Hollister RMP/EIR Project Manager: Leslie Fryman Date: February 2005 - June 2005 Albion contracted with E&E (Ecology and Environment, Inc., San Francisco) to prepare the cultural resources portions of a Resources Management Plan (RMP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Hollister Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in California. Working with E&E and the BLM project team, Albion provided technical expertise to document the cultural resources setting on Hollister public lands and to analyze the impacts of future BLM management actions planned for approximately 350,000 acres of area lands under BLM jurisdiction. These lands are scattered throughout the greater west-central region of California, including Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, the Santa Clara Valley, and the western portion of the San Joaquin Valley. They include areas previously determined to be extremely sensitive for archaeological sites and traditional cultural properties, such as Panoche Creek and Joaquin Rocks, as well as large land tracts like Santa Cruz Coast Dairies and Fort Ord Public Lands. Information on previous archaeological studies and established culture chronologies for this diverse region was collected and reviewed in order to prepare detailed prehistoric, ethnographic, and historic background sections and to identify potentially sensitive areas and resource types. Draft cultural resources impacts analyses were in turn responsive to both near- and long-term management plans drafted by the BLM, with appropriate mitigation measures developed for any significant impacts. Albion's archaeologists prepared the following documentation for the Hollister BLM RMP/EIS: Affected Environment for cultural resources, including comprehensive background information for the prehistoric, ethnographic, and historic periods; Regulatory Framework outlining regulations for compliance with NEPA and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and other laws applicable for cultural resources compliance; Guidelines for consulting regional Native American groups regarding their interests in cultural resources and traditional cultural properties on Hollister BLM lands; Sensitivity Study for known and predicted archaeological resources on Hollister BLM lands; Program-level procedures for near-term and long-term management of known and predicted cultural resources, including protection measures for National Register-eligible sites as well as mitigation measures for cultural resources with the potential to be significantly impacted by future undertakings and management decisions (eg., land exchange, fire control, recreation). Return to "Environmental Impact Assessments."
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