In November 2020, Trileaf Corporation (Trileaf) performed a cultural resource inventory survey for a proposed guyed telecommunications tower facility located in Telfair County, McRae-Helena, Georgia (Latitude: 31° 56’ 12.04” Longitude: -82° 56’ 23.45”). The project location is located within a grassed pasture.
Tillman Infrastructure, LLC proposes the construction of a new guyed telecommunications tower with a total height of 350 feet (106.7 meters). The new tower and associated equipment will be situated within a proposed approximate 100 x 100-foot (30.5 x 30.5 meter) cell tower lease area. A proposed approximate 30 x 135-foot (9.1 x 41.2 meter) access and utility easement will travel generally southwest away from the lease area towards Workmore Road. Additionally, three (3) 30- foot wide guy easements are proposed to extend approximately 285-feet northeast, southeast, and west-northwest away from the compound. Total acreage of the new construction area is approximately 0.93 acres (0.38 Hectares).
Assistant Archaeology Project Manager/Senior Archaeologist Zach Horne, 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 represent to archaeological and architectural cultural resources. The Phase I cultural resource survey was designed to discover all prehistoric 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, found no evidence for the presence of archaeological or architectural properties in relation to the current project area’s Direct APE. Additionally, no National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)-listed or NRHP-eligible properties were identified within the project area’s Direct APE or the ¾-mile Visual APE. A review of archaeological sites and surveys, conducted through Georgia Archaeological Site Files (GASF 2020) by Zach Horne, M.A., RPA on November 19, 2020, identified nine (9) previously recorded archeological sites (9TF59, 9TF60, 9TF64, 9TF87, 9TF88, 9TF136, 9TF170, 9TF171, and 9TF172), and four (4) archaeological surveys (1968, 4219, 6015, and 9903) that were identified within 1-mile of the proposed project area.
Based on these findings, Trileaf recommends No Historic Properties within the Direct APE and No 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.
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