Federal Statutes and Environmental Justice in the Navajo Nation: The Case of Fracking in the Greater Chaco Region

Arguing for the importance of robust public participation and meaningful Tribal consultation to address the cumulative impacts of federal projects, we bridge interdisciplinary perspectives across law, public health, and Indigenous studies. We focus on openings in existing federal law to involve Tribes and publics more meaningfully in resource management planning, while recognizing the limits of this involvement when only the federal government dictates the terms of participation and analysis. We first discuss challenges and opportunities for addressing cumulative impacts and environmental justice through 2 US federal statutes: the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. Focusing on a major federal planning process involving fracking in the Greater Chaco region of northwestern New Mexico, we examine how the Department of the Interior attempted Tribal consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also highlight local efforts to monitor Diné health and well-being. For Diné people, human health is inseparable from the health of the land. But in applying the primary legal tools for analyzing the effects of extraction across the Greater Chaco region, federal agencies fragment categories of impact that Diné people view holistically. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(1):116–123. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306562 )

Camp Perry historic district contributing buildings : character-defining features

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) established the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), which requires federal agencies to address their cultural resources, defined as any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object. NHPA Section 110 requires federal agencies to inventory and evaluate their cultural resources. Section 106 requires them to determine the effect of federal undertakings on properties deemed eligible or potentially eligible for the NRHP. Camp Perry Joint Training Center (Camp Perry) is located near Port Clinton, Ohio, and serves as an Ohio Army National Guard (OHARNG) training site. It served as an induction center during federal draft periods and as a prisoner of war camp during World War II. Previous work established boundaries for a historic district and recommended the district eligible for the NRHP. This project inventoried and analyzed the character-defining features of the seven contributing buildings and one grouping of objects (brick lamp posts) at Camp Perry. The analysis is to aid future Section 106 processes and/or the development of a programmatic agreement in consultation with the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).

How Archaeologists Can Effectively and Ethically Cultivate Responsible and Responsive Stewards

The objective of this article is to share how professional archaeologists can leverage their knowledge and influence to develop collectors and amateur archaeologists into responsible and responsive stewards (RRS). This approach furthers the primary purposes of the National Historic Preservation Act as well as the ethics of the Society for American Archaeology. I share my own journey about finding artifacts in the Texas Panhandle, yearning to understand more about them, and how a poster in a gas station led me to visiting a local Stone Age Fair where I met a professional archaeologist. This archaeologist mentor was willing to answer my questions and guide me to greater understanding of archaeological ethics and practice, which prompted me to document everything I had found. In turn, I have shared my experience with many other nonprofessionals. Archaeologist mentors can have great influence if they are willing to meet collectors and amateur archaeologists on their level. Ultimately, collectors and archaeologists share a love of artifacts and a passion for the history behind them.

Klasyfikacja rzeczy jako dóbr kultury w Stanach Zjednoczonych Ameryki

Zasady klasyfikowania rzeczy jako dóbr kultury w Stanach Zjednoczonych różnią się na poziomach krajowym, stanowym i miejscowym; co jest konsekwencją federalnego charakteru państwa. O ile ustawa o ochronie dziedzictwa historycznego (National Historic Preservation Act) ma charakter regulacji ramowej, o tyle prawo stanowe i miejscowe prezentuje zróżnicowane i zarazem elastyczne podejście, uwzględniające lokalne priorytety, ale z zachowaniem zgodności z prawem federalnym.

Historic landscape management plan for the Fort Huachuca Historic District National Historic Landmark and supplemental areas

The U.S. Congress codified the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) to provide guidelines and requirements for preserving tangible elements of our nation’s past. This preservation was done primarily through creation of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), which contains requirements for federal agencies to address, inventory, and evaluate their cultural resources, and to determine the effect of federal undertakings on properties deemed eligible or potentially eligible for the NRHP. This work inventoried and evaluated the historic landscapes within the National Landmark District at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. A historic landscape context was developed; an inventory of all landscapes and landscape features within the historic district was completed; and these landscapes and features were evaluated using methods established in the Guidelines for Identifying and Evaluating Historic Military Landscapes (ERDC-CERL 2008) and their significance and integrity were determined. Photographic and historic documentation was completed for significant landscapes. Lastly, general management recommendations were provided to help preserve and/or protect these resources in the future.

A Sea Cow Goes to Court. Extinction and Animal Agency in a Struggle Against Militarism

In Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Okinawa, the Japanese government is constructing a new military base for the United States Marine Corps despite ongoing local opposition and protest. Sea grass beds, which are potential feeding grounds of the critically endangered Okinawa dugong, are situated within the construction area. Because of its critical status close to regional extinction, the dugong was declared a Natural Monument of Japan in 1972, arguably putting it under protection of the United States National Historic Preservation Act in context of the base construction. Based on this assumption, and the dugong’s cultural significance for the people of Okinawa, the issue was brought to an American court, a rare case where an animal plays a central role in a lawsuit dealing with cultural property. Based on Eduardo Kohn’s anthropology beyond the human and his thoughts on life as a semiotic process the article explores the entanglements between dugongs and people. I argue that in this process dugongs play an active role. Through their interpretation of the generated indexical signs at the construction site and their resulting behaviour, these animals give humans the opportunity to convert their presence and absence into the sphere of symbolic human interaction.

Fort McCoy, Wisconsin WWII buildings and landscapes

The U.S. Congress codified the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) mostly through the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), which requires federal agencies to address their cultural resources. Section 110 of the NHPA requires federal agencies to inventory and evaluate their cultural resources, and Section 106 requires them to determine the effect of federal undertakings on those potentially eligible for the NRHP. This report provides a World War II development history and analysis of 786 buildings, and determinations of eligibility for those buildings, on Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. Evaluation of the WWII buildings and landscape concluded that there are too few buildings with integrity to form a cohesive historic district. While the circulation patterns and roads are still intact, the buildings with integrity are scattered throughout the cantonment affecting the historic character of the landscape. Only Building 100 (post headquarters), Building 656 (dental clinic), and Building 550 (fire station) are ELIGIBLE for listing on the NRHP at the national level under Criterion A for their association with World War II temporary building construction (1942-1946) and under Criterion C for their design, construction, and technological innovation.

Fort McCoy, Wisconsin Building 550 maintenance plan

Building 550 (former World War II fire station) is located on Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, and was recommended eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2018 (Smith and Adams 2018). The building is currently vacant. It is an intact example of an 800 Series World War II fire station with character-defining features of its period of significance from 1939 to 1946 on its exterior and interior. All buildings, especially historic ones, require regular planned maintenance and repair. The most notable cause of historic building element failure and/or decay is not the fact that the historic building is old, but rather it is caused by incorrect or inappropriate repair and/or basic neglect of the historic building fabric. This document is a maintenance manual compiled with as-is conditions of construction materials of Building 550. The Secretary of Interior Guidelines on rehabilitation and repair per material are discussed to provide the cultural resources manager at Fort McCoy a guide to maintain this historic building. This report satisfies Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 as amended and will help the Fort McCoy Cultural Resources Management office to manage this historic building.