Rhonda L. Morningstar Pope, Tribal Chairperson,
Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians
Rhonda L. Morningstar Pope is the Tribal Chairwoman of the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians. She is the great-granddaughter of the original distributees, Louis and Annie Oliver. She is the only great-grandchild, and her children are the only great great grandchildren of Louis and Annie. Elinor Oliver was her grandmother, and the only child of the Olivers to have children.
Since assuming leadership of the Tribe, she has resurrected nearly lost traditions. A Memorial Day celebration was started by her great great grandfather Casus Oliver. This event is documented by C. Hart Meriam, as he was a guest of Casus Oliver when he visited their rancheria. Her great grandfather Louie also continued the tradition. The tribe is also actively involved in the language revitalization, and the importance and values of cultural education and activities.
Tina Biorn has been with Caltrans' Headquarters Cultural Studies Office (CSO) since 1982, maintaining many roles, including prehistoric archaeologist, contract and consultant monitor, Section 106 coordinator and Native American coordinator, and has a working knowledge of archaeology, ethnography, and federal and state historic preservation, environmental, and repatriation laws. As chief of the CSO's Native American Cultural Studies Branch, Tina provides guidance, advice, training, and support to the 12 Caltrans districts in addressing California Indians' cultural and environmental concerns, and seeks to establish relationships with Native American individuals, tribes, groups and organizations to understand those concerns, to relay Caltrans concerns, and to open the dialog for improved relationships, policies, and practices. Tina has a Masters Degree in Anthropology, with an emphasis in Archaeology, from the University of California Davis.
Mr. Dirk Charley, Sequoia and Sierra National Forest
Dr. Jacob Fisher is an assistant professor of anthropology and the NAGPRA Director for the Archaeological Curation Facility at California State University, Sacramento. He received his bachelor’s degree at University of California, Santa Cruz, and his master’s and doctoral degrees at University of Washington, Seattle. At UW, he worked at the Burke Museum on the repatriation of archaeological remains to native groups. Dr. Fisher also has worked in cultural resource management over the past decade throughout California, the Great Basin, and the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Fisher’s research focus is on the study of animal bones from prehistoric sites in California and the Great Basin to provide a greater understanding of past relationships between prehistoric peoples and animals, such as hunting and cooking practices.
Currently the Director of the Cultural and Historic Preservation Department for the Santa Rosa Rancheria Tachi Yokut Tribe located near the present day town of Lemoore California. It has been my honor to work for the Santa Rosa Rancheria Tachi Tribe and be able to facilitate and organize the Repatriation of Ancestral Human Remains from various museums thru out the country. It has also been my honor to have played a part in the preservation of the Yokut Language and other culturally enriching programs.
25 years working experience as a Cultural Specialist for the Tule River Tribe of Yokut Indian and the Santa Rosa Rancheria Tachi Yokut Tribe. Studied and learned from my Tribal Elders how to identify our Yokut Material Culture and Cultural Resources.
Carlos Geisdorff is the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Educational and Recreational Services Cultural Coordinator. Carlos is also a member of the Tribe. He is responsible for overseeing multi-generational educational activities relevant to Me-Wuk culture. This includes providing direct language instruction to students in the education program. He is dedicated to historical recordings of Miwok speakers. He is very knowledgeable of the language and is working towards fluency.
Gerald Jones,
Assistant Regional Forester
Gerald has been with the Bureau of Indian Affairs since 1999. He coordinates the Integrated Resources Management Program for the Region. Prior to working for the BIA, Gerald worked 11 years for the Forest Service and 4 years for Simpson Forest Industries. Gerald has a Bachelors of Science Degree in Forest Production from Humboldt State University.
