This article presents an overview of archaeological resources and methods in the context of environmental impact assessment (EIA). Archaeological best practices in the EIA process are summarized and examples of deficient work are provided so that readers—particularly those who are responsible for review and approval of environmental studies—will be able to judge the adequacy and professional quality of archaeological work performed for their clients or agencies.

Environmental Practice 18: 214–218 (2016)

Cultural impact assessments (CIAs) are rare in environmental practice in the United States. This paper explores the use and integration of CIAs into environmental assessments with respect to cultural resources of communities and American Indian tribes. It notes the shortcomings of consultation under Section 106 of National Historic Preservation Act and public comment under the National Environmental Policy Act and recommends employing CIAs to fill the gaps, decrease time and costs, and possibly limit lawsuits.

Environmental Practice 18: 222–226 (2016)

Cultural resource is a term that means different things to different people. In the United States, it is commonly conflated with the legally defined term historic property, but this conflation can deny consideration to a wide range of culturally valued aspects of the environment. In impact assessment, the jobs of identifying cultural resources and impacts on them are typically assigned to archaeologists and architectural historians, who often apply their own even narrower definitions of the term. This can result in systematically failing to analyze the most important impacts on the most culturally sensitive aspects of the environment. People responsible for environmental impact assessment should think carefully about how to address all kinds of potentially affected cultural resources. This usually involves making sure that those with cultural connections to an environment are involved productively in the assessment and its outcomes.

Environmental Practice 18: 227–231 (2016)