Cultural and Aesthetic ResourcesConceptual Model

ENR 4000/5000Fall 2009

Cember CrawleyDevon Reeser

Elizabeth WroeKit Freedman

Maggie BourqueRandy Wang

Thomas Gebes

Cultural and Aesthetic ResourcesTransWest Express Transmission Line

DriversConstruction Phase

Operation and Maintenance Phase

Resource CategoriesAesthetic Resources

Prehistoric ResourcesHistoric Resources

Ethnographic Resources

Construction Phase• Staging Area Development

– Storage of materials and fuels• Establish Access

– Access Roads– Clearing of sites for structures

• Tower Construction– Separate high voltage power lines from each

other and surroundings

Construction Phase• Substation Construction

– High voltages converted to low voltages for consumer use

• Conductor Stringing– Power lines

• Right Of Way (ROW) Restoration– Safety of margin between power lines and

surrounding structures/vegetation– Slow growing & low mature height

vegetationhttp://solareis.anl.gov/documents/docs/APT_61117_EVS_TM_08_4.pdf; http://solareis.anl.gov/guide/transmission/index.cfm

Operation & Maintenance Phase• Existence of Towers

– Maintenance causes Right of Way– Subsurface Disturbance– Property Value

• Effects observed approximately 50% of all cases (Gale, Cengage Learning, 2009)

Image: West-Side Energy Corridor Programmic EIS Information Center

Operation & Maintenance Phase

• Net Pollution– CO2 Emissions

– Corona Effect – Electronic and Magnetic Fields

• Human and Wildlife Impacts

Resource Categories

• Aesthetic• Prehistoric• Historic• Ethnographic

Aesthetic Resources• USFS Scenery Management System: “High quality scenery, especially scenery with natural-appearing landscapes, enhances people’s lives and benefits society” (Landscape Aesthetics: A Handbook for Scenery Management, 1995).

•BLM Visual Resource Management inventories aesthetic value to land.

Aesthetic Resources• Viewsheds

– Visual Resources– Sense of place – cultural identity

• Biodiversity– Influences visual

landscapes– Transformative value

http://www.naturalviewsphotography.net/images/onlinegallery/wildlife/antelope/Wyoming-Antelope.jpg

Prehistoric Resources• Time before sustained contact between Native

Americans and Euroamericans was established (Wolf, 2007)

• 6% of Wyoming has been surveyed – 87,000 prehistoric or historic sites have been recorded (Wolf 2007)

• Must have permit to disturb any prehistoric ruins, pictographs, hieroglyphics, other marking, writing or archaeological and paleontological deposits in the state (WYAA, 1935)

Prehistoric Resources

• Archaeological Resources– Any significant material remains of localities

of past human life or activity (ARPA 1979)

• Paleontological Resources– Fossilized remains traces or imprints of

organisms preserved in or on the Earths crust that provide information about history of life on earth (PRPA 2009)

The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA 1966) sets forth Government policy and procedures

regarding “historic properties” as

districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects included in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

A good NEPA analysis should consider impacts on these kinds of resources, and address the requirements of all historic preservation laws.

Historic Resources

Ethnographic Resources

Ethnographic sites and resources hold current cultural significance, and “are important in maintaining the

continuing cultural identification of a community.” (Parker and King, 1998)

Ethnographic Resources• Communities/Towns

– Established cultural and physical places that contain residential and/or commercial properties

• Land Use– Public: federal, state, or agency-owned land

used for recreation, tourism, and/or resource extraction

– Private: lands used for personal livelihood or residence (ranchers, private estates)

Ethnographic Resources• Health and Safety

– Environmental and cultural impacts as they relate to quality of life• Air/Water quality• Crime

• Native American Cultural Sites– Currently significant landscapes and sites– Archeological sites that retain contemporary

significance – Vision quest locations, sacred places (tipi rings)

Conceptual Model

ReferencesArchaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, Pub. L. 96-95, 96 th Cong., October 31, 1979.

Bureau of Land Management. (2009) Visual Resource Management. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from Web site: http://www.blm.gov/nstc/VRM/.

Electric Transmission and Transmission Facilities. Retrieved October 11, 2009, from Solar Energy Development Programmatic EIS Information Center Web Site: http://solareis.anl.gov/guide/transmission/index.cfm

Environmental Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory. (2007). The Design, Construction, and Operation of Long-Distance High-Voltage Electricity Transmission Technologies. Retrieved October 11, 2009 from Solar Energy Development Programmatic EIS Information Center Web Site: http://solareis.anl.gov/documents/docs/APT_61117_EVS_TM_08_4.pdf

Gale, Cengage Learning, Initials. (2009). High Voltage Transmission Lines: Proximity, Visibility, and Encumbrance Effects. Entrepreneur, Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/205745757_1.html

Kelly, M. (1998) Encyclopedia of Aesthetics. New York: Oxford University Press.

Kuykendall, Nate. (2003). Ethnographic Applications in National Park Planning and Management. DSC Planning and Site Division Branch. http://www.nps.gov/ethnography/training/TAPS/applications.htm (10 October 2009).

Lower Colorado River Authority, LCRA. (2009, August 28). Line maintenance. Retrieved from http://www.lcra.org/energy/trans/line_maintenance.html

Mujcic, Suljanovic, Zajc, Tasic, A, N, M, J.F. (2003). Corona Noise on a 400 kV Overhead Powerline: Measurement and Computer Modeling. Electrical Engineering, 86(2), Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/dqrj6nvxhj2h0pvd/ doi: 10.1007/s00202-003-0184-4

National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, Pub. L 89-665, 89 th Cong., October 15, 1966.

ReferencesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIEHS. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, (2009). Electric &

Magnetic Fields 111 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC USA 27709: Retrieved from http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/emf/

Paleontological Resources Preservation Act, Omnibus Public Lands Act, Section D., Pub. L. 111-011, 111th Cong., March 30, 2009.

Parker, Patricia and Thomas King. (1998). Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Traditional Cultural Properties. U.S. National Park Service Bulletin #38.

Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, PSC. Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, (n.d.). Environmental Impacts of Transmission Lines Wisconsin: Retrieved from http://psc.wi.gov/thelibrary/publications/electric/electric10.pdf

Schoepfle, Mark. (2003). The Ethnographic Resources Inventory: How NPS Integrates Ethnography Nationally and Locally. U.S. National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/ethnography/training/TAPS/ERI.htm (10 October 2009).

Takacs, D. (1996) Philosophies of Paradise. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press

US Department of Agriculture, US Forest Service. (1995) Landscape Aesthetics: A Handbook for Scenery Management. Retrieved October 10, 2009, from Web site: http://naldr.nal.usda.gov/NALWeb/Agricola_Link.asp?Accession=CAT11132970.

West-Side Energy Corridor Programmic EIS Information Center, Initials. West-Side Energy Corridor Programmic EIS Information Center, (n.d.). Transmission line and right-of-way Retrieved from http://corridoreis.anl.gov/guide/photos/photo1.html

Wolf, J.K. (Ed.). (2007). On the Road to Preservation: Wyoming’s Comprehensive Statewide Historic Preservation Plan. Cheyenne, WY: Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

Wyoming Antiquities Act. Wyo. L. 36-1-114, 1935.