CRM NOTES - OMAHA DISTRICT
May 21, 1998

The following is a report about on-going work in cultural resources program of Omaha District, Corps of Engineers respective to Native American concerns.

• Site Vandalism. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other Native American groups have expressed a great deal of concern about sites vandalized by looters who collect artifacts and human remains. To combat this problem we distributed a press release on April 17 to newspapers and radio stations along the Missouri River in North and South Dakota. We will reissue new press releases several times in a year.
  

• Bank Stabilization. Ed Brodnicki visited the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on May 12 and 13 to work with the Tribal Historic Preservation Office to select archaeological sites endangered by bank erosion for future vegetative bank stabilization. This system of bank stabilization consists of using willows and local vegetation in a bulwark fashion along the eroding bank to curb erosion. This method was attempted at Iron Nation on Lower Brule in May of 1996, during an Omaha District - Lower Brule - and South Dakota Association of Professional Archaeologists-sponsored workshop. LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, Rick Harnois, and Becky Otto looked at several sites in June of 1997. We were unable to locate a site for the bank stabilization workshop last year (1997) due to the high water. The problems with high water were twofold: either the willows were not available near an eroding National Register of Historic Places site or there was no beach to stand on to build the stabilization. Ed Brodnicki will visit Lower Brule on May 27 to meet with Scott Jones to consult about site selection for a similar program of bank stabilization.
  

• Working with Tribal Historic Preservation Officers. In the near future, we will be working together with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe to train tribal members as paraprofessional archaeologists. These paraprofessionals will perform many routine archaeological tasks on the Cheyenne River reservation in the future. We will train several tribal members in the field this summer. This fieldwork training will be followed by a program of classroom training for Cheyenne River this fall and winter. We are talking to Standing Rock about starting a similar program with their tribal members.
  

• Remote Sensing at the Whistling Elk. Kenneth Kvamme of Boston University will be at the Whistling Elk Site, 39HU242, from June 29 through July 3, 1998. He will use resistivity and magnatometry (methods of depicting site feature in situ without excavation) to make a map of the site. The site is located approximately 20 miles east of Pierre, South Dakota. We plan to visit the site and see a demonstration of these techniques on July 1 or July 2, 1998. If you are interested in viewing this technology in the field, please contact Becky Otto at 402-221-3070. Dennis Toom, University of North Dakota, plans to conduct a field school at this same site, from June 29 through July 10, 1998. The students will assist in mapping the site and will likely excavate a few 1 by 2 meter test excavation units to field check the date from the data printouts. These activities have been coordinated with Elgin Crow Breast of the Three Affiliated Tribes. As always, visitors are welcome throughout the process, although Kvamme recommends visiting on or after July 1 since the first few days will be spent setting up the site (there will not be much to see the first 2 days). Dennis Toom and Ken Kvamme will be working under a joint ARPA permit, issued by the Omaha District.
  

• Salvage Work at Jones Village. Craig Johnson, BRW in Minneapolis, plans to return to the Jones Village earthlodge village in mid-May. He will work to salvage features which are eroding out of the cutbank. This activity has also been coordinated with Elgin Crow Breast, Three Affiliated Tribes. Craig Johnson has an ARPA permit from the Omaha District. Visitors are welcome to this site to view the work that Johnson is conducting, however access is somewhat difficult. Craig Johnson explained that, while he will have a cell phone on site, it is not always reliable at that location. Should you wish to visit, please coordinate your planned trip with Marion Travis, Mobridge, SD. Mr. Travis can be reached by e-mail at or by phone at 605-845-3573. Mr. Travis will be in contact with Craig Johnson throughout the field session and can help you arrange transportation out to the site.
  

• Paleontological Inventory. Dr. James Martin, paleontologist at the SD School of Mines, plans to begin an inventory of Omaha District lands in South Dakota this year. He and/or his crews will be locating, identifying, and classifying paleontological specimens along the Missouri Trench. If you are aware of any areas with fossils, either vertebrates or invertebrates, please contact Dr. Martin at 605-394-2427 or -2426. His address is Museum of Geology, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 501 E. St. Joseph Street, Rapid City, SD 57701-3995.
  

• Other Items of Interest. The University of Missouri is conducting a field school at the Menoken site near Bismarck, North Dakota, from June 8 through July 7, 1998. Contact Fern Swenson, 701-328-3575, for additional information.
  

• The first 4 weeks of Dennis Toom's field school (June 1-26, 1998) will be conducted at a site along the James River, south of Montpelier, North Dakota. For more information, please contact Dennis Toom at 701-777-2437.
  

Signed Becky Otto