An Eligibility Testing Plan for Sites in the Fannin-McFarland and Tucson Aqueducts, Central Arizona Project Canal, Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima Counties, Arizona

In an effort to better manage cultural resources on Reclamation land, PXAO has developed an archaeological site database for the CAP canal. The database was developed using all the previous main stem survey data; however, the Register eligibility status of the majority of these sites was unknown following completion of the CAP. Additionally, an unknown number of sites were either destroyed by construction or excavation, while others are no longer within Reclamation’s CAP right-of-way (ROW). PXAO has been updating its database and conducted consultation with the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in 2015, seeking to resolve the eligibility status of sites within the CAP ROW. Following this consultation, the SHPO and PXAO agreed that based on the assessment data provided, further work was required on 117 sites along the Fannin-McFarland and Tucson Aqueducts. ACS revisited the 117 sites in 2016.
Eligibility for 27 sites could not be evaluated. This group includes sites that could not be relocated within the CAP ROW due to misplotting, destruction in the ROW, or were found outside the ROW. This group also includes three sites whose components within the ROW are not contributing to the site’s eligibility. Ten of the 27 sites that could not be evaluated for eligibility based on their surface manifestations are recommended for testing. Eligibility testing is recommended for these 10 sites and this document presents a Plan for eligibility testing.