Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) was granted a yearly Community Development Block Grant, part of which targeted sustainable development in Iowa’s numerous watersheds. Under Federal obligations of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, IEDA was required to determine if significant archaeological sites might be affected by the small watershed improvement projects.

Impact7G leads the way with archaeological predictive modeling and Phase IA desktop evaluations and was retained by IEDA to conduct initial investigations of watershed projects across the state. We assessed each project using historic property databases, historic maps, aerial photographs, and the LANDMASS model to predict locations with high, moderate, and low potential for archaeological sites. The partnership of IEDA and Impact7G was designed to ensure that watershed coordinators can balance needs for improved water quality with preserving archaeological properties.