Mr. Marcos Guerrero, M.A. RPA, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer
Marcos Guerrero is the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the UAIC. Mr. Guerrero was born and raised in Broderick, CA, and is a Registered Professional Archaeologist with over twelve years of experience, eight of those in Northern California, in cultural resource management (CRM), museum curation, repatriation, archival research, and tribal preservation and consultation, primarily in California, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico. He has also worked extensively throughout Latin America. Mr. Guerrero’s work experience includes Section 106, CEQA, and SB 18 compliance, oversight, review, and comment. He has CRM experience in the fields of oil and gas, military work, tribal preservation, development, hydropower, and water conveyance involving all aspects of the inventory, regulatory, and permitting process. The emphasis of his academic and professional research interests has been on the study of archaeology in the Americas, especially as it relates to architecture, rock art, pattern recognition, technology and behavior, and settlement and distributional patterns. Mr. Guerrero received his B.A. from the University of California, Davis, in social cultural anthropology, and his M.A. from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, in archaeology. Mr. Guerrero enjoys reading about knot theory and quantum topology on his spare time.
Sonny Hendricks,
Cultural and Historical Preservation Committee Member
Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians Elder
Sonny Hendricks is not only a respected elder of the Native community, but he also has an extensive history serving in Tuolumne Me-Wuk Government including being Vice Chair for the Tuolumne Me-Wuk Indian Health Board for four years. He has also been a member of various committees including: Personnel Committee, Tribal Recreation Committee, Social Services Advisory Committee, and Planning & Development Committee. Mr. Hendricks also served as a Task Force Consultant for the Bureau of Indian Affairs State Coalition of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.
Soledad Holguin,
Wildland Fire Prevention Specialist
Soledad Holguin was hired in 2003 as a Wildland Fire Prevention Technician. She has completed the 401-training (Biological Sciences for Federal Land Managers) and is a certified Wildland Fire Investigator. Soledad began her career in the Fire Service in the private sector from 1989-1997 as an Administrative Secretary/Firefighter for the City of Shelton Fire Department in Washington State. Her fire prevention knowledge covers both structural and wildland. From 1987 to 2001 she was employed by the Colville Indian Reservation, assigned to fire prevention/suppression duties.
Since 1970, Ms. Hunter has actively participated in fieldwork, artifact processing, faunal analysis, and Information Technology aspects of archaeology in central California, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, and Italy. She earned her Master of Arts degree in Anthropology in 1986 at Texas A & M University and her Bachelor of Arts at CSU Sacramento, 1974. She has served as director, crew chief, or field technician on numerous archaeological projects in California, Texas, Italy, Arizona, and Nevada. The age of sites involved range from North American Early Man to Historic urban and mining assemblages in western North America. Ms. Hunter has trained university field school students in laboratory techniques and faunal analysis; and has served as collections manager and lab supervisor at California State University at Sacramento, California Department of Parks and Recreation, and at private cultural resources management firms in California. She continues with faunal analysis on a private consulting basis while serving as archaeological collections manager as well as providing IT services to the Department of Anthropology, California State University Sacramento. She has conducted historic research, analyzed and written-up numerous faunal collections, inventory reports, test excavation and data recovery reports for government agencies and private industry.
Dave Krolick – Mapping and Spatial Information Technology Manager
Mr. Krolick has over 9 years experience as GIS analyst, database developer and spatial modeler. His experience includes managing Global Positioning Systems (GPS) data collection for large scale projects, both public and private, at all stages of completion from study design to post construction monitoring. Mr. Krolick has broad knowledge of GIS database design and data management techniques and has completed projects in a wide variety of regions and biologic habitats throughout the Western United States from the Southwestern deserts to the alpine area of the Sierra Nevada. Using his GIS modeling capabilities he has developed hydrologic and hydraulic models for both large and small projects including restoration plan design and monitoring development, wetlands habitat construction, FERC relicensing, and native fish passage and habitat assessments. Mr. Krolick has a long history of working with LIDAR and LIDAR data and has been instrumental in the collection and analysis of LIDAR data on over 10 projects in the past 7 years. He has utilized a LIDAR based approach for watershed analysis and management projects, vegetation identification and mapping, oak tree mapping and monitoring to support CEQA, cultural resource studies and identification and for restoration design and monitoring studies.
