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Vantage to Pomona Heights Chapter 4 230 kV Transmission Line Project FEIS Environmental Consequences PAGE 4-254 Cultural resources must generally be at least 50 years old to be eligible to the National Register; however, certain cultural resources associated with more recent, exceptionally important events (e.g., the development of nuclear energy) may also be considered eligible. For the purposes of this Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), the impact analysis area (Project study area) for cultural resources included both a 150-foot wide corridor (75 feet to each side of the Action Alternative route segment centerlines) and a 500-foot wide corridor (250 feet to either side of the Action Alternative route segment centerlines). Because most of the cultural resources in the Project study area have not been evaluated for National Register eligibility (see Tables 3.11-2 and 3.11-3), for this analysis, unevaluated cultural resources are assumed to be eligible to the National Register unless they have been determined by a federal agency or the Washington State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) to be ineligible or if they are isolated artifacts (e.g., a single tin can, a single chipped stone tool). Isolated artifacts are usually determined ineligible to the National Register. The second step, assessing impacts, includes describing impact criteria and the types of impacts to cultural resources caused by construction of overhead and underground route segments for the proposed Project (Sections 4.11.1.2 and 4.11.1.3). This step also includes a summary of the cultural resources that could potentially be impacted (Section 4.11.4). Section 4.11.5 presents the third step, mitigation measures. The Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) Washington Information System for Architectural and Archaeological Records Data (WISAARD) database was the initial primary source of information on archaeological and architectural resources in the Project study area. In this analysis it is acknowledged that: • Boundaries of previously recorded sites are sometimes not well defined; and • Site data may change as nearby projects increase the number of known sites in the vicinity of the proposed Project. The Yakama Nation Cultural Resources Program (YNCRP) recently conducted cultural resource surveys on federal land along the NNR Alternative and Alternative D (Camuso and Lally 2014; Camuso and Lally 2015). Previously undocumented archaeological sites discovered during construction (see Section 4.11.5) may require that construction activities be shifted more than 75 feet from the centerline to avoid impacts. Studies have been performed by the YNCRP and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to identify traditional cultural properties (TCPs) and other culturally sensitive locations within the Project study area (Oosahwee-Voss 2014). Because of the extreme confidentiality of these studies, only limited information is available about TCPs that could be impacted by the route segments of the nine Action Alternatives. 4.11.1.2 Impact Criteria For cultural resources, including archaeological sites, architectural resources, TCPs, and other sites of concern to Native Americans, an adverse effect (equivalent to an impact under NEPA) occurs when a project may affect, directly or indirectly, any of the characteristics of the resource that qualify it for inclusion in the National Register. Adverse effects include, but are not limited to: • Physical destruction of or damage to all or part of the property; • Alteration of a property, including restoration, rehabilitation, repair, maintenance, stabilization, hazardous material remediation, and provision of handicapped access, which is