The Liro Group, NYS Office of General Services (OGS), NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS)
Coxsackie, Greene County, NY
The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCs) proposed the construction of a new 45,000-square-foot training building and firing range at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility. EDR assisted DOCCs and the project design team to balance the programming goals of the project with unexpected on-site constraints, including archaeology, wetlands, and permitting, and threatened/endangered grassland bird habitat.
Archaeology: EDR completed Phase I, II, and III archaeological site investigations/data recovery excavations based on research designs developed in close consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office, Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, DOCCs, OGS, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Investigations at the site included shovel testing, test excavation units, systematic surface collection of the entire Area of Potential Effect, and machine-aided soil stripping of selected areas. EDR archaeologists recovered a total of 7,373 pre-contact Native American artifacts and identified four intact pre-contact archaeological features. Diagnostic artifacts and radiocarbon dates from one of the archaeological features indicate that the site was occupied during the Late Paleoindian, Early, Middle, and Late Archaic, and Late Woodland Periods (i.e., from as early as ~11,500 to 500 years Before Present). The archaeological findings from this site contribute to important research issues in Upper Hudson Valley archaeology related to settlement systems, acquisition of stone for lithic technologies, and the Late Paleoindian Period.
Wildlife: EDR developed a Net Conservation Benefit Plan, which includes proposal to develop and maintain a grassland bird habitat mitigation area within the correctional facility.
Wetlands: EDR’s environmental and GIS staff also conducted on-site field studies and project design recommendations to avoid and minimize impacts to onsite wetlands, resulting in the preparation of a Joint Application for Permit to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.