SHPO-CON-478: Re: No Effect Finding for Space Launch Complex 4 Power System Upgrade Project

This document is a letter from the Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) regarding a no effect finding for the Space Launch Complex 4 Power System Upgrade Project. The letter conveys that the OHP feels that the information provided in the report submitted previously by Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) satisfactorily establishes that the Project will not affect any characteristics of the five archaeological sites within its Area of Potential Effect (APE) which mighty qualify those properties for the National Register of Historic Places. The letter admonishes VAFB for not submitting a research design for the archaeological work that was performed, but stated that due to the paucity of materials uncovered viewed the effort as a present/absence exercise. For this reason the OHP did not object to your finding that the project will have no effect on historic properties. The OHP further provides comment on sites CA-SBA-537 AND -1125 that consultation should have been carried out with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation regarding the testing design. However, the letter ends with the recognition that the documentation that was submitted and the OHP response to the finding of no effect satisfies VAFB's responsibility for compliance with Section 106.