This is part of a biannual blog series highlighting the agreement documents executed by PA SHPO in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and its implementing regulations.

As we’ve discussed in past blogs, the Section 106 process requires consideration of resources that are affected by federal projects. However, it is not always possible to accommodate the needs of the project while preserving the historic resource. When a historic property is adversely affected, the preservation outcome can be mitigation which is meant to be a preservation outcome that offsets the loss of the resource.

Between July 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024, the PA SHPO was a signatory to 12 Section 106 agreements with six agencies as part of consultation to resolve adverse effects to historic properties.

Here are two examples:

In March 2024, the PA SHPO, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and Glacial Sand & Gravel Company executed an agreement with avoidance and mitigation measures for an archaeological site in Lawrence County. One stipulation of the mitigation is for laboratory analyses of an obsidian artifact to determine the geologic source and age of this artifact.

Deep square hole in the ground surrounded by grass.

Test unit from the Phase II archaeological investigations at the Lawrence County site. Photo from Phase II report submitted by Thomas R. Baker, PhD.

Obsidian does not naturally occur in the eastern United States, so this analysis will potentially provide a rare look at when and from where people moved one specific item over a very long distance. The results of this analysis and the archaeological investigations at the site will be presented at an upcoming Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology annual meeting.

As mitigation for the removal of the High Falls Creek Culvert, a contributing feature to the Delaware Canal, the PA SHPO, the Friends of the Delaware Canal, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the National Park Service, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation  (DCNR) executed an agreement that includes 1) Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)-level recordation of the remaining portions of the culvert prior to removal and 2) historic resource inventory update for the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal.

Two people walk along a dirt path next to a narrow body of water.

Look south along the Delaware Canal from Buckstone Bridge, Bucks County. Photo by April Frantz, PA DCNR.

The National Historic Landmark documentation for the canal was prepared in the 1970s. The inventory will be used for project planning and future management of the canal, a state park operated by DCNR.