Diane Prather

Diane Prather serves as a Forest Archaeologist with the Lincoln National Forest under the U.S. Forest Service, where she leads cultural resource assessments and ensures compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act and NEPA requirements. Her role is integral to the agency’s mission of sustainable land stewardship, as she evaluates proposed projects for potential impacts on archaeological sites, historic structures, and culturally significant landscapes. She facilitates the acquisition of specialized geophysical surveying and mapping services to support inventory, documentation, and mitigation efforts prior to infrastructure, trail, or fuel reduction activities. Her procurement activities are tightly aligned with ecological restoration and wildfire risk reduction initiatives, ensuring cultural resources are protected through scientifically informed, contract-driven fieldwork. Diane collaborates with a network of qualified cultural resource consultants and geospatial service providers who specialize in non-invasive subsurface detection, LiDAR analysis, and archaeological survey design. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages firms with proven expertise in federal cultural resource management, emphasizing technical rigor, regulatory compliance, and field adaptability in remote forest environments. Her working relationships are built on long-term trust, performance-based evaluations, and adherence to federal standards for archaeological methodology. Diane maintains a 100% small business set-aside preference across all her acquisitions, fully aligned with FAR 19.5, ensuring that contracts for geophysical surveying and mapping services are exclusively awarded to small businesses. This reflects a deliberate commitment to expanding economic opportunity for minority-owned, women-owned, and HUBZone-certified firms with niche capabilities in cultural resource investigation. Her contracting patterns consistently prioritize socioeconomic equity while maintaining stringent technical standards. Her primary procurement focus is NAICS 541360—Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services—encompassing ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, resistivity surveys, and high-resolution topographic mapping. She procures services that enable non-destructive identification and documentation of archaeological features, supporting data-driven decisions in land management planning and environmental review processes.