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HomeMy WebLinkAbout112 June 20, 2018 Mr. David Sullivan, Chairman Jefferson County Commissioner, District 2 Jefferson County 1820 Jefferson Street P.O. Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 In future correspondence please refer to: Project Tracking Code: 081106-13-JE Property: Statesman Group Master Planned Resort in Brinnon's Black Point and Pleasant Harbor Marina, Jefferson County Re: Response to Jefferson County BOCC Letter of June 7, 2018 Dear Mr. Sullivan: I am in receipt of your letter to Gretchen Kaehler concerning the Kettles and the Port Gamble tribes’ identification of a Traditional Cultural Property in Jefferson County on the Pleasant Harbor Master Planned Resort. Let me begin by saying I am sorry that you did not contact me in person prior to writing this letter. We have always prided ourselves on having a good relationship with Jefferson County, its communities, and affected tribes. As you are aware, the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation is considered an expert agency under the State Environmental Policy Act, (SEPA) WAC 197-11-920. As such we advise SEPA leads, agencies, cities and counties of existing or potential cultural resources. We have no regulatory authority to permit projects or deny projects. Our regulatory authority exists to permit work on known archaeological sites in consultation with tribes. We work with agencies and local governments to provide information on sites and areas that are of historic importance or of tribal importance when we are notified by the affected tribes. In the case of this particular project, we merely notified you of information that was recently provided to us by the Port Gamble Tribe and interested constituents. While we appreciate the long explanation of Kettles and concern that we should have consulted with a geologist, the information provided to us was of a cultural nature. This agency does not question areas of cultural importance to tribes nor do we question anyone’s religious beliefs. We accept other’s cultural values as relevant and of importance under their cultural belief system. Even though glacial kettles are a common feature of the Puget Sound landscape, we would not expect a geologist from DNR to validate a tribe’s cultural and traditional values. State of Washington • Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation P.O. Box 48343 • Olympia, Washington 98504-8343 • (360) 586-3065 www.dahp.wa.gov Mr. David Sullivan, Chairman June 20, 2018 Page 2 Again, we were not expecting to impose any regulatory requirements on this project. We were simply sharing information that was given to us by the Port Gamble S'Klallam tribe that as the expert agency, we felt was important as part of your environmental analysis since it was information that was not available prior to this time. While archaeological resources were addressed in the 2006 cultural resources assessment, the traditional, spiritual and cultural value of the project area was not. We will continue to do our job under state law and look forward to sharing information with you on proposed projects and providing technical assistance and making recommendations for preserving our cultural resources so that we can all make good decisions for the people of Washington State. If you would like to discuss this further, I would be happy to meet with you. You can reach me at 360.586.3066 or at Allyson.brooks@dahp.wa.gov. Allyson Brooks, Ph.D. Executive Director State Historic Preservation Officer cc: Gretchen Kaehler, Assistant State Archaeologist, Local Government Kate Dean, Jefferson County Commissioner Kathleen Kerr, Jefferson County Commissioner Phillip Hunsucker, Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kris Miller, THPO, Skokomish Tribe Bill White, Archaeologist, Lower Elwha S’Klallam Tribe David Brownell, Cultural Resources, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Stormy Purser, THPO, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe Lys Burden, Native Connection Action Group