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Salt River Project (SRP) maintains a 69-kilovolt (kV) transmission line between the Glenbrook substation in Fountain Hills and the Rio Verde substation in the community of Rio Verde in Maricopa County, Arizona (Figure 1). The transmission line is currently supported by 30-year-old wooden poles, which generally follow the alignment of McDowell Mountain Road. In order to improve the overall safety and durability of the transmission line, SRP intends to replace all of the wooden poles with sturdier steel ones. Installation of the new poles will occur on lands managed by the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) and by the Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department (MCPRD) as part of McDowell Mountain Regional Park, and therefore requires compliance with the Arizona State Historic Preservation Act. Accordingly, SRP requested that EcoPlan Associates, Inc. (EcoPlan) conduct a cultural resource investigation in advance of the transmission line pole replacement project. The investigation was carried out under the authority of the Arizona Antiquities Act Permit No. 2005-028bl, which was issued to EcoPlan by the Arizona State Museum (ASM).

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) partnered with the Fort McDowell Indian Community (FMIC) on the FMIC Irrigated Farmland Development Project to develop new agricultural fields in accordance with the stipulations set forth in the Fort McDowell Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act (Public Law 101-628). At the request of Reclamation, Archaeological Consulting Services, Ltd. (ACS) conducted survey of approximately 400 acres, mapping, photographing, and limited testing of cultural resources on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation. The survey and mapping were performed to record and determine the extent of prehistoric agricultural rockpile features at AZ U:6:81(ASM) and U:6:239(ASM) that will be impacted by agricultural development. Subsurface testing at AZ U:6:87(ASM) was conducted to identify the nature and extent of subsurface cultural resources at the site that will be impacted by road widening. All three sites have previously been determined to be eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Further inspection of a possible historic site on Rattlesnake Point was undertaken and determined to date to the 1960s, and was therefore, not considered eligible for inclusion in the NRHP.