Cultural Resources Survey of the Byne Sunshine Telecommunication Project, Midville, Burke County, Georgia Trileaf Project #696419

In April 2022, Trileaf Corporation (Trileaf) performed a cultural resource inventory survey for a proposed self-support, lattice telecommunications tower located in Midville, Burke County, Georgia (Latitude: 32° 49’ 11.359” Longitude: 82° 14’ 2.707”). The proposed project is located within a cleared, grassy area. Tillman Infrastructure LLC proposes to construct a 255-foot (77.7-meter) self-support, lattice telecommunications tower, with an overall height of 280 feet (85.3 meters) including all appurtenances, and associated equipment within a 75 x 75-foot (22.9 x 22.9-meter, 5,625-square-foot) lease area. The project includes a 12-foot-wide (6.1-meter-wide) gravel road within a 30-foot-wide (9.1-meter-wide) access and utility easement, which extends approximately 100 feet (30.5 meters) west-northwest from the lease area to Jones Street. The proposed project area is located within a cleared, grassy area. Total acreage of the new construction area is approximately 0.2 acres (0.08 hectare).

Senior Project Archaeologist, Danielle Young, M.A., RPA, under the direction of Trileaf, performed this survey in response to the planned use of the above-described parcel and the potential impacts that such use might present to archaeological and architectural cultural resources. The Phase I cultural resource survey was designed to discover all precontact and historical period cultural resources that might be present within the project area.

The field survey of the project area, which included a pedestrian survey, shovel testing, and visual inspection, yielded no evidence for the presence of archaeological or architectural properties within the Direct APE for the current project. Based on a map and survey form search using the resources of the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office GNAHRGIS GIS platform, inspections of the Georgia Archaeological Site Files (GASF 2022), as well as the resources of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) conducted by Danielle Young, M.A., RPA, Senior Project Archaeologist of Trileaf Corporation, on March 29, 2022, one (1) NRHP-eligible historical resource, the Highway 56 Bridge (GNAHRGIS #25921), was identified within the ¾-mile Visual APE. A review of archaeological sites and surveys, conducted by the GASF on March 29, 2022, identified five (5) previously identified archaeological sites (9BK34, 9BK63, 9BK117, 9BK403, 9EM13), and ten (10) previously recorded archaeological surveys (153, 296, 760, 1038, 1897, 3648, 4809, 6475, 7925, 9280) within a 1-mile radius of the proposed project area.

Based on these findings, Trileaf recommends No Historic Properties within the Direct APE and No Adverse Effect to Historic Properties within the ¾-mile Visual APE. It is therefore recommended that project clearance be granted with no further investigation or evaluation of the project area relative to those resources.