The document summarizes a presentation given at the 76th NWAC meeting regarding a proposed forest management project in the Youngs Rock Rigdon area in Oregon. It provides details on the project area location and geology. It also describes the results of an archaeological survey that identified 136 indigenous rock features including rock piles, stacks, and a circle. The presentation outlines protection and mitigation measures to preserve the rock features during forest thinning and prescribed burns. It concludes with an overview of relevant federal historic preservation laws.

1. April 15th, 2023
NWAC 76th Meeting
Stephen Todd Jankowski, MSc
District Archaeologist
USDI Bureau of Land Management
Roseburg District

2. Forest Landscape
Analysis Design
A Process for Developing and
Implementing Land
Management
Objectives for Landscape
Patterns
The Youngs Rock Rigdon
project area is located within the
Western Cascades physiographic
region. It covers approximately
32,873 acres in the southern
portion of the Middle Fork
Ranger District, near Oakridge,
Oregon.

3. Youngs Rock Rigdon Project Area
& Proposed Treatment Units

4. 
Upland Oak Pine Savannah / Meadows

5. 
 Pioneer and Military Routes
People & Place

6. 
 1. Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
 2. Oregon National Historic Trail
 3. California (Applegate) Natl Historic Trail
 4. Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) Natl Historic Trail
 5. Whitman Mission Route
 6. Upper Columbia River Route
 7. Meek Cutoff
 8. Free Emigrant Road
 9. Cutoff to the Barlow Road
 10. Klamath Trail
 11. Jedediah Smith Route
 12. Nathaniel Wyeth Route
 13. Benjamin Bonneville Route
 14. Ewing Young Route
 15. John Fremont Route
 16. Santiam Wagon Road
Copyright www.oregonhistorictrailsfund.org 2018
Oregon Historic Trail Routes

7. 
Free Emigrant Road

8. 
USDA FS – R6
Pacific Northwest
Rigdon RD 1986

9. 
Kalapuya
Molalla
Warm Springs
Paiute/Klamath Trade
Modoc
Umpqua
Yoncalla
People & Place

13. Geomorphology
(Peterman 2019)
➢ The landscape in the project area is composed of relatively young volcanic materials. The
main geology is Oligocene to Miocene (23 to 33.9 Million years) basalt on the western side.
Also, in the project area are: a strip of Holocene (10,000 years) sand in the fluvial valley,
Holocene to Pleistocene (10,000 to 1.8 Million years) landslides in the southeastern corner,
and Miocene andesite in the northeastern corner. In 33% of the project area, slopes are less
than or equal to 30%.
➢ Twenty percent of the project area has slopes between 31% and 45%, and 47% of the project
area has slopes greater than 45%. The main landforms are categorized as “Dissected
Mountains.” There are also small patches of “Collapsed, Glaciated and Cirque Basin
Mountains” in the project area.
➢ Dissected Mountains are characterized by highly eroded, deep V-shaped valleys, which
accumulate thick soils in valley bottoms and tributary gullies. Collapsed Mountains are
derived from both active and inactive landslides, and are characterized by irregular water
routes, deep soils and diverse plant and animal habitat. Glaciated Mountains were scoured by
glaciers, but past glacial activity is masked by earthflows, rock-falls and other mass wasting
processes. Cirque Basin Mountains are mountainous landscapes with obvious imprints of
current or past glaciation. Glacial scour and downslope movement of glaciers have created
cirque basins (semi-circular excavations in high valleys).

14. 
Indigenous Rock Features

15. 

16. 

17. 

18. 

19. 

20. 

24. 
Historic
Era
Rock
Features
…?

25. 

26. 

28. 

29. 
Survey Results-YRR Rock Features
 N=136 Precontact/Indigenous
 N= 3 Historic Era..?
• Rock Piles = 96
➢ 3-5 rocks, 6-10 rocks, 11-20 rocks, 30-40 rocks, 50 + rocks
• 2 Rock Stacks = 26
• Single Rock Placements = 12
• Rock Circle = 1
• Semi Circle = 1
• 2 Side by Sides = 3

30. 
Rock Feature Protection & Mitigation Measures
 Protection buffers /2
meters+ features
 Vegetal & surface layer
duff/organics removal 1
meter around features
 No subsoiling
 Prescribed Fire Rx intervals
every 2 - 4 years
 Hand thinning
 Helicopter logging
 Boom arm extension
thinning around features
without effect
 Monitoring or Reinspection
 Ensure Feature longevity

31. 
Questions?

32. Thank
You!
There’s no place like home.
Warm, wet and with an
atmosphere that’s just right,
Earth is the only place we know
of with life – and lots of it. JPL’s
Earth science missions
monitor our home planet and
how it’s changing so it can
continue to provide a safe haven
as we reach deeper into the
cosmos.
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
www.jpl.nasa.gov

33. 
➢ National Historic Preservation Act- Section 106 &
Section 110 => 36 CFR 800 => 2012 BLM National
Programmatic Agreement => 2015 BLM Oregon
Protocol
➢ Archaeological Resources Protection Act
 Executive Order 11593: Protection & Enhancement of
the Cultural Environment
 Executive Order 13007: Indian Sacred Sites
 Executive Order 13175: Consultation and
Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments
Federal Historic Preservation Laws
& Executive Orders

34. 