Whatcom County approved an exemption to its hiring freeze to recruit a full-time archaeologist following the mishandling of culturally important materials on Point Roberts that is expected to cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The move stems from an incident in summer 2023 when a public works crew addressing drainage issues from flooding ignored policy and dug up an area later confirmed to contain Indigenous cultural materials.
A few applicants have applied for the position, according to the county, which hopes to have an archaeologist on board by the end of the year.
After the summer 2023 incident, public works established a policy to hire an archaeological firm before starting any work in places such as Point Roberts to ensure that culturally important material is handled properly. With the new position, the county won’t need to rely on outside firms.
“We’ve been using consultants for years and years and years,” Public Works Community and Tribal Liaison Roland Middleton told the county council in May. “The price of the consultants is going up, and the number of consultants that are able to address these issues on a regular basis is going down.”
Once hired, the county archaeologist will assist with inadvertent discovery training for county staff and conduct preliminary reviews of sites as part of the county’s commitment to be more proactive in safeguarding cultural resources. While staff have received such training before, the county determined it necessary to provide more frequent and robust training.
Middleton noted that public works staff are not professionally trained to identify materials and artifacts that are culturally important to tribes.
“We want to be able to not only protect and preserve the cultural resources, material that’s out there,” Middleton told Cascadia Daily News when explaining the need to hire a full-time archaeologist. “We also want to protect our staff.”
What happened in 2023
Last summer, a crew from public works was out at Point Roberts addressing drainage issues most likely caused by the massive flooding in 2021. A hill had partially collapsed and blocked a ditch, diverting rainwater downhill into someone’s home.
Because of the density of culturally significant sites on Point Roberts, county code requires public works to check if any known site is in the area. If there is a known site, an archaeologist must conduct a site review.
“The crew, who were doing work in the area, decided to take care of that project, ignoring the need to have an archaeologist examine the site ahead of time,” Middleton said. “They were trying to be proactive in helping people out.”
If staff inadvertently discover something that could be considered culturally important, they are to stop work and an archaeologist must come in to assess the site. That practice fell short in this instance, explained Middleton.
“Because you may have stopped, but you may have stopped two shovels too late,” Middleton said.
An archaeologist who visited the site after the operation determined it contained cultural resource materials.
Hundreds of yards of material were removed from the site. The material remains at an undisclosed location where it is safe, Middleton said.
A full investigation was launched following the incident, leading to the employee being disciplined. The employee is no longer in the position held at the time of the incident, Middleton confirmed.
In addition to securing a supplemental budget for the archaeologist position, the department is establishing a “strong” cultural resource management program and increasing training for all field staff. It’s all in an effort to “ensure the mistake made in Point Roberts never occurs again,” Middleton said.
Mediation efforts
After consulting with the Lummi Nation, the county agreed to hire an archaeologist to develop a remediation plan for the mishandling of culturally sensitive material. Lummi Nation will provide comment on it, as will the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP), before the county paid to have it carried out.
While the county council will make the final decision on whether or not to approve funding for the plan, Middleton noted that public works has already set aside some money in anticipation of the costs.
Bellingham-based Caldera Archaeology was hired in July to survey the site and draft a remedy plan. The company was chosen from a list of four consultants provided to Whatcom County by the Lummi Nation, according to a county memorandum.
It was chosen “due to their availability and responsiveness to this emergent issue,” according to the document. Ed Arthur, who co-founded Caldera Archaeology, declined to comment for this story.
Depending on Arthur’s initial survey, the county might be required to screen all the material removed from the site, conduct spot checks or some other solution, Middleton said.
“Hopefully, the Lummi Nation has some people that we can employ to do that work,” Middleton said. “That’s our preference.”
The county said it is working to ensure complete coordination of the effort with the Lummi Nation and the DAHP. The plan is to be drafted and finalized by the end of the year.
The Lummi Nation declined to comment for this story.
Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.
