A cultural resources survey was conducted by the author on approximately 30 acres of the Oconee National Forest, in northern Jones County, Georgia, in April, 2005. The survey was done under contract with the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests, prior to a proposed land exchange with the American Natural Resources, LLC, of Macon, GA. This parcel was on a gently rolling ridge top just south of the Big Cedar Creek drainage on the southern edge of the Georgia Piedmont Plateau. The surfaces had been disturbed by logging and road building in the past, and a century of farming on the level and near-level ridge tops. Gullies appeared in several places on the tract. Old terrace lines (ridges with ditches behind them) were visible in several places. Vegetation included mixed pines and hardwoods, including some young pine plantations, with relatively little undergrowth. There were no streams on this piece, but it was drained northward by tributaries of Big Cedar Creek. Regular screened shovel testing failed to produce any indication of historic or prehistoric activity or occupation sites on the parcel. There should be no effect on the cultural resources of the parcel or the area resulting from the proposed land exchange from federal to private ownership.
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