U.S. Forest Service Archeologist Scott Ashcraft sent a letter that “thousands of acres” of national forest land are being improperly developed or part of prescribed burns when the land should be protected because of its archaeological significance.
In the letter, Ashcraft says that since 2020, he has witnessed “and tried to stop a pervasive, systematic, and escalating pattern of illegal, unethical, and irresponsible behavior by the Forest Service in North Carolina.”
“These actions are irreparably damaging or destroying an untold sum of Native American cultural and archeological sites including some of great significance. This conduct continues to this day,” Ashcraft said in the letter.
He explained that he filed a whistleblower report in May 2023 but said he hasn’t seen any change. “In fact they are getting worse,” he wrote.
“A culture of complicit impunity and malicious retaliation, lawlessness, deception and a general abdication of our basic duty to steward cultural resources has left me with no choice but to escalate this matter to your attention,” Ashcraft said in the letter.
Ashcraft said his title is Heritage Resources Program Manager, Archaeologist and Rock Art Specialist at the Pisgah National Forest in his letter addressed to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, N.C. Governor Roy Cooper, Members of Congress and others.
Ashcraft specifically called out several projects in Western North Carolina that he says “contain a plethora of new and significant Native American site types.” He listed the Old Fort Trails Project, the Lickstone Project and the Seniard Creek Project.
He explained that the Forest Service assumes that sloping landscapes are unlikely to contain sites of Tribal significance “despite incontrovertible scientific proof to the contrary.” He calls that assumption, “careless, destructive and irresponsible. It is also illegal.”
This isn’t the first time such accusations have been made in the region. In 2016, the Associated Press revealed that the U.S. Forest Service ripped up a portion of the Trail of Tears in the Appalachian Mountains in 2014. Since then the Forest Service has officially apologized and in the recent Nantahala Pisgah Forest Plan, the Forest Service said that consulting with local tribes was an important part of the planning process. The plan lists 12 tribes with historic ties and interests in the management of the Forests in the plan area.
In 2022, the Eastern Band of Cherokee entered into a new stewardship agreement with the Forest Service.
“The Tribal Forest Protection Act allows for the Forest Service to enter into an agreement with a tribe to work on projects that are of mutual interest, especially as it relates to things like reducing fire risk, and watershed resiliency and other potential impacts to tribal resources, that we can work on together to restore,” North Carolina National Forest Supervisor James Melonas told BPR in 2023.
This was the first time a group has signed an agreement under the Tribal Forest Protection Act in the Southern Region of the Forest Service.
Ashcraft said that while his disclosure is specific to North Carolina that this is “a national problem for the Forest Service because there are no guardrails to stop the Forest Service from knowingly relying on ineffectual models.”
Forest Supervisor James Melonas responded to the allegations by explaining that the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests are the ancestral homelands of a dozen Tribes with connections to these lands stretching back to time immemorial.
He says that it is a top priority to work with Tribal National.
"When an internal concern was raised about the process in which the National Forests in North Carolina reviews heritage sites, the USDA Office of Inspector General made the decision to refer the matter to the Forest Service rather than opening an investigation," Melonas said in a statement.
He said that while awaiting guidance from the Inspector General, the National Forests in North Carolina requested an independent review of several projects on the Pisgah National Forest to ensure compliance with the law.
"A team of subject-matter experts found that the Forest Service followed all legal requirements but did identify a few procedural recommendations to improve heritage-related workflows. To ensure transparency, we reported the findings of the review to consulting Tribes and the relevant state offices," Melonas said in a statement.
Here is the full letter from Ashcraft:
