Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU)

Historical Ecology to Understand Human Responses to Environmental and Climate Change: Research, National Register Nomination, and Public Interpretation of Two Archeological Sites at Redwood National Park

Project ID: P19AC00898

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Partner Institution: Washington State University

Fiscal Year: 2019

Initial Funding: $33,457

Total Funding: $33,457

Project Type: Research

Project Disciplines: Interdisciplinary

National Park: Redwood National Park

Principal Investigator: Tushingham, Shannon

Agreement Technical Representative: Peterson, Michael

Abstract: The public benefits of this project include providing new data and synthesis on historic archeological and ecological aspects from two cultural sites in Redwood National Park. New interpretative materials including digital and audio-visual information will be produced for NPS public interpretation programs describing shifts in human settlement and subsistence patterns over time due to shifts in the climatic and non-Native population pressures. Project information will also be used to update the National Register Nomination Forms for these sites. WSU students will gain knowledge of audio-visual media productions by conducting audio-visual media production work for interpretive purposes. Other students will receive training in preparing and updating National Register Nomination Forms, cataloguing artifacts, and preparing artifacts for accessing in the REDW curation facility. Publicly available products include a technical report, updated National Register of Historic Places records, a Science Brief, a paper suitable for submission to a peer-review journal, and presentations at public venues and professional society meetings.
B. Objectives

Investigators from WSU and NPS staff will collaborate to accomplish the following specific objectives:

● Compile all information and data derived from past investigations at cultural sites CA-DNO-14 and CA-DNO-15 into one report.
● Write a technical report that will summarize all previous archeological investigations and ethnographic documentations derived from these aforementioned sites, and relate this information to inland cultural site locations.
● Update the National Register Nomination Forms for Site CA-DNO-14 and CA-DNO-15 and include as appendices in the final report.
● Assist with cataloguing associated artifact collections and associated records derived from past research at CA-DNO-14 and CA-DNO-15.
● Assist in preparing artifacts and associated records for accessing in the REDW curation facility.
● Develop a manuscript suitable for submission to a peer-reviewed journal on aspects of the past research conducted at or derived from these two sites and related site locations.
● Create digitally accessible information, audio-visual information and other interpretive materials for public benefit relating Tolowa archaeological and historical ecological resources, and the ethnographic record at CA-DNO-14 and CA-DNO-15 and related sites within REDW.
● Develop related information and public discussion points for NPS public interpretation programs such as summer youth programs that can be presented by NPS Interpretation Rangers.
● Present a summary of research results and/or aspects of the overall project at REDW and/or within a public forum such as at Humboldt State University, a Tribal office, or local museum.
● Present summary results of past research or aspects of the overall project at a professional meeting (e.g., the Society of California Archeology, the Society for American Archaeology).