An Intensive Pedestrian Survey for the Proposed Salado Greenway Trails-Rogers Ranch Connection, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

On August 23, 2023, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) conducted an intensive pedestrian survey of the proposed City of San Antonio (COSA) parks project, Rogers Ranch Connection to the Salado Greenway Trails network. This trail connection is located in the Rogers Ranch neighborhood in north San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. The work was conducted in response to a request from Adams Environmental, Inc. (AEI), which is an environmental subcontractor to the project engineering team, Bain Medina Bain. The project took place on land that will ultimately be an easement controlled by a subdivision of the State of Texas, and therefore the project required review by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) under the Antiquities Code of Texas, as well as by the COSA Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) under the Unified Development Code (Article 6 35-630 to 35-634). The planned modifications also potentially impact Waters of the United States, which would trigger provisions of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and regulatory review by the Fort Worth District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). CAR obtained Texas Antiquities Permit No. 31308 prior to the commencement of fieldwork. Cynthia Munoz, CAR Interim Director, served as the Principal Investigator for the project, and Sarah Wigley served as the Project Archaeologist.

CAR excavated 18 shovel tests within the project area, which included an approximately 1 kilometer long, 3-meter wide trail alignment, a proposed trail head measuring approximately 0.1 hectare (ha [0.25 acres]), and two proposed staging areas measuring approximately 0.4 ha (0.9 acres) for a total of 8 ha (19.8 acres). Four shovel tests were positive for cultural material, including chipped stone and burned rock and were ultimately included within the boundaries of newly recorded site 41BX2552. The CAR recommends that site 41BX2552 is not eligible for designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL) or listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and CAR also recommends that construction proceed as planned. All artifacts collected and records generated during the course of this project are permanently curated at the CAR under accession number 2773.