TESTING AND EVALUATION OF THE 2013 CULTURAL RESOURCE SENSITIVITY PREDICTIVE MODEL IN THE DOMINGUEZ-ESCALANTE NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA, MESA COUNTY, COLORADO

Predictive modeling of cultural resource sensitivity is a useful tool in the development of land management programs. Models are often based on environmental factors including climate, vegetation, fauna, lithic resources, and historically exploited resources, all of which could have influenced the actions and settlement patterns of both prehistoric and historic people. The goal of this GeoCorps internship was to test the cultural sensitivity predictive model for the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area designed by Alpine Archaeological Consultants Inc. in 2013 for the Bureau of Land Management Grand Junction Field Office. The model was tested by conducting archaeological research surveys on three 20 acre plots of land selected from areas classified as high, medium, and low in cultural resource sensitivity. Although the results of these surveys were unexpected, this project is only the beginning of a more thorough future investigation to determine the accuracy of the model.