Posted: 1/11/16:
The Office of the State Archaeologist has launched the new Iowa Ancient Trails Tours website:
http://www.uiowacar.com/osaglotrails/ancient-trails-tours-home
Check it out!
August 2, 2016, the Study Committee on the Preservation of Burial Sites met for the first time. Some items that were brought to the committee’s attention by testimony of invited speakers included the current functionality of the law, processes agencies use to insure compliance with the state statute, types of sites addressed by the current statute, and examples of the laws’ application. Various testimony provided suggestions to enhance or clarify Wisconsin Statute 157.70, such as more specific definitions of terms and timelines. The legislative council will prepare options memo(s) including the topics from today’s meeting as a beginning to start drafting any potential changes to the existing statute. Generally (and this is not at all inclusive of what was covered in the meeting), some of the topics introduced have focused on streamlining the process to reduce repetitive requests for the same project when there have been no changes in the scope of a project but the timeline for an existing permit/request to disturb has expired, using other electronic means to submit and receive information, and establishing timelines for review or issuance of a request to disturb. More information and video-taped proceedings of the meeting will be at the website https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lc/study/2016/1493. We would like to thank those individuals and agencies whose staff provided information to the committee. These people include Dr. Ellsworth Brown and Chip Brown from the Wisconsin Historical Society; Nathan Yahn, Steve Krebs, James Becker, and Jason Kennedy from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation; and Wisconsin Archeological Survey member, Dr. Patricia Richards, from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Cultural Resource Management program.
August 2, 2016, the Study Committee on the Preservation of Burial Sites met for the first time. Some items that were brought to the committee’s attention by testimony of invited speakers included the current functionality of the law, processes agencies use to insure compliance with the state statute, types of sites addressed by the current statute, and examples of the laws’ application. Various testimony provided suggestions to enhance or clarify Wisconsin Statute 157.70, such as more specific definitions of terms and timelines. The legislative council will prepare options memo(s) including the topics from today’s meeting as a beginning to start drafting any potential changes to the existing statute. Generally (and this is not at all inclusive of what was covered in the meeting), some of the topics introduced have focused on streamlining the process to reduce repetitive requests for the same project when there have been no changes in the scope of a project but the timeline for an existing permit/request to disturb has expired, using other electronic means to submit and receive information, and establishing timelines for review or issuance of a request to disturb. More information and video-taped proceedings of the meeting will be at the website https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lc/study/2016/1493. We would like to thank those individuals and agencies whose staff provided information to the committee. These people include Dr. Ellsworth Brown and Chip Brown from the Wisconsin Historical Society; Nathan Yahn, Steve Krebs, James Becker, and Jason Kennedy from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation; and Wisconsin Archeological Survey member, Dr. Patricia Richards, from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Cultural Resource Management program.
Bill Green and Kira Kaufmann