SRI became the prime contractor for the Luke Air Force Base (AFB) Barry M. Goldwater Range (BMGR) program in September 1999 and immediately began providing a full range of services for the multiple U.S. Air Force (USAF) and related holdings in southwestern Arizona. The BMGR, which extends from the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in the south to Interstate 8 near Gila Bend in the north, and from the Tohono O’odham Reservation to Yuma on the west, contains three tactical subranges—North Tac, South Tac, and East Tac—which are used for live-fire and simulated-artillery and bombing activities for pilot training. The BMGR also contains four other manned ranges used for practice bombing and strafing missions. Our delivery orders for Luke AFB cover the entire range of historic preservation services. A primary objective for Section 106 and 110 compliance is to inventory a set amount of acreage in each tactical range as it goes “cold” each year for target maintenance and ordnance removal. As part of the integrated cultural resources management plan, SRI has provided comprehensive geographic information system (GIS) and site-disturbance data and updates to the 56th Range Management Office (56 RMO) for sites inventoried by SRI and other contractors.

Our field activities began in October 1999, and since that time we have surveyed thousands of acres on each of the tactical ranges and on the manned ranges and have performed data recovery at several rockshelters, surveys of areas under consideration for special-purpose activities (on the range as well as at Luke AFB and the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Air Field), data recovery of a site on land near the BMGR that involved working with hazardous materials, and site steward training. Working when ranges were inactive, or “cold,” SRI would mobilize as many as four survey teams for the 6-8 -week period when survey was possible. To maximize the amount of work during these windows of opportunity, SRI became skilled at balancing a complex logistical situation with the need to meet Luke’s acreage-coverage requirements. To do this, SRI worked closely with staff from the 56 RMO and USAF Department of Defense explosive-ordnance-demolition experts to ensure that appropriate safety measures were always followed. During active rotations, SRI had more than 20 archaeologists in the field working on different tasks related to the project, including GIS and Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS) mapping, archaeological survey, and site recording. SRI has developed a site-recording form that is linked to our in-house database. The reporting formats from the database include Arizona State Museum Site Record Forms that automatically populate with GIS and GPS topographic map data and other base data.

Additional task orders for Luke AFB have included collections-management tasks, a study of curation options for materials recovered from the BMGR over the years, a historic context study for military training properties found on the ranges, and Native American consultation support. At the close of each major survey on the range, tours for interested Native American groups were held. Some of these tours included special weekend visits to project locales for Tohono O’odham tribal representatives and elders.

Most of SRI’s work for Luke was carried out under a 5-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity contract, but, since 2005, the installation has continued to contract with us for additional work using SRI’s General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule Contract or other contract vehicles with other federal agencies. Between the original contact and subsequent work contracted through GSA, SRI has been awarded well over 50 delivery orders by Luke AFB.