Current Research: Current Research in the Upper McGee Creek Drainage, Oklahoma

Abstract

In recent years the Choctaw Nation has acquired a roughly 80 square mile ranch in the western edge of the Winding Stair Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma. The land is currently a working ranch and timber management area. Choctaw Forestry manages timber activities and range management with the intention of returning the land to an oak savanna setting. Active logging of pine and selected hardwoods and on-going controlled surface burns are included in Forestry activity on the ranch. The project is supported by the Choctaw Nation Historic Preservation Department, which is responsible for the inventory and protection of the cultural resources found on the property. Archeological surveys were conducted in the McGee Creek Reservoir area in the 1970s and 1980s and a wide range of significant cultural resources were located in the reservoir area, less than 10 miles south of the ranch. Only one previous survey was conducted on the ranch property, by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission in the 1980s ahead of construction of an upland flood control reservoir. Significant archeological resources were recorded. Since very little was known about the ranch property itself, it was presumed that this portion of the McGee Creek drainage would also have a similar archeological importance.