June Leivas was born in Parker, AZ, and lived on the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) reservation and moved to Los Angeles, where she “really grew up”, upon graduating from high school. She attended UCLA and Los Angeles City College and earned her Associate in Arts in Administration of Justice. She lived in Los Angeles for 27 years. She comes from a long line of leaders, being the great-grand-granddaughter of the last Chemehuevi chief, but credits her strength of character to her mother, the late Gertrude Hanks, who was instrumental in the Chemehuevi fight to regain federal recognition and traditional lands.
Though dating herself, June considers herself fortunate to have been raised when there were still people for whom Nüw was the first language and who held to their age-old beliefs. While she feels that much has been lost, some irretrievably so, she shares what she knows and remembers with anyone who asks. She and her six siblings are the last in the Tribe who have a direct connection to the culture.
In her mind, her legacy will be Nüwü Ampagap, the Nüw dictionary that she has been compiling for over 30 years. It is a true “labor of love” as she does so without the help of linguists or grant monies. She has taken the dictionary to the Great Basin Language Conference and was a Presenter on developing written languages despite the constraints of the English alphabet. June was a language consultant to the 29 Palms Band of Mission Indians (also Chemehuevi) for five years. Early this year, they put the dictionary on iPODs.
Now Culture Center Director for the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe in Havasu Lake, CA, June teaches language and culture, and performs cultural monitoring services. She also serves on the Tribal Council. Among her favorite quotes is “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” (Edmund Burke).
Jim Nanamkin, Regional Wildland Fire Prevention Officer
Jim started his career with BIA 33 years ago on the Colville Indian Reservation. He worked for 20 years as a Forestry Technician in the Presales Department and fought wildland fires during the fire season. In 1994 he became the Fire Prevention Officer, becoming active in education, prevention and Wildland Fire Investigation, then 2001 he became the Regional Wildland Fire Prevention Specialist for the Pacific Regional Office. In 2006 Jim completed the 401-training (Biological Sciences for Federal Land managers). His duties are assisting California Tribes to develop fire prevention plans. He is on the Cadre teaching the FI-110, FI-210, and FI-310 Wildland Fire Investigation classes, and as well as being a member of the NWCG working team that has developed the National Standard Wildland Fire Investigation classes.
Taryn J. Nance, M.A.
Assistant Project Manager and Archaeologist
Taryn Nance serves as an assistant project manager, project coordinator, environmental analyst, and archaeologist with AECOM. Her experience includes NEPA and CEQA project management, project coordination, cultural resources management, and preparation of environmental documents. She coordinates communication and information flow between internal team members, project proponents, and government agencies; and assists with general document preparation and internal document review. Ms. Nance researches and writes various resource- and issue-specific chapters of CEQA and NEPA documents, prepares comprehensive initial studies for a variety of projects, assists clients in regulatory compliance, and develops mitigation programs to reduce and avoid environmental impacts. Ms. Nance specializes in Native American tribal planning and environmental studies.
Dr. Nelson is a Senior Researcher with the CSUS Department of Anthropology, Archaeological Curation Facility (ACF). She is responsible for reviewing archaeological collections, conducting archival research, and writing summary reports for projects that fall under NAGPRA, as well as participating in NAGPRA consultations with tribes and repatriation of human remains and funerary objects. Wendy also participates in community outreach activities (e.g., presentations and workshops) with tribes that serve to foster an open dialogue with native communities.
Dr. Nelson received her doctorate in anthropology with a major emphasis in archaeology from the University of California, Davis. Over the past two decades Wendy has divided her time between teaching courses in cultural anthropology and archaeology and working in cultural resource management where she has served as a lab director for a variety of archaeological projects throughout California and the Great Basin. Her analytical skills include ground stone, shell fish, coprolite, and baked clay analysis. In her capacity as field lab director, she has worked with baked clay at sites in California from Clear Lake south to Santa Barbara. Working at the ACF has given Wendy the opportunity to study the baked clay assemblages from a variety of central California archaeological sites.
