Archaeology/Historic Architecture/Native American Consultation

Why does NDOT have a section devoted to Cultural Resources?

NDOT’s Cultural Resources team works to balance the transportation needs of Nevada’s growing communities with the protection and preservation of the state’s rich cultural heritage. To identify significant cultural resources that may be impacted by transportation projects, the Cultural Resources department:

• Conducts archaeological surveys to identify sites of prehistoric and historic importance
• Examines architectural features, such as buildings, bridges, and cemeteries
• Researches historical records such as old maps, historical photos, and government reports
• Consults with Native American tribes and organizations

What are Cultural Resources?

Cultural Resources include prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, ghost towns, rock art, historic buildings, spiritual places, historic landscapes, and historic roads such as the Lincoln Highway.

Nevada Transportation Programmatic Agreement & Reauthorization

On October 21, 2014, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation executed the 2014 Nevada Transportation Programmatic Agreement. Along with the Programmatic Agreement, the Handbook provides guidance on how to perform certain tasks.

On October 18, 2017, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation executed the re-signature of the 2014 Nevada Transportation Programmatic Agreement, the NDOT PA Annual Report.

On October 29, 2020, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation executed the re-signature of the 2014 Transportation PA resigned 2020 and Handbook Standard Treatment Plan No. 1: Adversely Affected Historic Bridges.

Under the 2014 Federal-Aid Transportation Programmatic Agreement (PA), the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) may “develop standard treatments for resolving adverse effects to certain types of properties or that are caused by specific classes of undertakings.” 

Annual Reports

The Annual Report for 2022 is linked here. 

The Annual Reports for 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 are indexed here.

Bridge Program Comment - Post-1945 Concrete and Steel Bridges

Federal Highways Administration and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation worked together to develop a Program Comment to Streamline Section 106 for certain types of Post-1945 bridges. After working through the process, here is the list of common bridges and culverts that Federal Agencies do not have consider effects of undertakings on. Section 106 still has to be considered for undertakings outside of the bridge itself.

NDOT Public Cultural Heritage 

An example of NDOT’s Cultural Resources team's efforts to bring the rich cultural heritage of Nevada is the Story of Cave Rock  (link works best on desktop computer using Google Chrome).

The Lincoln Highway and the Victory Highway

NDOT Cultural Resources has invested in understanding the Lincoln and Victory Highways in Nevada. That investment has led to both a detailed historic context and recordation of portions of those highways. Describing the historic context of each highway, a method has been developed that evaluates the criteria of eligibility and integrity. Three National Register forms have been generated from these efforts, one of which has been sent to the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office for consideration to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Cultural Resources Section completed two Multiple Properties Documentation Forms (MPDFs), one for the Lincoln Highway and one for the Victory Highway/US 40. The MPDFs set the historic context and the method of evaluations for two of the early roads through Nevada. They also set an accepted method for road evaluation in the State of Nevada. Each time a project intersects a MPDF, the cultural resources work moves straight to evaluation through the accepted method instead of having to build a historic context and consult on an evaluation method.

The Lincoln Highway

Lincoln Highway: Statewide

The Victory Highway

Victory Highway: Statewide

NDOT archaeologists are fortunate to have the entire state of Nevada as a study area. Human occupation of Nevada spans at least the last 10,000 years and includes prehistoric, indigenous and historic cultures. The program's primary purpose is to guide department projects through Historic Preservation laws established by the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) so that historic properties are avoided or minimally impacted by NDOT projects and are preserved in some manner for the benefit of our common cultural heritage. The Cultural Resource Section advises NDOT on how to balance the protection of the resource with the transportation needs of the public.

C. Cliff Creger, M.A., RPA
He is the Chief Cultural Resources Program Manager at NDOT, where he supervises all aspects of cultural resource work statewide. Creger is an archaeologist with more than 30 years of experience, including more than 10 years with the Navy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and more than 15 years with NDOT. His research and publications focus on the archaeology and geoarchaeology of the Great Basin, with development in MPDFs for the Lincoln Highway, the Victory Highway/US 40, and Latino History in Nevada. 

Beth P. Smith, M.A., RPA, GISP
She is the Lead Archaeologist at NDOT, where she supervises and conducts cultural resource investigations statewide. Smith is an archaeologist with more than 20 years of experience. Her research and publications focus on the archaeology of the Great Basin, with development experience on preservation programs and sustainable historic resources, cultural landscapes, and traditional cultural properties. Smith is a renowned expert in the identification of historic resource and cultural heritage management within the framework of federal, state, and local laws, and regulations involving Section 106 and permanent tribal consultation processes. She is dedicated to bringing the public into discussions about the past. Smith specializes in creating methods to express what the past means to present-day communities and incorporating their voices into the modern world. Her work includes LiDAR and 3D modeling, digital repatriation of historic photo archives, and educating communities on methods to make the past more accessible.

Melissa Mueller, M.A., RPA
She is an Archaeologist at NDOT, where she manages projects for review and compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA. Mueller is a Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA) who received her Master of Arts (M.A.) in anthropology from Texas A&M University in 2015. She has been working professionally as an archaeologist for more than 10 years, including for the National Park Service, cultural resource management companies, and now NDOT. Her experience has led her to work and collaborate with various federal agencies on archaeological projects. During her career, she has worked on prehistoric and historic archaeological projects in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.

Franz Scaramelli, M.A., Ph.D.
He is an Anthropologist and Cultural Resource Specialist at NDOT with more than 25 years of research and teaching experience. Scaramelli pursued his academic studies in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, where he received his M.A. in 1997 and Ph.D. in 2005. His research and publications focus on the archaeology and ethnohistory of the tropical lowlands, the role of material culture in colonial situations, and the politics of heritage and identity building. Additionally, Scaramelli has done research on rock art and the construction of landscape, and he has served as a consultant and desk-reviewer for several United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) projects. He is the principal author or co-author of more than 40 articles in professional journals, proceedings, and peer-reviewed book chapters. 

Historic Architecture

Whenever federal money is involved with a Nevada Department of Transportation project, NDOT is legally required to comply with regulations set up by Section 106 of the Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which established rules for identifying historic structures and evaluating how projects will impact these resources. NDOT takes considerable lengths to avoid affecting historically significant structures and buildings. If it is not feasible to avoid impacting an historic structure, the adverse impact must be mitigated. Mitigation can take the form of moving an historic home to a new location, documenting a building for the Historic American Building Survey to be kept at the National Archives, or planting trees to create visual barriers.

Alexis Thomas
Architectural Historian

Native American Consultation

Native American consultation is required by law for projects that receive federal funds. Most NDOT projects receive at least some federal funding. Native American consultation is conducted on a government-to-government basis and is undertaken by the Federal Highway Administration with the assistance of this program, which addresses cultural issues such as potential impacts to Traditional Cultural Properties (TCPs) and other historic properties to which tribes may attach cultural or religious significance. 

Evan Pellegrini, M.A.
He is the Native American Consultation Coordinator for NDOT, where he conducts NHPA Section 106 government-to-government Native American consultation on behalf of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for federally funded NDOT projects. Pellegrini earned his M.A. in anthropology from the University of Nevada, Reno, in 2014. He has worked as an archaeologist for 19 years. Prior to NDOT, where he has worked for more than six years, Pellegrini worked for the following institutions: the University of Nevada, Reno; U.S. Forest Service; Great Basin Institute (GBI), Denali National Park (remote artifact illustrator); ASM Affiliates; and the Nevada State Museum, Carson City. His research and publications focus on prehistoric (T. Pleistocene/Early Holocene subsistence) and historic (mining camps, Native American life post-1890) archaeology of the Great Basin.

NDOT Cultural Resources Publications & Presentations

• "Streamlining Survey in Reno's Spaghetti Bowl," (2018, Transportation Research News, Issue 318).  Emily Pettis, Sebastian Renfield, and Alexis Thomas. Posted with permission of the Transportation Research Board.
• “Three-Dimensional Paleo-Spur Throated Grasshoppers.” C. Cliff Creger and Evan Pellegrini.
• “Transportation Right-of-Way Markers.” C. Cliff Creger.
•  2016 Great Basin Anthropological Conference.      

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