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Since 1976, LSA has helped clients manage complex issues related to cultural and paleontological resources. LSA's active approach to tracking new regulations enables LSA to stay ahead of sweeping changes that affect the management of these resources. By proactively addressing regulatory requirements, LSA protects resources from unanticipated effects and guards clients from the cost and time associated with impacting these resources.

LSA’s cultural and paleontological resources staff collectively has extensive experience conducting, managing, and completing all types of projects across the western United States from small-scale local development work to multijurisdictional, multimillion-dollar efforts. LSA has earned a reputation for using innovative techniques and developing new technologies to protect resources and manage projects.

LSA's work with cultural resources—sites, buildings, structures, and objects older than 50 years that have been influenced by humans—ranges from 8,000-year-old archaeological sites to Cold War military installations. LSA's paleontological discoveries include fossils from 10,000 to 500 million years old.

SERVICES INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

• Analysis of cultural and paleontological resource constraints
• Cultural and paleontological resource assessment surveys
• Evaluation of cultural resource sites for national, California, and/or local registers
• Architectural history investigations
• Cultural resource impact mitigation
• Documentation of historical buildings
• Section 106 compliance
• Monitoring of cultural and paleontological resources
• Human burial emergency response team
• Development of regulation for cultural and paleontological resources management
• Resource agency consultation and consensus building

City of Coachella
Client: City of Coachella Community Development Department
Location: Coachella, California

LSA completed a reconnaissance-level historic resources survey of the Pueblo Viejo Concept Plan area... continued

SR-73 and SR-241 Transportation Corridors
Transportation Corridor Authority of Orange County
Orange County, California

Approximately 34,800 fossil specimens from over 310 localities were collected during these two projects. Important finds included:

• Fossils 1.6 to 25 million years old. Also collected were a Holotype Mysticeti (Baleen Whale) and the first marsupial fossils from Orange County
• LSA and JMAW provided paleontological monitoring from October, 1990 to November, 1996

 
San Mateo High School Cultural Resources Study
San Mateo Union High School District,
as a subconsultant to Benson Lee Consulting
San Mateo, California

In May 2001, the main building of San Mateo High School was declared seismically unsound and students and staff were relocated to portables on site. As part of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the seismic reconstruction and expansion project, LSA prepared a cultural resources study comprising of background research and field survey and subsurface examination for paleontological resources; research, records search, and field survey and subsurface examination for cultural resources; consultation with the Native American Heritage Commission, local Native American organizations, and the San Mateo County Historical Association and Museum. The Main Building, built in 1927, is eligible for listing on the California Register of Historical Resources but is proposed to be demolished, because the current school construction requirements are incompatible with preservation. The community is divided by the need for a new school facility and the desire to preserve a historical structure.

 
Hicks Canyon Archaeological and Paleontological Resource Management
Orange County, California

LSA completed a paleontological and cultural resource constraints analysis of these proposed flood control structures in 1991. In 1994, the cultural and paleontological resources staff conducted a preliminary (Phase I) assessment survey of the construction area. Two cultural resource sites were identified during this survey. One previously recorded site, CA-ORA-478, had undergone limited testing. Due to the potential significance of this site, construction plans were altered to avoid impacts to the known boundaries. A second site, ORA-1371H, was discovered within the inundation area of the basin. LSA conducted Phase II cultural resource testing of this site and recommended to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) that the site was not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (National Register). The Corps concurred with this finding in 1994.

In 1995, construction of the basins began. During initial clearing and grubbing for the project, three previously unrecorded prehistoric archaeological sites were discovered within the Area of Potential Effects. Site ORA-478, Locus C, was a buried resource associated with the site discussed in the original survey. Site ORA-1453 was an artifact scatter used by prehistoric Native Americans for milling and testing local lithic materials. Site ORA-1454 was a buried habitation deposit with extremely large quantities of artifacts and ecofacts. LSA was contracted to conduct testing at these three sites. Sites ORA-478, Locus C, and ORA-1453 were tested and recommended as ineligible for the National Register. The Corps and State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) concurred with these findings, and construction was allowed to proceed. ORA-1454 was determined to be a significant cultural resource. LSA recommended that the Corps find the property eligible for the National Register. SHPO concurred with this recommendation. LSA then worked with the developer to amend construction designs to avoid impacting this significant resource. LSA completed preservational capping of the site in compliance with federal guidelines.

LSA also conducted paleontological monitoring for this project. Routine finds were encountered throughout project grading until July 1996, when the skeleton of a Pleistocene ground sloth (Paramylodon harlani) was discovered during canyon clean out. This find represents the most complete specimen of its type in Southern California. Remains of mammoth, mastodon, horse, camel, tapir, and bear were also discovered during monitoring of this project.

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