findings was prepared by a study team of Indian people directly from their own field observations. <p> The American Indian Transportation Committee (AITC) was formed in August of 1996 during a study of American Indian issues related to the transportation of Low-level Radioactive Waste to the Nevada Test Site. The AITC contained 9 members who were selected (with the approval of their respective governments) to represent the 29 tribes involved in the study (see Austin 1998:4). The AITC helped with all aspects of that study, they being deeply involved in developing culturally appropriate research methods, helping with the interviews, and closely reviewing the findings. Their efforts were finally presented in a report entitled Native Americans Respond to the Transportation of Low Level Radioactive Waste To the Nevada Test Site (September 1998) edited by Diane Austin.

This report summarizes a compliance consultation between the Department of Energy/ Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) and the American Indian tribes and Indian organizations that make up the Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations (CGTO). The consultation focused on artifacts removed from the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The report describes consultation actions and recommendations that occurred in compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

Seventeen American Indian tribes having traditional prehistoric or historic ties to lands within and in the vicinity of the NTS study area were invited to participate in this study. Their participation was in keeping with a Native American consultation process that has been developed over a period of seventeen years and has involved more than sixty tribes. Indian people participating in this study were asked to identify and make recommendations about cultural resources that are potentially impacted by the underground testing activities on Pahute and Rainier Mesas, on the Nevada Test Site (NTS). This report focuses on information collected on both ethnobiology and ethnoarchaeology. Data was collected through on-site interviews with officially appointed tribal representatives and through mail surveys. This study was conducted in compliance with the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) of 1978 (PL 95 -341) and was in keeping with Department of Energy (DOE) directives to be responsive to this and other laws regarding cultural resources located on DOE facilities. This study built upon previous Native American cultural resource consultation studies conducted on the Nevada Test Site.

This collection of essays addresses the history of Numic-speaking American Indians of the Great Basin–Colorado Plateau–Mohave Desert area since these lands passed into the sovereign control of the United States after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The goal of this study is to revisit historical processes and events that transformed the lives of these Americans so profoundly that their effects are still being felt today. The perspective of contemporary Indians who shared their views with the authors, wrote portions of this history, advised on its production, and reviewed its contents, informed the versions of history relayed throughout this book. The themes explored in this collection interweave oral histories, collected by the authors through interviews with Indian people, and data from primary archival sources and publications. The essays that follow represent a small sample of themes that concern Indian people, who believe that their values, opinions, and version of historical processes and events are seldom portrayed fairly, if at all, in Western literature. This preoccupation with telling their history is all the more relevant in the context of government–to–government consultation between American Indian tribes and federal agencies, wherein productive debates about land management and resource preservation issues hinge on a shared understanding of why the land and its resources are important to Indian people and how Indian people lost control over them. It is precisely under the auspices of such a shared understanding between the Nevada Test Site and Nellis Air Force Base and several Indian tribes and organizations from Nevada, California, Arizona, and Utah that this historical study was conducted.

This report presents the findings of a two-day Rapid Cultural Assessment (RCA) to assess potential impacts to resources important to American Indians from gravel road improvements associated with the Shoshone Mountain phase of the MNS Wind Farm Project on the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The study was conducted by the American Indian Writers Subgroup (AIWS), an official committee of the Consolidated Group of Tribes and Organizations (CGTO). The CGTO is composed of 16 tribes and 3 Indian organizations that have historic or cultural ties to the NTS. The work was facilitated by Dr. Stoffle from the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona (UofA). Funding was provided by DOE/NV.