Documenting and Preserving Historic Road Culverts by Tina Rotenbury

The landscapes that comprise the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests today were significantly shaped by the work done by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930's and early 1940's. The large contributions of money and manpower provided by these two federal programs made possible an adequate transportation and communication system for fire control and forest administration. Many forest recreational facilities and lakes were constructed during the period 1933-1942, as
were many other administrative improvements including roads and truck trails, bridges, culverts, telephone lines used both by the public and forest management.

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1. Why Inventory and Document? The National Historic Preservation Act, enacted in 1966 and amended in 1970 and 1980, provides for a National Register of Historic Places to include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, and culture. Such places may have national, state, or local significance. Section 106 of NHPA requires that federal agencies take into account the effects of proposed undertakings on any district, site, building, structure, or object included in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places and afford the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation a reasonable opportunity to comment with regard to the undertaking. Section 110 of NHPA directs federals agencies to assume responsibility for the preservation of National Register listed or eligible historic properties owned or controlled by their Agency. Included in that direction is a responsibility to locate, inventory, and nominate properties to the National Register, to exercise caution to protect such properties, and to use such properties to the maximum extent feasible. Other major provisions of Section 110 include documentation of properties adversely affected by federal undertakings and the inclusion of the costs of preservation activities as eligible Agency project costs. The first step … is inventory and documentation. Documenting and Preserving Historic Road Culverts on the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests Mapping Culvert Data GIS Input Methods Data was collected using Trimble Units and downloaded into ArcMap Used the Identify tool in ArcMap to add additional attributes to the culvert features Data is entered into table of GIS culvert features: -NR Eligible – Yes/No – after Heritage Review -Justification of Eligibility - Legal descriptions Forest personnel can then load GIS features in GPS units to navigate and locate culverts. Using Excel to Document Eligibility Recommendation Data Collection Process Determine collection needs Build data collection application to use with the Trimble data collectors – mainly the Juno Units Identified and mapped roads with potential historic culverts – using Historic Data & Maps Went to the field driving roads that were determined to have potential historic culverts Interdisciplinary crew members used the Trimble Juno SB and 3B units to collect data. This is a cumbersome process and makes it difficult to see the overall amount of historic culverts within the National Forest Lands. With historic culvert features developed in a GIS, one could quickly query certain culverts from an attribute coded with National Register (NR) Eligibility to determine if the culvert needs to be protected. Benefits and Usage One of the main benefits for using GIS to help map the Culverts is to see where historic features are located on the forest. Show Culvert Type Culvert Locations Culvert Condition Identity Culverts eligible for National Registry of Historic Places Justification for National Registry Having this data in a GIS format will allow managers, archeologists, planners and others to quickly identify culverts that need to be protected during work projects. This data will also be useful for project planning. Introduction The landscapes that comprise the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests today were significantly shaped by the work done by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s and early 1940s. The large contributions of money and manpower provided by these two federal programs made possible an adequate transportation and communication system for fire control and forest administration. Many forest recreational facilities and lakes were constructed during the period 1933-1942, as were many other administrative improvements including roads and truck trails, bridges, culverts, telephone lines used both by the public and forest management. In 2012, the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests began an ambitious analysis of the forest transportation system. This presented an opportunity for the systematic inventory of historic rock culverts constructed by the CCC. Field crews including specialists from GIS, engineering, and archaeology documented historic culverts and captured data about culvert construction, function, and condition. This data is used to identify culverts potentially eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, identify management needs, and create a comprehensive database for use by the Forest in future project planning. Mary Z. Brennan, PhD Archeologist United States Forest Service Pleasant Hill, Boston Mountain , & Mt. Magazine Ranger Districts (USFS) mzbrennan@fs.fed.us 479-754-2864 These culverts are part of 70 contributing resources that comprise the Gray Spring Recreation Area/Forest Service Road #1003 Historic District listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. These culverts were constructed in 1934-35 by enrollees of the 748th Company of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) working out of their camp at Cass, Arkansas. Bridge at Cove Lake A closed bottom box culvert constructed of native fieldstone with original materials intact and visible; eligible for nomination to the National Register. A closed bottom box culvert constructed by the Forest Service during road reconstruction 1970- 1980; likely replaced an earlier historic culvert that had failed. Not eligible for nomination to the National Register. Sample letter submitted to State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and their reply with concurrence or non- concurrence for NR Eligibility. Camp Cass - From the Sadler H. Burrow collection (Shropshire 2000) 1938 CCC Camp Cass enrollees building the Cass- Bidville road (FSR 1003)