Post by Okwes on May 16, 2007 9:47:46 GMT -5
Who are you calling extinct?
Development neglects tribe
ALEX DOBUZINSKIS, Staff writer
LA Daily News
They have an office in San Fernando, their own Web site and a membership
roll of 740. They are the Fernandeño Tataviam band of Mission Indians.
But an environmental impact report for a 1,400-home housing development
outside Santa Clarita found the tribe to be extinct, drawing criticism from
Indian groups.
"If the traffic section of an EIR, if the preparations of the traffic
section were to say that the I-5 Freeway didn't exist, no one in their
right mind would say that the traffic analysis was complete," said Angela
Mooney D'Arcy, director of cultural resource programs with the Wishtoyo
Foundation, an American-Indian group.
"And similarly, any cultural or archeological assessment that claims the
tribal nation for whom this area is important is extinct couldn't possibly
be a qualified archaeological or cultural report."
Rudy Ortega Jr., tribal administrator for the Tataviam band of Indians,
said developer Newhall Land knows the tribe exists because it is working
with them on another project involving Tataviam cultural sites.
"For us at first, when we discovered this error, many of the tribal
representatives were kind of shocked to hear that," he said, "but (we) knew
that it was a mistake and that Newhall would correct it as well."
The Landmark Village project would have 1,400 homes and is part of the huge
Newhall Ranch project planned for west of Santa Clarita along State Route
126. The project was discussed at Wednesday's Regional Planning Commission
meeting.
In addition to the Wishtoyo Foundation's criticism of the EIR, the
California Native American Heritage Commission also submitted a letter to
the Planning Commission arguing the Tataviam had been overlooked.
Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for Newhall Land and Farming Co., said the part
of the EIR that calls the Tataviam extinct was based on a report written in
the 1970s. But Newhall Land has been working with Ortega and his tribe, she
said.
"The bottom line is that under the state regulations, which we have always
followed, we pay a lot of attention to making sure that we respect sites of
archaeological significance,archaeological significance,<WBR>" s
consultant on hand as activity commences at Landmark, that will be someone
for the Fernandeño (Tataviam) tribe."
On various projects Newhall Land has undertaken over the years, the company
has come across Indian farming tools, pestles and other items it has turned
over for safekeeping, she said.
The EIR indicates in an appendix that the Tataviam once lived in the
project area. But it continues, "Some controversy exists in reference to
this attribution, as the Tataviam are now extinct and were effectively so
prior to the initiation of systematic anthropological studies at the turn
of the century."
The EIR also states that the last speaker of Tataviam died in 1916, and
that members of the tribe were absorbed through intermarriage.
_alex.dobuzinskis@alex.dobuzale_ (mailto:alex.dobuzinskis@dailynews.com)
(661) 257-5253
Development neglects tribe
ALEX DOBUZINSKIS, Staff writer
LA Daily News
They have an office in San Fernando, their own Web site and a membership
roll of 740. They are the Fernandeño Tataviam band of Mission Indians.
But an environmental impact report for a 1,400-home housing development
outside Santa Clarita found the tribe to be extinct, drawing criticism from
Indian groups.
"If the traffic section of an EIR, if the preparations of the traffic
section were to say that the I-5 Freeway didn't exist, no one in their
right mind would say that the traffic analysis was complete," said Angela
Mooney D'Arcy, director of cultural resource programs with the Wishtoyo
Foundation, an American-Indian group.
"And similarly, any cultural or archeological assessment that claims the
tribal nation for whom this area is important is extinct couldn't possibly
be a qualified archaeological or cultural report."
Rudy Ortega Jr., tribal administrator for the Tataviam band of Indians,
said developer Newhall Land knows the tribe exists because it is working
with them on another project involving Tataviam cultural sites.
"For us at first, when we discovered this error, many of the tribal
representatives were kind of shocked to hear that," he said, "but (we) knew
that it was a mistake and that Newhall would correct it as well."
The Landmark Village project would have 1,400 homes and is part of the huge
Newhall Ranch project planned for west of Santa Clarita along State Route
126. The project was discussed at Wednesday's Regional Planning Commission
meeting.
In addition to the Wishtoyo Foundation's criticism of the EIR, the
California Native American Heritage Commission also submitted a letter to
the Planning Commission arguing the Tataviam had been overlooked.
Marlee Lauffer, spokeswoman for Newhall Land and Farming Co., said the part
of the EIR that calls the Tataviam extinct was based on a report written in
the 1970s. But Newhall Land has been working with Ortega and his tribe, she
said.
"The bottom line is that under the state regulations, which we have always
followed, we pay a lot of attention to making sure that we respect sites of
archaeological significance,archaeological significance,<WBR>" s
consultant on hand as activity commences at Landmark, that will be someone
for the Fernandeño (Tataviam) tribe."
On various projects Newhall Land has undertaken over the years, the company
has come across Indian farming tools, pestles and other items it has turned
over for safekeeping, she said.
The EIR indicates in an appendix that the Tataviam once lived in the
project area. But it continues, "Some controversy exists in reference to
this attribution, as the Tataviam are now extinct and were effectively so
prior to the initiation of systematic anthropological studies at the turn
of the century."
The EIR also states that the last speaker of Tataviam died in 1916, and
that members of the tribe were absorbed through intermarriage.
_alex.dobuzinskis@alex.dobuzale_ (mailto:alex.dobuzinskis@dailynews.com)
(661) 257-5253