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Blog: Topica Digest  



Date: Tue,  2 Jan 2007 18:50:40 +0000
From: andre cramblit <andrekar@ncidc.org>
Subject: To Honor (profile)



To honor and defend
Indian artifacts are lost as forests are logged, critics say, because
safeguards are inadequate
By Christina Jewett - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PST Monday, January 1, 2007

SONOMA COUNTY-In a remote clearing in a ridgetop forest, Reno Franklin
kneeled to the ground and flicked scraps of bark with a trowel.

He was looking for ancient evidence of his people, the Kashaya band of
the Pomo Indians. A fine mist fell. Fir trees, huckleberry bushes and
chanterelle mushrooms surrounded Franklin.

"You could hang out here and sharpen your tools," he said, as if
viewing
the land through the eyes of his ancestors. "This is a nice spot."

The recent hunt was part of an exploration of lands where private
owners
plan to cut trees, with Franklin accompanied by a state archaeologist
whose job is to fulfill an obscure mission of state law: safeguarding
archaeological and historical artifacts deep in the woods.

But controversy surrounds the 25-year-old program, with some scholars
and American Indians saying it is so understaffed that irreplacable,
ancient treasures are being destroyed.

"It's just impossible for those people to cover a state this big,"
Franklin said of the half-dozen archaeologists who oversee state and
some private lands. "It's a joke."

The six archaeologists employed by the California Department of
Forestry
and Fire Protection monitor nearly 180,000 acres where landowners
harvest trees each year, documenting archaeological discoveries and
working with landowners to be sure the sites remain unharmed.

In contrast, 75 state archaeologists monitor new road projects for
Caltrans and 26 monitor digging in state parks.

Bill Snyder, deputy director of resource management at CDF, said the
program seems to be working well, particularly in contrast with a
complete absence of archaeological oversight in the early 1980s.

"I think in general it's worked pretty well," he said. "Nothing is
perfect."

But some scholars say there are too few people protecting such sites.
Greg White, director of the Archaeological Research Program at
California State University, Chico, is critical of staffing levels in
CDF's program. He also questions the department's reliance on
foresters,
who receive five days of archaeological training and complete the
initial -- and in some cases only -- survey of land set aside for tree
cutting.

Franklin became active in the quest to preserve his tribe's heritage
after the site of an ancient village and roundhouse -- a religious
meeting place -- were bulldozed to make way for a vineyard near
Cazadero
in October 2004.

He said elders in his tribe wept when they learned the site was
destroyed.

"Indian people, we're very tied to our land," said Franklin, who is his
tribe's historic preservation officer. "Every time those sites get
damaged, it reflects negatively on us as a tribe. It hurts us."

On the recent afternoon Franklin searched the Sonoma woods near
Annapolis Ridge, CDF archaeologist Chuck Whatford joined him.

Whatford, a CDF archaeologist for more than a decade, estimates that he
spends half to three-fourths of his time each year checking about 200
timber harvest plans -- scanning land slated for tree-cutting for
archaeological sites.

He also parachutes in to wildfires and helps crews divert the blaze
from
historical sites and scopes land proposed for CDF buildings.

For timber harvest plans, registered foresters do the first survey of
land slated for cutting, checking for known archaeological sites and
scanning the forest floor for new ones.

Whatford reviews their work, searching for Indian villages, worship
sites or campgrounds marked by artifacts or silky black soil that forms
beneath land used for hundreds of years for cooking and working.

"Could I use more help?" he mused, driving through twisting roads to
the
Sonoma County inspection site Dec. 12. "Sure."

If Whatford finds an archaeologically significant site, he documents it
and seeks compromise between the landowner and local tribe -- often
allowing tree harvesting yet causing no damage to the site.

Michael Jani, vice president of Mendocino Redwood Co., which owns the
555-acre Sonoma County site, went along with Whatford and Franklin on
the recent survey.

Jani said the company realizes the archaeological sites have sacred
value and that "there are any variety of solutions" to harvesting
timber
while preserving the sites.

The data archaeologists record from the sites can be analyzed by
anthropologists who piece together California's history.

Franklin visited one Kashaya site about a mile from the tribe's
reservation the day he joined Whatford for the land survey.

In the forest about 100 yards from a rural road, Franklin noted the
round footprint of a tribal shelter and raven soil enriched by
generations of inhabitation.

"You can feel the silkiness," Franklin said, rubbing his fingers
against
the soil called "midden" by archaeologists. Franklin said a forester
noted the site several years ago when logging was proposed there, and
the company steered clear of the area.

Walter Antone, a Kashaya elder, said Indians visit the site
periodically, but leave it untouched.

"It's sort of taboo to take anything away," he said. "We might find an
arrow point, but something tells us 'no, put it back.' We leave it."

Conflict arises when foresters and archaeologists miss sites
altogether.

Shelly Davis-King, the past president of the Society for California
Archaeology, wrote a letter to CDF, blasting its archaeology program
for
standing by while historical sites were logged.

She said she checked a site in Tuolumne County where a forester
overlooked a historic logging railroad grade that was eligible for the
National Register of Historic Places and conversion to a recreational
trail.

She called the program "broken," saying archaeologists are so
understaffed they can not fulfill their mission.

"All (historical) resources are nonrenewable," she said. "Once gone,
they're gone and we can't get them back."

Snyder, of CDF, said he plans to familiarize himself with Davis-King's
concerns.

He said CDF is interested in seeing that historic sites are protected,
and tries to fulfill the task with foresters doing the first line of
work and archaeologists providing oversight.

"We look at breaking the workload up the best we can," he said. "In
general, (foresters) do a reasonable job of spotting what's out there."

Adrian Miller, California Licensed Foresters Association president,
said
the foresters save land owners money by doing the initial
archaeological
check. CDF archaeologists perform a needed second check, he said.

Eric Huff, who oversees licensing of foresters for CDF, said the
state's
roughly 550 foresters are carefully monitored. Several have been
suspended from practicing forestry and sent back to training after
failing to note archaeological sites.

The safeguards still fall short of what Franklin would like to see. So
he plans to shadow archaeologists scoping land once inhabited by his
tribe.

"It's a real sense of accomplishment," he said, walking out of the
Sonoma County forest. "You're preserving the places that are sacred to
your people."

Posted: Wednesday January 3, 2007, 4:15 am
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