American Samoa Historic Preservation Office

Program Overview Accomplishments FY 2005

Activities by Program Area

The following describes the activities and accomplishments of the American Samoa Historic Preservation Office (ASHPO) during fiscal year 2005 by Program Area.

Administration

· Reported to quarterly meetings of the American Samoa Historic Commission.

· Advertised and held Open House for public review of ASHPO Work Plan for 2005.

· Had automotive repairs made on office truck.

· Monitored FEMA funded assessment and restoration work at Satala Naval Cemetery, Tutuila.

· Continued search for new hire in Educational Research Specialist.

· Monitored and assisted Mountain Village Mapping Team, Tutuila.

· Wrote letter of support for North Dakota State University Digital Archive Project.

· Negotiated lease for new office space in Nu`uuli.

Review & Compliance:

· Attended bi-monthly board meetings, monthly enforcement meetings, and weekly site visits of Project Notification and Review System (PNRS) and corresponded with PNRS board regarding conditions of projects.

· Reviewed and commented upon the following reports:

A Cultural Resources Inventory of the 9^th Regional Readiness Command Malaeloa Training Area, Leasina County, Tutuila Island, AS for the U.S. Army;

Archaeological Pedestrian Survey Archival Research & Photo-Documentation of the Leone Water Pipeline, Village of Leone, Tutuila, AS for the U.S. Army;

Archaeological Mitigation for the Church of Jesus Cgrist of Latter Day Saints Road Paving and Drainage Project, Auto Village Site, Sua County, Tutuila County, AS for LDS;

Satala Cemeterty Flood Damage Repair Report.

· Met with Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) officials to discuss the following FHWA-funded projects: Route 104 Bridge Replacement and Road Resurfacing; Route 5 Fagasa mudslide; Route 1 Fagatogo mudslide; Route 1 Phase V, Faganeanea to Nu`uuli Shoreline Protection and Road Reconstruction.

· Recommended archaeological monitoring for a portion of the FHWA-funded Masefau Village Road Project.

· Wrote letters of no effect to FHWA for the following projects:

Landslide Repair areas, Tutuila;

· Provided Dept. of Public Works with Scope of Work for Vaitogi Road Data Recovery.

· Consulted with Dr. J.E. Taomia re. Scope of Work for Vaitogi burial project.

· Provided Dr. Taomia with outline for letter reports, information concerning the Area of Potential Effect for the proposed Emergency Operations Center (Office of Homeland Security) in Tafuna.

· Consulted with American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA) archaeologist D. Addison, ASPA and DPW engineers concerning the Ofu Island road Section 106 compliance, MOA with DOI, reviewed Data recovery/Monitoring Plan, and made site visit to Ofu to monitor road survey.

· Met with FEMA reps concerning FEMA Section 106 compliance.

· Met with DPW concerning data recovery of umu as part of Vaitogi Road Project.

· Wrote letters concurring with no effect on historic properties determinations to:

DOI re. Container Wharf Improvements, Fagatogo;

USACE re. Faleasao Harbor Dredging, Ta`u Harbor Dredging and Breakwater/Revetment Repair, Ofu Harbor Dredging and Breakwater/

Revetment Repair, Poloa (Tutuila) School Seawall Revetment, Fagasa landslide repairs, Afono (Tutuila) Seawall Project. Route 1 Phase V slide netting project;

FEMA re. Underground Powerline to Pago Pago International Airport, Matu`u Stream (Tutuila) hardening project;

FHWA re. Cyclone Olaf emergency damage repairs, Route 1 Atu`u Road, Route 6 Aua to Afono Road, Route 102 Poloa Road, Route 1 Leloaloa Road;

· Worked with FHWA on Ofu Road Project Barrow Pit proposal, including report research, site visit, and Letter Report review.

· Wrote an archaeological Scope of Work for the Fga`alu (Tutuila) HS ECE project and consulted with DOE officials re. Section106 compliance.

· Met with FEMA reps re. Cyclone Olaf recovery efforts in Manu`a.

· Consulted with and provided written to Dr. Taomia re. Her Auto Archaeological Project report.

· Replied to Administration for Native Americans re. Section 106 compliance for Fish Farm undertaking, Malaloa, Tutuila.

· Consulted with FEMA and ASPA re. proposed underground power line project, Ta`u.

· Wrote Lt. Gov. that it is unlikely there are any historic properties to be effected in FEMA-funded Fagatogo streams improvement project.

· Continued work on Review & Compliance computer tracking database tables for federal and local projects.

· Continued enhancement of communication with responsible federal and local government agencies and the education of the public, federal and local agencies, and local contractors re. Section 106 regulations.

· Continued refinement of reporting and record-keeping systems.

National Register Nominations

· Submitted Nomination for the Satala Naval Cemetery, Satala, Tutuila.

· Provided a television interview on KVZK-TV regarding the Satala Cemetery Assessment Project.

· Requested a copy of Coastal Defenses National Register Nomination form from Mr. Joseph Kennedy as per request of NPS.

Survey & Inventory

· Attended ASG GIS Users Group meetings.

· Provided photographs of GIS survey work to DOC for a GIS Users Group presentation; participated in GIS Users Group Day, manning a booth with a display of ASHPO GIS maps and Site Inventory Database.

· Requested information from the National Park Service concerning future plans for survey work in the National Park of American Samoa.

· Sat on Office of Procurement Source Evaluation Board for Village Mapping Project contract award.

· Provided U.S. Army contractor with a site number for a terrace site in Malaeloa, Tutuila.

· Provided copies of Historic Properties site forms to the Government of Samoa.

