Maria Schleidt

Maria Schleidt serves as an Archaeologist with the National Forests in Mississippi, operating under the U.S. Forest Service within the Department of Agriculture. In this role, she provides critical cultural resource management expertise to ensure compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act and other federal environmental statutes. Her procurement responsibilities center on securing professional archaeological services for survey, excavation, assessment, and mitigation of cultural resources on federally managed forest lands. She plays a pivotal role in integrating cultural heritage preservation into broader land management objectives, including trail construction, road maintenance, and wildfire resilience projects, ensuring that all acquisitions uphold federal standards for archaeological integrity and public stewardship. Maria works closely with specialized cultural resource consulting firms and academic institutions that possess demonstrated expertise in cultural resource management, historic preservation, and archaeological fieldwork. Her contractor relationships are built on technical proficiency, regulatory compliance, and experience conducting subsurface investigations in the southeastern U.S. ecological context. She prioritizes vendors with certified archaeologists, established protocols for tribal consultation, and documented success in delivering federally compliant cultural resource reports and mitigation plans. Maria maintains a 100% small business set-aside preference across all archaeological service acquisitions, consistently directing contracts to small businesses, including 8(a), HUBZone, and women-owned firms with specialized cultural resource capabilities. Her contracting strategy actively promotes equitable access for small firms with niche expertise in archaeological surveying, artifact analysis, and National Register evaluations, reinforcing the agency’s commitment to socioeconomic inclusion and capacity building within the professional archaeology sector. Her procurement activity is exclusively focused on NAICS 541990 — All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services — encompassing cultural resource assessments, heritage documentation, GIS-based site mapping, and archaeological monitoring services. She specializes in acquiring fieldwork and reporting services tailored to the unique archaeological environments of Mississippi’s forested landscapes, ensuring that all contracted efforts align with federal preservation standards and support sustainable land use.