Post by Okwes on Jun 6, 2007 14:57:38 GMT -5
Oak Grove May Be Native American Burial Site
By Richard Brenneman
Rediscovered evidence of Native American burials at the site of UC
Berkeley's Memorial Stadium�omitted in university environmental
documents�raises new questions about the future of the oak grove
beside the stadium where the university is planning a massive building
project.
Despite evidence in the university's files of the burial site, key
environmental documents were adopted by the UC Regents for the project
without the archaeological survey which appears to be required by the
California Environmental Quality Act when human remains have been found
on a building site.
"I'm quite concerned about this apparent whitewash of what could
be a significant environmental resource," said Stephan Volker, an
attorney for one of the plaintiff groups now challenging university
plans in court. "This appears to be a critical omission in the
university's environmental review."
Zachary Running Wolf, the former Berkeley mayoral candidate and Native
American activist who began the ongoing tree-sitting protest in a grove
of coastal live oaks at the site of a planned high-tech gym immediately
west of the stadium, agreed.
Running Wolf was arrested by university police Friday on suspicion of
vandalism within hours of turning a copy of a record of the presence of
human remains on the site over to the Daily Planet. He was served with
an order to remain off-campus for 14 days, then released on $3,000 bail.
"I am going back into the tree," he said after his release.
"I told them that if they go into the tree after me, I will see it
as a threat and respond accordingly. If they attack me, they are
attacking my entire community."
The record he obtained comes from the university's Phoebe Hearst
Museum of Anthropology. a single sheet of paper he said was provided
"by someone at the university with a conscience." It reports the
discovery of "burials removed during the building of the U.C.
stadium."
The activist described the discovery of the burials records as "very
important for our people. I had always suspected there might be burials
here," he said.
University officials were unavailable for comment Monday because of the
Presidents Day holiday.
Discovery of evidence of burials at the site could throw more
complications into the university's plans, bringing into play
sections of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) regulating
treatment of religious and burial sites as well as other provisions of
state law.
Site records
The document, an archaeological site survey record for what was then the
University of California Museum of Anthropology, identified the site as
Ala-23, "beneath the present University of California stadium."
The document is the record of one artifact taken from the burials, a
"coin from Sonora, Mexico (dating in second quarter of 19th
Century." (sic) The university's accession (acquisition) number
for the coin is 12-3490.
The record cites a clipping from the June 21, 1925, San Francisco
Examiner which noted the stadium burials as well as a second site,
Ala-308, at the location of the university's Faculty Club, then
under construction.
A microfilm copy of the newspaper, available at the San Francisco Public
Library, features an article on page eight with the headline "Third
Skeleton Found in Grove on U.C. Campus."
The skeletons cited in the headline were discovered during excavation
for the Faculty Club, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Leslie Spier
told the Examiner.
"In addition to the three skeletons found on the clubhouse site,
several more were found during the building of the stadium, a short
distance away," the article continues.
Neither burial site is mentioned in either the draft environmental
impact report (EIR) nor the final EIR on the Southeast Campus Integrated
Projects (SCIP), the planning document for the university's plans
for building more than 300,000 square feet of new construction at and
near the stadium.
The closest the documents come to acknowledging the prior discovery of
any archaeological remains at the site is a single sentence:
"Cultural remains may have been impacted by prior construction."
A check with the university's own museum would have revealed the
discovery of burials at the heart of the immediate construction area.
The EIR recommends�but does not require�an archaeological survey
prior to construction, but does require work to be stopped if remains
are discovered "until impacts to the sites can be mitigated."
"It appears that the university's own records belie its
EIR," Volker said. "I will be filing a California Public Records
Act request with the university for their files on any past and current
archaeological resources at this location."
Regulations
Native burials are cited in numerous section of California law, with the
most significant references in CEQA sections 21083.2 and 21804.1.
According to CEQA guidelines published by the Governor's Office of
Planning and Research, if the presence of unique archaeological sites is
likely, "the lead agency should require a field survey by a
qualified professional archaeologist in order to assess the significance
of the resource."
No such survey was undertaken for the EIR, which was produced by a
Berkeley consulting firm, David C. Early's Design Community
Environment (DCE), under contract with the university. The same firm
produced the EIR for the university's Long Range Development Plan
2020.
While the state Public Resources Code created and empowered the Native
American Heritage Commission and empowered it to regulate all native
religious and burial sites in the state, government properties are
exempted from commission oversight.
Other section of the same code may apply, including the sections
governing the State Historic Resources Commission, which is charged,
among other things, with regulating state and nationally designated
sites. The stadium and its surroundings were added to the National
Register of Historic Places last year, a listing that includes the site
in the commission's purview.
Another resources code specifically grants the state Department of Parks
and Recreation oversight of archaeological resources on projects on
public lands, including university property. The California Government
Code also gives the state attorney general power to intervene in cases
where native burials are threatened.
SCIP projects
The most controversial of the SCIP projects is the 142,000-square-foot
Student Athlete High Performance planned along the stadium's western
wall.
That site houses the grove now occupied by Running Wolf and the other
protesters who have built platforms high in the branches, where they are
supported by a crew of volunteers.
The SCIP projects are currently the subject of legal challenges filed by
four plaintiffs, including the City of Berkeley. Volker's suit,
filed on behalf of the California Oaks Foundation, specifically targets
the grove. The other actions, while mentioning the trees, are focused
more broadly on the impact of the SCIP projects on the city and
surrounding neighborhoods.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller has granted an
injunction pending the outcome of a full hearing on the issues several
months hence. That decision effectively blocked any construction plans
for this year.
According to final project EIR�the document now being contested in
Judge Miller's court�the total amount of new construction
planned under SCIP totals 451,000 square feet.
By Richard Brenneman
Rediscovered evidence of Native American burials at the site of UC
Berkeley's Memorial Stadium�omitted in university environmental
documents�raises new questions about the future of the oak grove
beside the stadium where the university is planning a massive building
project.
Despite evidence in the university's files of the burial site, key
environmental documents were adopted by the UC Regents for the project
without the archaeological survey which appears to be required by the
California Environmental Quality Act when human remains have been found
on a building site.
"I'm quite concerned about this apparent whitewash of what could
be a significant environmental resource," said Stephan Volker, an
attorney for one of the plaintiff groups now challenging university
plans in court. "This appears to be a critical omission in the
university's environmental review."
Zachary Running Wolf, the former Berkeley mayoral candidate and Native
American activist who began the ongoing tree-sitting protest in a grove
of coastal live oaks at the site of a planned high-tech gym immediately
west of the stadium, agreed.
Running Wolf was arrested by university police Friday on suspicion of
vandalism within hours of turning a copy of a record of the presence of
human remains on the site over to the Daily Planet. He was served with
an order to remain off-campus for 14 days, then released on $3,000 bail.
"I am going back into the tree," he said after his release.
"I told them that if they go into the tree after me, I will see it
as a threat and respond accordingly. If they attack me, they are
attacking my entire community."
The record he obtained comes from the university's Phoebe Hearst
Museum of Anthropology. a single sheet of paper he said was provided
"by someone at the university with a conscience." It reports the
discovery of "burials removed during the building of the U.C.
stadium."
The activist described the discovery of the burials records as "very
important for our people. I had always suspected there might be burials
here," he said.
University officials were unavailable for comment Monday because of the
Presidents Day holiday.
Discovery of evidence of burials at the site could throw more
complications into the university's plans, bringing into play
sections of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) regulating
treatment of religious and burial sites as well as other provisions of
state law.
Site records
The document, an archaeological site survey record for what was then the
University of California Museum of Anthropology, identified the site as
Ala-23, "beneath the present University of California stadium."
The document is the record of one artifact taken from the burials, a
"coin from Sonora, Mexico (dating in second quarter of 19th
Century." (sic) The university's accession (acquisition) number
for the coin is 12-3490.
The record cites a clipping from the June 21, 1925, San Francisco
Examiner which noted the stadium burials as well as a second site,
Ala-308, at the location of the university's Faculty Club, then
under construction.
A microfilm copy of the newspaper, available at the San Francisco Public
Library, features an article on page eight with the headline "Third
Skeleton Found in Grove on U.C. Campus."
The skeletons cited in the headline were discovered during excavation
for the Faculty Club, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Leslie Spier
told the Examiner.
"In addition to the three skeletons found on the clubhouse site,
several more were found during the building of the stadium, a short
distance away," the article continues.
Neither burial site is mentioned in either the draft environmental
impact report (EIR) nor the final EIR on the Southeast Campus Integrated
Projects (SCIP), the planning document for the university's plans
for building more than 300,000 square feet of new construction at and
near the stadium.
The closest the documents come to acknowledging the prior discovery of
any archaeological remains at the site is a single sentence:
"Cultural remains may have been impacted by prior construction."
A check with the university's own museum would have revealed the
discovery of burials at the heart of the immediate construction area.
The EIR recommends�but does not require�an archaeological survey
prior to construction, but does require work to be stopped if remains
are discovered "until impacts to the sites can be mitigated."
"It appears that the university's own records belie its
EIR," Volker said. "I will be filing a California Public Records
Act request with the university for their files on any past and current
archaeological resources at this location."
Regulations
Native burials are cited in numerous section of California law, with the
most significant references in CEQA sections 21083.2 and 21804.1.
According to CEQA guidelines published by the Governor's Office of
Planning and Research, if the presence of unique archaeological sites is
likely, "the lead agency should require a field survey by a
qualified professional archaeologist in order to assess the significance
of the resource."
No such survey was undertaken for the EIR, which was produced by a
Berkeley consulting firm, David C. Early's Design Community
Environment (DCE), under contract with the university. The same firm
produced the EIR for the university's Long Range Development Plan
2020.
While the state Public Resources Code created and empowered the Native
American Heritage Commission and empowered it to regulate all native
religious and burial sites in the state, government properties are
exempted from commission oversight.
Other section of the same code may apply, including the sections
governing the State Historic Resources Commission, which is charged,
among other things, with regulating state and nationally designated
sites. The stadium and its surroundings were added to the National
Register of Historic Places last year, a listing that includes the site
in the commission's purview.
Another resources code specifically grants the state Department of Parks
and Recreation oversight of archaeological resources on projects on
public lands, including university property. The California Government
Code also gives the state attorney general power to intervene in cases
where native burials are threatened.
SCIP projects
The most controversial of the SCIP projects is the 142,000-square-foot
Student Athlete High Performance planned along the stadium's western
wall.
That site houses the grove now occupied by Running Wolf and the other
protesters who have built platforms high in the branches, where they are
supported by a crew of volunteers.
The SCIP projects are currently the subject of legal challenges filed by
four plaintiffs, including the City of Berkeley. Volker's suit,
filed on behalf of the California Oaks Foundation, specifically targets
the grove. The other actions, while mentioning the trees, are focused
more broadly on the impact of the SCIP projects on the city and
surrounding neighborhoods.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller has granted an
injunction pending the outcome of a full hearing on the issues several
months hence. That decision effectively blocked any construction plans
for this year.
According to final project EIR�the document now being contested in
Judge Miller's court�the total amount of new construction
planned under SCIP totals 451,000 square feet.