Stephen Pappas – Field Director
Mr. Pappas has over seven years of experience in cultural resources management and has participated in all aspects of archaeological fieldwork, including survey, site relocation, test excavation, data recovery, and construction monitoring. He has extensive familiarity in meeting the cultural resource requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), National Environmental Quality Act (NEPA), Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, The Clean Water Act—404 permits, and other environmental laws and regulations. He has recorded and mapped hundreds of prehistoric and historic archaeological sites and has identified and analyzed hundreds of prehistoric and historic artifacts. He has contributed to and authored numerous cultural resources technical reports and prepared dozens of site records and maps.
Katy Parr is the Forest Archeologist for the Eldorado National Forest. She has worked for the Forest Service as a professional archaeologist since 1990 in Virginia, Idaho and several National Forests in California. Ms. Parr’s area of expertise is focused primarily in Cultural Resource Management compliance law and routinely works on a variety of large, complex interagency projects including multiple FERC Relicensing Projects. Currently, Ms. Parr is in a detail as the Acting Pacific District Ranger for the Eldorado National Forest.
Mr. Barry Scott, RPA, Project Director
Barry Scott is a project director and project manager who performs various phases of environmental project management for CEQA, NEPA, and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) compliance projects. Specific roles include staff oversight and quality control; direct oversight of subcontractors; preparation of technical documents for compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA, as well as CEQA, NEPA, and other state and federal laws; development of mitigation plans; and preparation of CEQA and NEPA compliance documents. Besides management of multidisciplinary projects, Barry also manages large, complex cultural resource investigations, oversees research, evaluations; archaeological reconnaissance, excavation, and monitoring; and implementation of state and federal regulations related to cultural resources. He is also experienced in the preparation of environmental compliance documents such as EIRs, EISs, ISs, and EAs.
Barry has extensive experience organizing and participating in meetings and consultation between various state, local, and federal agencies and client representatives, especially to address cultural resource issues. He also specializes in coordination with Native Americans and coordinating with project design staff to develop methods of avoiding impacts on significant cultural resources. Barry has 24 years of experience in the archaeology of California and is a Registered Professional Archaeologist with extensive experience conducting cultural resource inventories and evaluations and overseeing historic and historic architecture investigations. He has conducted or has been Principal Investigator for numerous cultural resource investigations throughout the western United States for both the private sector and local, state and federal agencies.
Lisa Westwood, RPA – Cultural Resources Manager
Ms. Westwood is a Registered Professional Archaeologist with over 16 years of cultural resource management, contract archaeology, museum curation, and teaching experience in northern and central California, southern Utah, New Mexico, and the Midwest. She meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualifications Standards for prehistoric and historical archaeologist, holding a B.A. degree in Anthropology and an M.A. degree in Anthropology (Archaeology). She has designed, supervised, or participated in dozens of monitoring, survey, testing, and data recovery excavations, has recorded and mapped hundreds of prehistoric and historical sites, and has cataloged, identified, and curated hundreds of thousands of artifacts. Her technical areas of expertise include advanced Section 106 compliance and consultation, preparation and negotiation of agency agreement documents, and lithic debitage identification. She has conducted evaluations of cultural resources for eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places and California Register of Historical Resources and is well versed in impact assessment and development of mitigation measures for CEQA and Section 106 (NHPA) projects. Her previous experience as a CEQA/NEPA project manager gives her a broader perspective of regulatory compliance issues. She is the sole, co-, or contributing author to nearly 150 cultural resources technical reports, research designs, and cultural resource management plans. She has written, contributed to, edited, and reviewed a variety of environmental compliance documents including Initial Studies (ISs), Environmental Assessments (EAs), Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), and Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs).
Mr. Whiteman was born and raised in Birchwood, Alaska and currently resides in Pioneer California. He has been a professional archaeologist since 1994, with experience as a Principal Investigator for Cultural Resource Management projects. Erik is currently the District Archaeologist (GS-0193-11) on the Eldorado National Forest. He has experience conducting archaeological investigations all over the Western United States. His research interests include the pre-contact Trans Sierran trade and the management of archaeological sites.
