Conducting the Environmental Impact Analysis and Assessment - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 180

Migration routes
Droppings
Trees
FIGURE 5.5
Over-the-horizon radar study area antelope/deer migration routes.
Four well-defined routes were defined by the high density of fecal pellets
in discernible patterns (Figure 5.5). It was not clear which of the four routes
were traveled by mule deer or pronghorn antelope in spring or winter but it
did not matter because the focused question was not which migration route,
by which large mammal would be impacted, but whether any large mammal
migration route would be obstructed by the OTH radars.
The affected environment related to cultural resources is not transient as
is the mammal migration, so conventional investigation methods could be
applied. Unfortunately, as determined by review of available information,
the cultural sites most likely to be present in the study area were small and
could not be identified by aerial survey or photographs. The most common
cultural sites in the area were temporary Native American hunting locations
where a day camp was established and the hunters shaped obsidian rock
(naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock) into
points (i.e., arrow and spear heads). The actual sites consisted of small areas
with high concentrations of obsidian flakes, which were the by-products left
by the hunters when they shaped the obsidian into points.
The identification of cultural resource sites was accomplished by an “on the
ground survey” in a similar manner to the large mammal fecal pellet method,
except anthropology graduate students instead of biologists conducted the sur-
vey. The survey identified distinct sites characterized by the obsidian flakes
and potentially left by two different Native American groups (Figure 5.6). But
as with the mammal migration investigation, for the purposes of affected envi-
ronment investigation and impact prediction, it did not matter if there were