Notification of Adverse Effects for the NRCS Connecticut Irrigation Pipeline Project, Hartford County, Connecticut
NRCS Connecticut (CT) has determined that a planned irrigation pipeline project in Hartford County will have an adverse effect to historic properties, per 36 CFR 800.5(d)(2).
Per 36 CFR 800.6(a)(4), NRCS CT is providing an opportunity for members of the public to express their views on resolving adverse effects of the undertaking. This notice is subject to the confidentiality provisions of 36 CFR 800.11(c) and Section 1619 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 or 7 U.S.C. §8791, which establishes a general prohibition on releasing certain information provided by a USDA program participant.
Project Overview
NRCS, with the program participant as the recipient of NRCS technical and financial assistance, proposes to install 3030 feet of irrigation pipeline for crop irrigation. This proposed undertaking is part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), funded through the authority of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, P.L. 115-334. EQIP is a financial assistance program in which NRCS pays a set portion and the rest is covered out-of-pocket by the producer. Practices installed using EQIP funds must follow programs rules and be installed according to NRCS standards and specifications.
Area of Potential Effects (APE)
Per 36 CFR 800.4, NRCS has established the Area of Potential Effects (APE) as three linear corridors of private land, one northern line (Pipeline ‘C’), one southern line (Pipeline ‘D’), and one eastern line (Pipeline ‘F’). The APE consists of the trenches for the irrigation pipelines and two stone drains placed at the end of the northern and southern lines (pipelines ‘C’ and ‘D’, respectively). The northern line APE is 1400 feet long, 36 inches wide, and 15 inches deep. The southern line APE is 1200 feet long, 36 inches wide, and 15 inches deep. The APE of each drain at the western ends of the northern and southern line is 6 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 30 inches deep. The APE of the eastern line is 430 feet long, 36 inches wide, and 42 inches deep. The project requires no ground-disturbing staging areas or access roads that would affect underground historic properties.
Cultural Resources/Historic Properties within APE
To identify historic properties within the APE, NRCS CT completed a literature review, followed by a ground penetrating radar (GPR) investigation. NRCS CT conducted a literature review that indicated that an archaeological site was immediately adjacent to, or within, the project APE. The archaeological site is a Pre-Contact Native American Late Woodland village and cemetery site. The GPR survey approximated 1.25 acres, which exceeds the size of the APE. The results of the GPR survey indicate that archaeological features are likely underneath and adjacent to the APE.
Finding of Adverse Effect to Historic Properties
NRCS has determined that the archaeological site is eligible for the National Register under Criteria A and D. The site is a large Pre-Contact Native American Late Woodland village and cemetery site, one of the few village sites from this time period in the state of Connecticut. Excavations, which have disturbed only a fraction of the site, have yielded well-preserved features, artifacts, and intra-site patterning. The site has yielded information about early Indigenous agriculture, ceramic production, pipe production, and seasonal settlement strategies. The site is the earliest dated site in Connecticut reflecting semi-sedentary settlement and is the site of Connecticut’s earliest directly dated maize macroremains. Because of this, the site is eligible under Criterion A through its association with the emergence of agriculturally focused economies and the shift toward increasingly greater sedentism in southern New England.
The site is also eligible under Criterion D as it retains intact deposits that could yield more information. Information from the site can be used to yield information that could improve our understanding of such topics as early agricultural cropping methods, storage practices, food processing strategies, ceramic manufacture, mixed economies, settlement strategies, and a greater understanding of the intra-site patterning of Late Woodland agricultural villages.
Finding of Adverse Effect to Historic Properties
Applying the Criteria of Adverse Effect (36 CFR 800.5), the NRCS has determined that the undertaking, particularly the drains attached to the northern and southern lines, has the potential to physically destroy or damage part of the archaeological site. To resolve adverse effects, per 36 CFR 800.6, the NRCS will continue consultation to develop mitigation stipulations that will be executed in a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). To minimize effects to the archaeological site, NRCS has modified the original project design so that the northern and southern irrigation pipeline segments will be shallow buried within the existing plow zone. The eastern pipeline is not expected to affect the archaeological site. NRCS is further proposing a plan to use the ground penetrating radar survey and a flexible excavation and installation strategy to avoid disturbance to archaeological features when installing the drainage ditches.
Per 36 CFR 800.6(a)(4), the NRCS CT is notifying the public of the undertaking with the documentation specified in 36 CFR 800.11(e) and providing opportunity to comment as NRCS CT develops a Memorandum of Agreement to resolve the adverse effects.
Please contact Krista Dotzel at krista.dotzel@usda.gov by July 1, 2026 with any questions, comments, or concerns. Reference ‘Hartford County Irrigation Pipeline Project’ in the subject line of your email.