"2009- Scientific Resource Surveys, Inc (SRS) NPI Certified in Native American Studies"

Orange, CA, June 10, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Scientific Resource Surveys, Inc (SRS) Principal Dr. Nancy Anastasia Wiley and Southern Tutchone Native Ted Wiley, attended multi-day seminars by the National Preservation Institute [NPI] in both in Anchorage, Alaska and Honolulu, Hawaii in April, 2009. The purpose of the seminars was to be briefed on the latest changes to the NEPA laws, and obtain certification in applying federal standards to the identification, management, consultation and protection of Native American traditional places and sacred lands.

The NEPA conference emphasized environmental impact analysis, cultural resource management, and historic preservation responsibilities and relationships. How to assess practical applications for effectively integrating the analyses required by the National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA], related environmental regulations, and the National Historic Preservation Act [NHPA], including the 2002 amendments.

The Sacred Lands conference explored the consultation process mandated by federal laws as it pertains to Native American sacred lands; reviewed the guidelines from both tribal and federal land-managing agencies' perspectives; considered the legal, historical, and cultural factors that influence consulting parties and discussed ways to use the consultation process in conjunction with other tools, such as land trusts, restrictive covenants, and property purchases by tribes or nonprofit conservancies, to achieve a protected status for culturally significant places.

Traditional Cultural Places" (TCPs) are important for the roles they play in community cultural traditions, beliefs, and activities. They must be considered in planning under the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, Executive Orders 12898 and 13007, and other authorities. The TCP seminar explored definitions and methods of identifying and managing impacts on TCPs.

The combination allowed the Scientific Resource Surveys, Inc (SRS) principals to construct a model for dealing with sacred lands and traditional cultural places when no ethnographic sites were recorded for a property. The lack of recordation does not mean that none exist; in all probability they are just not remembered or have never been recorded. This is particularly the case in an overlap zone between the two tribal groups. In order to address the lack of ethnographic sites, Scientific Resource Surveys, Inc (SRS) described the sites by categories and then developed a predictive model of significant areas within the Native Landscape.

For example, springs are known to be sacred to the Cahuilla, not only for their life-giving properties but also because sacred beings inhabited the springs [i.e. water babies] and shaman ‘travelled’ through them to go from one place to another [i.e. from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea region]. Any disturbance to these springs would be a great offense to the Cahuilla people and have a significant impact on cultural ties. Significant impacts extend to other things like geothermal drilling because the drilling impacts the water table which holds the sacred beings and the sacred pathways between groups. The model would, therefore, conclude that any disturbance to any spring and the associated water table would constitute a significant impact and should be avoided. The model calls for establishing a ‘Traditional Cultural Property District’ and predictive modeling based on cultural landscape patterns apparent within the district. In this way an assessment can be made of all landscape elements and they can be ranked according to significance, allowing for impact analyses and other environmental studies to occur when there is a lack of known traditional and cultural sites.

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