· Worked with Dept. of Commerce on integrating our Historic Properties database locations of historic properties into territorial GIS map.

· Awarded two contracts for archaeological survey and inventory work at the U.S. Naval Cemetery, Satala, Tutuila: one for FEMA-associated flood mitigation and the other Phase II of Satala Cemetery Conservation Assessment.

· Added WW II bridge in Malaeimi Valley, Tutuila, to Inventory.

· Assisted Dr. F. Pearl of Texas A&M University with logistics for ASHPO-funded Mountain Villages Mapping project; requested completed site form for Auasi Mountain Village site from Japanese archaeologist Kiyoshi Maruyama.

· Conducted pedestrian survey of Fagatogo Village streams.

· Provided site numbers for historic properties within the Area of Potential Effect for three FHWA projects in Afono and Malaeimi, and Vaitogi, Tutuila.

· Continue work on American Samoa Historic Properties Inventory database,

Planning

· Met with American Samoa Tourism Association re. Heritage Tourism.

· Met with interested parties to plan for establishment of archaeological curatorial facility in Territory to be funded by federal agencies as part of Section 106 compliance.

Technical Assistance

· Provided Samoa News with historic photographs for publication.

· Provided Malama Productions (Cable TV) with historic photographs for broadcast.

· Provided the Feleti Barstow Public Library with information concerning the history of the Samoan language.

· Reviewed the manuscript “The chronology of mounain residential sites on Tutuila, American Samoa” for the Journal of the Polynesian Society.

· Consulted with Dr. F. Pearl concerning the use of Samoan diacritics with Microsoft Word.

· Provided the Feleti Barstow Public Library with a photograph of the Vaitogi Fire Monument and websites for the LaPerouse Massacre and the legend of Fatumafuti.

· Deputy SHPO David Gerdrich submitted a paper on Samoan spatial concepts to the journal American Anthropologist.

· Provided Epi Suafoa of the National Park of American Samoa with information concerning the Pulemelei Mound.

· Provided Samoa News with information and photographs concerning FEMA-funded Satala.

· Consulted with Dr. F. Pearl re. possible Lapita Pottery Coring project.

· Provided Dept. of Marine and Wildlife Resources with photographs of historic monuments on Rose Atoll and requested that the monument be photographed during a planned DMWR site visit.

· Provided Ms. Doris Sinclair with photographs of her brother’s grave monument located in the Satala Naval Cemetery.

· Reviewed and provided comments on a manuscript by Dr. M.T. Carson, “Cultivation Practices in Samoa: Archaeological Signatures and Transported Landscapes,” for editor of Asian Perspectives (Univ. of Hawaii Press).

· Reviewed and provided comments on a manuscript by Dr. M.T. Carson, “Land Use Chronology,” for editor of American Anthropologist.

· Reviewed and provided comments on a manuscript by David Addison, “Variability in Irrigation and Agricultural Profuction in Nuku Hiva, Marqueses Islands.”

· Reviewed and provided comments on a proposal to the National Geographic Society to conduct archaeological research in American Samoa.

· Provided Dr. S. Finney with contact information for the U.S. Coast Guard for a research project on the USS Chahalis.

· Provided numerous students with historic information for history day projects.

· Provided KVZK-TV with 1980 newspaper text from the Samoa News concerning the 1980 Flag Day Plane Crash.

· Provided Dr. F. Pearl with latitude and longitude coordinates for the archaeological site at Aganoa, including conversion into decimal notation.

· Assisted Dr, J.T. Clark of North Dakota State University in identification of faunal remains from an Ofu archaeological site.

· Provided information on obtaining a National Register plaque.

· Provided Dr. J. Taomia with website addresses for sites containing information relevant to identifying shooting marbles (manufacturers and ages), and with references to Makamalu and comments on the issue of archaeological context of Samoan umu.

· Provided Samoa News with photographs of Satala U.S. Naval Cemetery.

· Reviewed and provided comments on a manuscript by S.S. Barnes and T.L. Hunt, “Samoa’s Pre-contact Connection to Western Polynesia and Beyond,” for the editor of The Journal of Polynesian Society.

· SHPO gave a talk on Heritage Tourism to the American Samoa Visitors Association.

· Attended NOAA Ocean Symposium and consulted NOAA officials concerning historic preservation issues facing the Coastal Zone Management Program.

Community Involvement

· The SHPO served as Vice-Chair of he American Samoa Soil and Water Conservation District Board and sat on the American Samoa Council on Arts, Culture and the Humanities; the Territorial Hazard Mitigation Council; the Forestry Stewardship Council; and is a member of the American Samoa Visitors Association. He also served as President of O Le Si`uleo O Samoa (Writers Group) and Managing Director of the Samoa Arts Cooperative.

· Provided historic photographs for a weekly feature in the Samoa News that asks members of the public to identify individuals or events in the photos.

· Participated in Career Shadowing Day.

· SHPO was judge at the Territorial Science Fair.

· SHPO conducted tours of the Fagatogo Historic District and WW II coastal defenses.

· SHPO hosted a group of 20 visiting Tongan students, discussing Samoan history.

· SHPO presented DVD video, “Art Photography in Samoa: The Outsiders’ View of the Past & The Insiders; View of the Present,” at the VIII International Symposium of the Pacific Arts Association at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, that was produced as a joint project of the AHPO, the Polynesian Photo Archives of the Feleti Barstow Public Library, and the American Samoa Community College Art Department and Department of Samoan/Pacific Studies, partly funded by a grant from the Amerika Samoa Humanities Council.