Pathway to Environmental Stewardship at LANL: Cultural Resources and Trails Management

Join Phillip Noll, Jennifer Payne and LeAnn Purtzer, as they discuss environmental stewardship at LANL. The trio will talk about LANL's efforts to evaluate impacts of LANL activities on cultural resources, assess ecological risks, and prepare environmental assessments, cultural resources reports, and mitigation plans. They will also talk about the LANL Trails Working Group, which inventories, maps, and prepares historical reports for the many trails on LANL property that are used for recreational purposes.

Federal laws provide the basis for protecting natural resources, while regulations construct the framework for how this is done at LANL. Many of these stewardship activities are the responsibility of the Laboratory’s Environmental Services Group, including biological and cultural resources management, national Environmental Policy Act compliance, pollution prevention, and the Laboratory’s Environmental Management System. As part of the environmental protection program, LANL specialists oversee and manage the Laboratory's cultural resources programs. Several laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act, and various regulations establish the policy, standards, and processes that govern LANL's resources management activities. 

One of the primary responsibilities of cultural resource specialists is to assist LANL organizations with effective environmental planning and decision-making by developing environmental planning documents. Staff also assist LANL's operational groups in developing and implementing compliance assurance programs.

There are many trails at LANL, including some that are open to the public such as those linking the town site and the Laboratory, and the popular trails in Technical Areas 70 and 71, near Pajarito Acres. Some of these trails are ancient pueblo footpaths that continue to be used for recreational hiking today. The LANL Trails Working Group inventories, maps, and prepares historical reports on the many trails used at LANL. The Trails Working Group was established in December 2003, and includes representatives from local citizen hiking groups, Los Alamos County, Forest Service, Park Service, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the NNSA Los Alamos Site Office. The Trails Working Group carries out the Trails Management Program, which was a requirement stipulated in an NNSA environmental assessment that was completed in 2003. The program addresses various issues related to hiking on Laboratory property. Through this program, an active needs assessment was completed on how to manage foot traffic, control looting and vandalism, protect the scientific value of sites near trails, and provide the proper respect for sites that are sacred to local pueblos. Continued access and use of LANL trails is contingent upon being good stewards of these federal lands.

Phillip Noll received his PhD in Geology from UNM in 1994 specializing in trace element geochemistry of volcanic rocks worldwide. Dr. Noll began his career at Los Alamos National Laboratory as an analytical chemist over 20 years ago and has held several different positions over the years including: mass spectrometrist, Team Leader for Actinide Analytical Chemistry, Team Leader for Regulatory Compliance in the Environmental Restoration Group, Quality Assurance Specialist, Storm Water Compliance Specialist and Certified Inspector of Sediment and Erosion Control, and most recently as a National Environmental Policy Act specialist. For the last two years Phil has been instrumental in running the Trails Management Program and has first-hand knowledge of most of the trails at LANL. Phil is also a professional landscape and nature photographer.

Jennifer Payne is the Team Leader for the Resources Management Team at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Originally from New York, Dr. Payne received her PhD in Anthropology, specializing in Southwestern archaeology, from the University of Oklahoma. Her dissertation, Communal Spaces: Aggregation and Integration in the Mogollon Region of the North American Desert Borderlands used communal architecture as an indicator of community organization across time. Dr. Payne has worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for almost 14 years and has been part of excavations and archaeological surveys at the Laboratory.

LeAnn Purtzer is the Lead Archaeologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Originally from the Intermountain west, Ms. Purtzer received her MA in Anthropology, specializing in compliance archaeology, from the University of Montana. Ms. Purtzer has been working as a professional archaeologist for 14 years. Her specialties include Section 106 cultural resources compliance and tribal consultation. Having come from the Hanford Site in eastern Washington, she joined Los Alamos National Laboratory in early 2014.