Recovery Act Funding Supports Inventory of Historic Trail in Southeastern Idaho

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An inventory of segments of the Oregon/California National Historic Trail in southeastern Idaho recently completed using economic recovery funding will allow the Bureau of Land Management to better protect and manage the important cultural resources the landscape contains.

The BLM awarded a $37,000 contract under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to Golder Associates, an environmental services and engineering consulting firm with expertise in cultural sciences.

The company has completed the inventory of approximately 28 miles of the Oregon/California National Historic Trail that traverse the BLM Pocatello Field Office and will submit a final report to the BLM and the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office.

“Now that trail segments and associated archaeological sites in southeastern Idaho are fully documented, we will be able to better protect these resources,” said BLM archaeologist Amy Lapp. “With the inventory information, we will be able to identify which areas need monitoring, maintenance, signing and interpretation – all of which will benefit the historic preservation of the trails.”

National Historic Trails on public lands are units of the BLM National Landscape Conservation System, whose 27 million acres encompass some of the West’s most significant cultural, ecological and scientific resources.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed earlier this year gave $3 billion to the Department of the Interior. Of that amount, $305 million in funding goes to the BLM.

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