Archaelogical Project Implementation Process | Questions and Answers | Research Priorities

Lincoln County Land Act of 2000 and Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, Development Act of 2004
These Acts stipulate that 85 percent of the proceeds from the sale of 13,500 acres of public land in Lincoln County be deposited in a special account in the Treasury of the United States and shall be available to the Secretary of the Interior without further act of appropriation. One purpose of this special account is to make funds available annually for “inventory, evaluation, protection and management of unique archaeological resources in Lincoln County," as defined in the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.”

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Ely District Office, other federal, state and local partners established the Lincoln County Archaeological Initiative to allocate monies annually for approved projects in each Round of this process.

Lincoln County Archaeological Initiative Process

Prior to March 1st each year the BLM will seek input from the public, and establish funding priorities for archaeological projects in Lincoln County.

From September 1st through October 31st, nominations will be solicited for projects based on specified annual initiative priorities. Proposals addressing these priorities will be submitted to the BLM as a proposal package with a narrative describing the project and addressing the archaeological resources funding criteria guidance. A cost and milestone worksheet will be included.

The Archaeological Resources Team (ART) consisting of staff specialists from federal, state, and local agencies and tribal government will meet to screen and rank proposals in priority order for funding.

Ranked proposals will be forwarded to the Partner's Working Group in February.  Their preliminary recommendations will be  forwarded to the Executive Committee, who will then forward them to the Director, Bureau of Land Management in early May.  The Director will approve the recommendations in August.

Round 1 Approved Project Nominations - The Director, Bureau of Land Management approved the top seven projects:
2007 Nomination Summaries (in PDF)

Round 2 - On October 21, 2009 the Director of the Bureau of Land Management singed a Decision Memo authorizing the expenditure of funds for the top six proposals for Round 2 of the Lincoln County Archaeological Initiative.  2009 Proposal Summaries

Round 3 - The Bureau of Land Management is now accepting Round 3 proposals for projects authorized by the Lincoln County Land Act of 2000 under the Lincoln County Archaeological Initiative.  The initiative is announced on FedBizOps.gov, solicitation number L09PS01344.  Applicants should also review and complete the required Solicitation and Proposal packet.  The proposal period is September 15th through October 31, 2009.  All proposal packages must be submitted to Cheryl Flanagan, Contracting Officer, at Cheryl_Flanagan@blm.gov .