Native American tribe says SJB isn’t monitoring project closely
enough for artifacts
A representative of a local Native American group is accusing
San Juan Bautista officials of not properly monitoring a $10
million infrastructure project to ensure that remains or artifacts
from indigenous people are identified and handled properly.
Native American tribe says SJB isn’t monitoring project closely enough for artifacts
A representative of a local Native American group is accusing San Juan Bautista officials of not properly monitoring a $10 million infrastructure project to ensure that remains or artifacts from indigenous people are identified and handled properly.
City officials, however, counter that they are following protocol by having an archaeologist on-call and that the only bone discovered during the project came from an animal.
“It’s totally outrageous what they’re doing,” said Valentin Lopez, chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Ohlone/Costanoan Indians, which has more than 500 members. The group is comprised of direct descendants of the groups whose villages and territories were under the sphere of influence of the San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz Missions in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.
Lopez says his tribe had set forth an agreement with the city and its contracted architectural firm “that set protocols for Native American monitoring and what to do in the event that human remains, artifacts or cultural resources were found. They’re doing construction with no Native American monitor out there whatsoever.”
He added that when he visited the construction project he found a bone “within two minutes,” but officials have said that bone was not from a human.
Joseph McDole, a data manager for the California Office of Historic Preservation, said that monitoring plans are typical for projects “where there is a known likelihood of Native American artifacts being found.” He said that his office becomes involved in that monitoring if the project involves federal funding; otherwise, “it is dealt with at the city level.”
The funding source appears to be at the heart of the disagreement. San Juan had been slated to receive federal funding for the project – which involves installing new water and sewer lines, constructing a reservoir, building a water-softening plant and adding new curbs and gutters throughout the town – but the U.S. Economic Development Department (EDA) revoked the grant in 2007.
The city then turned to an $11.1 million, 35-year bond to fund the project, which – since it is not federal money – means the monitoring for artifacts and bones is dealt with on a local level, as McDole noted.
“I want to know what happened to our agreement and why it was not respected or implemented,” Lopez said. “We had a report from the church that there were 19,421 burials at the [San Juan] mission. We’ve been called out to San Juan Bautista a number of times. Every time they put a shovel in the ground, they find remains. We’re worried about them going through a graveyard and ripping the bones apart for dozens or hundreds or thousands of our ancestors.”
Michelle Messinger, a state historian with the office of historic preservation, said her office has checked into Lopez’s claims that portions of the project were federally funded, and therefore subject to stricter monitoring by the state.
“In this particular case, there was federal funding apparently at one point and some consultation with our office occurred, but it doesn’t look like the consultation was completed because the funding was pulled,” she said. “From what the city says, there was no federal funding used at all for the work portion of the project.”
She said that since San Juan “is a city rich with archaeological finds, not just Native American burials, we all know there is a potential to find” artifacts.
“Part of the city used to belong to the mission, and you’re more likely to find things in all California mission towns. What’s usually left of a mission today is a much smaller footprint of what the mission grounds used to be.”
When the state is involved in monitoring construction projects “you have an archaeological monitor on site and a Native American advocate overseeing the work,” Messinger said. When items are found, “you evaluate whether the work should be stopped and if burials are found, there are protocols that involve the coroner” to document the age of the bones.
Lopez said it is not the Amah Mutsun’s goal to shut the construction work down.
“Our goal is to follow the laws and the agreement,” he said. “We think there are some serious violations of the law here and people should be held accountable.”
Mark Davis, the project manager for San Juan’s infrastructure project, said an archaeologist has been present during the tearing up of streets throughout town “and there has been nothing found.”
He said the archaeologist “was there on a daily basis” early on, “but he’s decided there wasn’t anything to be done so he went on-call.”
City Manager Steven Julian said nothing of cultural significance, including human bones, has been unearthed during the project – primarily, he believes, because the ground being overturned has been worked on many times before.
“Most of the work has been in the street and that street pattern has existed for 100-plus years,” he said. “I have no idea how much overlay there’s been. Unless you’re going very deep, you’re not likely to find very much.”
Julian said that since the EDA funding was revoked, “we weren’t bound by the federal [monitoring] requirements.” However, he said his office has been in touch with state officials and “everybody’s pretty much aware” of the work being done.
“If they get a report that we weren’t following regulations, I guarantee you they’d be out here at a moment’s notice,” he said.
Other than the controversy over the archeological monitoring of the project, “generally speaking things are going pretty well,” Julian said.
Water pressure issues have been a source of complaints from residents as some older pipe systems have failed during the construction project.
“We’ve had a couple of incidents where high water pressure caused pressure release valves on water heaters to blow, but we’re getting it under control,” Julian said. “That’s very discomforting and irritating to the homeowner but we’re trying to address those as soon as they occur.”
The project is still on track for completion in September.
“Some streets have already been paved and we’re finishing up the water, sewer and storm drain lines so we should be able to pave pretty quickly,” he said, noting that some more paving work was expected to be done this week.
A new water softening plant “will reduce the hardness of the water and reduce the city’s reliance on a number of salt-based water softeners,” Julian said. An archaeologist will be on-site during the grading of the land for that plant to monitor for cultural items or bones, he added.
