Archaeologist for Federal Section 106 Reports

WHY THIS ENGAGEMENT: AerialZeus, LLC is a Sacramento-based geospatial intelligence and environmental services firm staffing two new two-year USDA Forest Service environmental compliance task orders across the Southern and Eastern United States. We want a qualified heritage professional we can call on repeatedly over 24 months and name on our federal quotes. ITEM: Heritage survey reports and National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 documentation PROJECT: USDA Forest Service Environmental Compliance Services Period of performance September 2026 through August 2028 MANDATORY QUALIFICATION STANDARD, READ FIRST: This position MUST meet the Secretary of the Interior's Professional Qualification Standards codified at 36 CFR Part 61 in Archaeology, History, or Architectural History (graduate degree plus the specified supervised professional experience). This is a hard requirement driven by the contract deliverables. Field technicians or crew chiefs who do not personally meet 36 CFR 61 cannot be considered, regardless of years worked. Your proposal must state exactly how you meet the standard: degree, field, years, and role history. Applications that do not address this will be declined without review. THE ROLE: You will prepare heritage survey reports and Section 106 documentation and support cultural-resource compliance for projects on multiple national forests. Under these capacity contracts the work is primarily document-level: report writing from existing records and government-furnished data, National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility documentation, and State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) coordination. Any field survey or site re-recording would be separately scoped and priced per task order. WHAT WE OFFER: - A steady multi-year relationship with recurring hours across two solicitations and future task orders under the same contract. - Your name carried on federal quotes as proposed key personnel. - An in-house geospatial and production team so you focus on evaluation and reporting. - Clear scopes, defined deliverables, and prompt payment through Upwork. RESPONSIBILITIES: - Prepare heritage survey reports and Section 106 documentation meeting USDA Forest Service and applicable SHPO reporting standards. - Prepare NRHP eligibility evaluations and determination-of-effect documentation. - Support consultation with SHPOs, Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs), and federally recognized Tribes as directed. - Author or review cultural-resource sections of NEPA documents (Categorical Exclusions and Environmental Assessments). - Conduct records and literature reviews using state site-file systems. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: - Meets 36 CFR Part 61 Professional Qualification Standards (mandatory, see above). - Five (5) or more years of cultural resource management experience, with demonstrated Section 106 work on federal land. - Strong technical writing, able to deliver agency-ready reports remotely on an on-call cadence, and willing to travel for an occasional scoped task order. - Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA) registration strongly preferred. GEOGRAPHIC EXPERIENCE, THIS DRIVES SELECTION: - Top priority: SHPO-accepted reporting experience in ARKANSAS (Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and the Arkansas Archeological Survey site-file system). - Also strongly preferred: state-specific Section 106 and SHPO reporting experience in Texas (Texas Historical Commission, including Antiquities Permits), Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, or Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico SHPO and the Consejo para la Conservacion). - Experience on Forest Service Southern Region (Region 8) units is a plus. - Candidates who meet 36 CFR 61 in more than one discipline (for example, Archaeology plus Architectural History) will be prioritized. DO NOT APPLY IF: - You do not personally meet 36 CFR Part 61 (this is not negotiable for this seat). - You cannot name the specific state SHPO systems you have reported into. - You cannot share at least one report or NRHP evaluation you authored. HOW TO APPLY: Paste the exact phrase "36 CFR 61 QUALIFIED" as the first line of your proposal. Then answer, in order: 1. Which 36 CFR 61 discipline or disciplines you meet, and exactly how (degree, field, years, supervised experience). 2. Which states' SHPO systems you have reported into, and whether Arkansas is among them. 3. Your Register of Professional Archaeologists status. 4. One or two reports or NRHP evaluations you authored (agency or client, year, your role, and a link or attachment if you can share). 5. Your home state, time zone, and 24-month availability. Proposals without the phrase, or that do not address the 36 CFR 61 standard directly, will not be reviewed.