Learn to Identify & Protect Your Cultural Resources

Michael DeSpain - I currently work for the Mechoopda Indian Tribe as the Director of Office Environmental Planning and Protection Department.  I am the TEMA (Tribal Emergency Management Agency) Director for Four (4) