shpo response letter - final - 2016-06-24 · and overflowed land survey plat by the general...

June 24,

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June 24, 2016 Ms. Janelle Leeson U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tule Red Tidal Restoration Project COE File No. 2014‐00131S of 4

Comment #2: While Peak & Associates has indicated that the potential to encounter buried archaeological sites within the APE is low due to heavy sedimentation, no geoarchaeological or environmental research has been provided to support this opinion. Periodic flooding does not preclude seasonal occupation, and has, at times, served to preserve archaeological deposits in the Sacramento River delta. Furthermore, the records search and background sections of the reports do not indicate if any archaeological sites or ethnographic village sites have been recorded in the adjacent areas. In addition, the research provides evidence that the area was used and inhabited historically. Please provide further documentation of the research to evidence the conclusion that the APE is not archaeologically sensitive.

Response: The Tule Red Tidal Marsh Restoration site is located on the eastern shoreline of Grizzly Bay. An 1873 Geological Survey of California Map of the San Francisco Bay Area shows the project site was in fact primarily open water at this time (Attachment 2). The Swamp and Overflowed land survey plat by the General Land Office from an 1875 survey for the area notes the entire region as “notoriously swampy and overflowed land” (Attachment 3). In addition, based on review of historic maps of the site, most of the site was either open water or continuously flooded in 1890, 1908, and 1949-1953. Much of the project site developed marsh vegetation between about 1950 and 1980 and the site and its vegetation continue to expand today, through shoreline accretion, at a rate of about an acre per year. The historic maps of the project site (Attachment 4) provide documentation to evidence the conclusion that the APE is not archaeologically sensitive by illustrating that the Project site was either within open waters of Grizzly Bay or was under daily tidal inundation until well into the last century. Therefore, the Project site was not suitable for human habitation or seasonal occupation.

Peak & Associates requested a review of literature maintained by the Northwest Information Center (NWIC). The NWIC record search covered the project site and a 1/8th mile radius around the area. In response to the question about proximity of archaeological sites or ethnographic villages in the adjacent areas, Peak & Associates has indicated there are no prehistoric sites recorded in the area of the record search. A review of the ethnographic literature on the Patwin indicates that the closest village sites seem to be “Tolenas” about 3.5 miles northeast (Johnson 1978, based on Bennyhoff 1961) and CA-SOL-243, a site occupied in the post-Contact period, located about 8 miles northwest on Suisun Creek (Bennyhoff 1977).

Comment #3: Pursuant to 36 CFR 800.3(e) and (f), the COE is responsible for carrying out consultation with Indian tribes, the public, and other interested parties, and this responsibility cannot be delegated to a consultant or local agency. Please provide evidence that the COE has provided the Yoche Dehe Wintun Nation the information they requested in the letter to Peak & Associates dated June 26, 2015.

Response: Westervelt recognizes that the COE is responsible for carrying out consultation with Indian tribes, the public, and other interested parties. It should be noted that, prior to the COE’s tribal consultation process initiated in early 2016, Peak & Associates conducted tribal outreach in the summer of 2015, in the form of Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) contact and

June 24, 2016 Ms. Janelle Leeson U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tule Red Tidal Restoration Project COE File No. 2014‐00131S of 4

a request for a sacred lands review and Native American Contacts List. The NAHC response, dated June 11, 2015, stated no listed properties on the sacred lands file, and provided a list of Native American contacts. Peak & Associates subsequently transmitted letters to the NAHC contact list, including a brief Project description and map, in June of 2015.

Peak & Associates received a single response letter, from the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation dated June 26, 2015, requesting additional information (approximate project date, approximate excavation depths, and results of any CHRIS records search and/or pedestrian survey). On September 10, 2015, Westervelt sent a letter to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in response to their request for additional information. No response to the Westervelt letter, or request for additional information, has been received from the Yocha Dehe since provision of that September 10, 2015, response.

All of the above documentation was provided to the COE, as a part of the Tule Red Permit Application Package (Appendix D).

It is our understanding that the COE conducted direct federal-to-tribal consultation with the NAHC list of Native American contacts (which included the Yocha Dehe), in April 2016, and received no responses or requests for additional information (including no response or requests for additional information from the Yocha Dehe).

To confirm no additional coordination with the Yocha Dehe is necessary at this time, it is our understanding that the COE will directly contact the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. In support of this outreach, Westervelt is providing the following two Project updates (since Westervelt’s September 10, 2015, response letter to the Yocha Dehe):

Approximate Project date: Due to unexpected delays in Project permitting and approvals, the targeted start date of construction is September 2016 (delayed from June 2016).

Approximate excavation depths: Based on refined Project design, the maximum depth of ground disturbance throughout most of the site is 6 feet, and the maximum depth of ground disturbance at the tidal channel breach location is 8 feet (as compared to 2-6 feet previously stated).

Based on the above completed coordination efforts, and responses provided, we do not believe any additional coordination with the Yocha Dehe is warranted at this time.

In conclusion, the Roaring River Distribution System will not be impacted by the project, and additional information has been provided to document that the APE is not archaeologically sensitive. It is our opinion that adequate responses to, and coordination with, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation have been provided.

ATTACHMENTS

Attachment 1

Limits of Construction

S-043268P-48-000990S-043268

P-48-000990

Grizzly Island RdGrizzly Island Rd

Noyce Slough Rd

Noyce Slough Rd

Noyce Slough Rd

NORTH

0' 1,000' 2,000'Aerial image courtesy ofUSGS copyright 2016Microsoft Corpration

Tule Red Tidal Restoration ProjectLimits of Construction 06-22-2016

Attachment 2

Historical Shorelines

Grizzly Bay

Suisun Bay

Montezuma Slough

Tre e Slough

Is land S lough

G ood year Slough

Harvey S lough

VallejoVallejo

HaywardHayward

ConcordConcordStocktonStocktonBerkeleyBerkeley

SunnyvaleSunnyvale

Santa RosaSanta Rosa

OaklandOakland FremontFremontSan JoseSan Jose

SacramentoSacramento

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FIGURE 2.3Historic Shorelines

DATA SOURCES:NAIP Color Orthoimagery, 5/20/2012-5/22/2012.Esri StreetMap, 2012. ±0 1,000 2,000 3,000

Feet

SCALE - 1:36,000 Job: 5001024Date: NOVEMBER 2015

Tule Red Tidal Restoration Project

Coordinate System: NAD 1983 California State Plane Zone 2Units: feet

Legend2012 Shoreline

1970s Shoreline

1950s Shoreline

1900s Shoreline (white)

1873 Shoreline

Attachment 3

Project Location on 1875 Conditions

PROJECT AREA

Tule Red Restoration Project . 150158 Figure 1

Project Location on 1875 Conditions

SOURCE: U.S. Surveyor General's Office "Map of Township No. 3 North of Range No. 1 West ofMount Diablo Meridian," 1875; ESA, 2016

Service Layer Credits:

Tule Red Project Area0 1

Miles

Attachment 4

Historic Maps of the Project Site

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FIGURE A1Project Site

Located on 1890 Map

DATA SOURCES:California State Geological Survey Map, 1873.Esri StreetMap, 2012. ±0 1,000 2,000 3,000

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Located on 1908 Map

DATA SOURCES:USGS Topographic Map, Antioch, 1908.NAIP Color Orthoimagery, 5/20/2012-5/22/2012.Esri StreetMap, 2012. ±0 1,000 2,000 3,000

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Located on 1949-1953 Maps

DATA SOURCES:Esri StreetMap, 2012.USGS 7.5 MinuteTopographic Maps:Denverton, 1953; Fairfield South, 1949; HonkerBay, 1953; Port Chicago, 1951.

±0 1,000 2,000 3,000Feet




LegendProject Area

shpo response letter - final - 2016-06-24 · and overflowed land survey plat by the general...

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