Terrestrial and Remote Sensing Survey and Diving, Mitigation Plan 6A, Savannah Harbor Expansion Project

As part of the proposed Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District will construct a number of mitigation features to compensate for predicted adverse environmental impacts. Construction of these features will affect wetlands, submerge driver bottoms, and high ground. Known as Mitigation Plan 6A, the plan is multi-component and includes mitigation features that are located throughout the Savannah River estuary. Because the proposed features are designed to change the hydraulics of the Middle, Little Back, and Back rivers, the area of potential effect encompasses the construction areas as well as any areas that will be subjected to increased erosion or deposition including the entire channel lengths and shorelines of the Middle, Little Back, and Back rivers; Steamboat Slough; and the Sediment Basin. As an agency of the Federal Government, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must consider the effects that their project activities will have on cultural resources. Therefore, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for determining if any cultural resources are located within the current Project Area, and if so, prior to the implementation of any project activities determining if any resources are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Subsequently, and in compliance with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' responsibilities towards cultural resources, Panamerican Consultants, Inc. of Memphis, Tennessee was subcontracted by DCA/GEC A Joint Venture, LLC, of Jacksonville, Florida to conduct a comprehensive submerged cultural resources investigation of the Mitigation Plan 6A area. In response to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District's Scope of Work entitled, Terrestrial and Remote Sensing Survey and Diving, Mitigation Plan 6A, Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, Panamerican Consultants, Inc. conducted archival research, a Remote Sensing Survey, a Low Water Bank line Survey, a Reassessment of Previously Recorded Sites, and Diver Investigations of 17 potentially significant targets between September and November, 2012 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, under Contract No. W912HN-12-D-0016, Delivery Order No. 0006. Because the majority of the project is located in the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, the investigations were also conducted under an Archaeological Resource Protection Act permit obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and also under a Special Use Permit for the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge obtained from the Refuge office.