The Sculpture Forest is close to old Native American settlements and activity at Long Point and around Penn Cove.  It is also near a potential Native American cemetery site.  As such, the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation plus local Native American tribes have an interest to ensure that no artifacts or human remains are uncovered during the trail building process.

As part of the process of obtaining a building permit from Island County, we agreed to pay for professional archaeological monitoring of a specific area of interest in the park and also invite Native American tribal representatives to visit and inspect progress during the primary digging for trail and parking lot construction.

The archaeologist did not find any artifacts or remains during the trail digging with equipment.  The Native American tribe representative has been happy with our progress, performance of best practices in looking for any artifacts during construction, and protecting this entire forested landscape via the community park.

Archaeologist monitoring trail building contractor progress

Archaeologist (middle right among trees) taking pictures of trail building operation