Page 7 - caltrans2008fortier

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interviews with Native American elders and plant surveys along designated District 7
highways. The surveys were intended to elicit information concerning culturally
significant plant gathering sites and other sites with contemporary cultural significance to
Native Americans who are indigenous to the Caltrans D7 Los Angeles County project
area. The project area consists of highway corridors along 1) Pacific Coast Highway (SR-
001); 2) Angeles Crest Highway (SR-002); 3) Golden State Freeway (I-5); 4) Antelope
Valley Freeway (SR-014); 5) State Route 18 (SR-018); 6) Moorpark Freeway (SR-023);
7) Topanga Canyon Boulevard (SR-027); 8) Azuza Avenue (SR-039); 9) State Route 101
(SR-101); 10) Ronald Reagan Freeway (SR-118); 11) Korean War Veteran’s Memorial
Highway (SR-126); and 12) Pear Blossom Highway (SR-138). The project roads consist
of approximately 400 miles of roadway (See Map 1). Along the corridors on both sides of
the highways, the roads were surveyed for culturally significant plants and other Native
American traditional cultural properties visible above ground, extending approximately
fifty feet from the highway right-of-way. The survey team identified a total of 106
species of culturally significant plants growing along the project roadways. The culturally
significant plants have been recorded and mapped as “Gathering Places” (GP) with
information describing the highway and gathering site. The gathering site labeled “GP-
023-02,” for example, represents the second gathering site recorded along SR-023
(Moorpark Freeway). GP-023-02 represents a scattering of yuccas that contemporary
Native plant gatherers use and which are growing along the eastern roadside ROW at
m.m. 19.46. Most gathering sites are marked by Global Positioning System (GPS)
coordinates with descriptions of the locations in Table 3. The locations of the gathering
sites are reported to Caltrans in this report along with recommendations for managing the
areas in a manner supportive of traditional gathering activities.
The objective of the survey has been to develop a cultural resources management strategy
for the area in consultation with Native American elders. The specific goal of the survey
has been to identify areas where plants used for basketmaking and other traditional
activities are growing. Together, the overall survey objective has been to enable Caltrans
crews working in the D7 project area to have the cultural and botanical information
necessary to manage the areas in a manner that facilitates communication with Native
American plant collectors. As a note concerning nomenclature, in this report, plants are
described by their common English name with their scientific names given in Table 2.
Readers also should refer to Table 2 to consult the summary of plant uses by the Native
American ethnic groups in the project area.
Nineteen field research days surveying the project highways were conducted in 2007-08
(6/25, 6/26, 6/27, 10/20, 10/21, 10/22, 10/23, 10/24, 10/25, 11/1, 11/2, 11/23, 11/24,
12/30 in 2007; 01/12, 01/13, 02/29, 03/01, 03/02 in 2008). The roadway surveys averaged
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about 50 miles of highway surveyed per day. However, the highways with most
vegetation were surveyed more slowly while the freeways took relatively less survey
time.
The survey team consisted of myself and Native American elders Linda Gonzales, Randy
Guzman Folkes, and Richard Bugbee. Linda Gonzales is a Tongva elder living in the Los
Angeles area. She grew up in her father’s extended family who lived in the San

1 Since the Caltrans D7 region includes Ventura County, this estimate is based on approximately 300 miles

Caltrans D7 Region/Los Angeles County Ethnographic Consultation 7