NT-22-01: Capacity Building and Collaboration with the Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag Tribes

The overall goal of this cooperative agreement is to develop and provide capacity to the Tribes so that they have the capabilities to manage and analyze the requisite environmental information supplied to them by offshore wind energy developers. Moreover, this will facilitate more effective collaboration between BOEM and these tribes. The specific objectives that will enable BOEM to accomplish this goal during this study are: To develop pro-active, best practices for the management of data and information concerning cultural and archaeological places important to both the Tribes. These will include the review and  analysis of technical data provided by offshore wind energy developers in support of their COPs for projects located offshore of Aquinnah and Mashpee lands. This information will be used to inventory and monitor adverse effects to those ancient, submerged landforms and traditional cultural properties and associated areas of significance that BOEM must consider during future offshore renewable energy development. Incorporate indigenous knowledge and language with remote-sensing and bathymetry data collected from these areas into a model depicting the preservation potential of submerged ancient cultural landforms and associated archaeological resources, as appropriate. To work and collaborate with tribal nations to train them to actively monitor and document offshore cultural and archaeological resources that may be impacted as a result of BOEM’s approved activities.