Sierra Valley Preserve Cultural Resource Management Plan and Archival Compendium

Location: Sierra County, California

Client: PG&E

The Feather River Land Trust (FRLT) partnered with The Nature Conservancy and the Northern Sierra Partnership to conserve three historic farm properties, which together form a 2,500+ acre contiguous preserve in the northern heart of Sierra Valley. The preserve is part of the 120,000-acre Sierra Valley wetlands that form the headwaters of the Middle Fork Feather River and contributes to the California State Water Project, a system that provides freshwater for 20 million Californians.  As the largest Sierra alpine valley, the seasonal and permanent wetlands support the greatest diversity and abundance of birds in the entire Sierra Nevada—more than 230 species—and are a key stopover on the Pacific Flyway.

DZC was initially awarded the bid to prepare an archaeological inventory of the Preserve and prepare a Cultural Resource Management Plan, and compile a permanent archive for use with interpretive and environmental enhancement projects within the Preserve. The archival compendium included previous archaeological reports, site records, new oral histories, photos, and historic maps. A GIS based Cultural Resource Inventory Database was created to assist planning efforts and a pre-contact and historic context and summary were written specifically for the lands comprising the Smith, Maddalena, and Noble properties. DZC Consulting also compiled information on tribal Traditional Ecological Knowledge as applied to Sierra Valley prior to European settlement and created a current conditions assessment to provide guidance on enhancing, protecting, documenting, and interpreting cultural resources, along with environmental compliance guidelines relative to cultural resources.

As subsequent projects unfolded for the Preserve, DZC was invited to extend the initial contract. As a privately funded entity, SVP is not subject to CEQA and NEPA in many of its activities. However, in their commitment to promote agricultural and Native American history, they continue to rely on DZC to guide their best practices. And when they do receive grant funding that requires NEPA and CEQA, they have continually chosen DZC to guide their increasing compliance needs and to submit agency compliant reports. DZC is currently providing architectural stabilization services