Federal: BLM is the lead agency for complying with NEPA, USFS is a cooperating agency. The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Archeological Resources Protection Action, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Antiquities Act of 1906 are some of the numerous regulations for cultural resources. Also, the Federal Land Management and Policy Act (FLMPA) and the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act for regulating the paleontological resources.
State: CEQA guidelines for historical resources, California Code of Regulation (CCR) guidelines for Native American human remains on non-federal land.
The project will attempt to avoid all cultural resources sites. The discovery of any buried cultural deposits will be evaluated by archeologists. All workers must be informed about the sensitivity of the cultural resources and will have to report them. The discovery of any cultural resource is unlikely because the project has been designed to avoid most known archeological resources, although the project EIA states: “Due to various surface conditions or changes over time, not all cultural resources are expressed on the surface. Any project with ground disturbing components has the potential to directly impact unanticipated cultural resources” (EIA Report p. 477).
Cumulative Effects
None mentioned.
Mitigation
The most important mitigation measures are listed below:
The redaction of a Memorandum of agreement for various procedures if the workers were to encounter cultural resources;
The possibility of relocation of certain project components to avoid or reduce damage to cultural resources;
The redaction of a Historic Properties Avoidance Plan that locates and defines all known cultural resources within 150 feet (45.72 m) of the project area;
Archaeological monitoring; and
Consultation with “Indian tribes” to identify sacred sites.
Residual Impacts
Even after the application of these mitigation measures, it is still possible that important cultural resources could be damaged. The mitigation measures will reduce the likelihood of such damage.
The EIA report repeatedly mentions protection and avoidance of the cultural resources, but fails to mention how this will be done.