227-C:7 Permits Issued for State Lands and Waters. –
I. To assure proper protection, investigation, interpretation and management of historic resources, and the continued availability of historic resources for scientific study by qualified persons, agencies or institutions, the state, acting through the commissioner, reserves to itself the exclusive right and privilege to conduct, or cause to be conducted, field investigations of historic resources that involve the alteration of the surface or subsurface of the resource and removal of any surface or subsurface objects.
II. The commissioner shall establish categories of field investigations that may yield or alter historic resources and qualification criteria for professional and avocational archeologists for all categories of field investigations.
III. For purposes of determining proper persons to whom permits may be issued, the original discoverer of a previously unrecorded historic resource shall be conclusively presumed to be an appropriate person to actively participate in all phases of subsequent field investigations and shall be eligible to receive a permit under the rules adopted by the commissioner, except as provided in RSA 227-C:8-a through 8-g relative to the discovery of human remains.
IV. The division shall issue a permit to any person, agency, or institution upon application to conduct field investigations in accordance with the rules adopted by the office, except as provided in RSA 227-C:8-a through 8-g relative to the discovery of human remains.
V. The commissioner may conduct hearings upon receiving written complaint from any person, including a council member, concerning the issuance, denial of issuance, revocation, suspension, extension, or refusal of extension of any permit issued under this chapter.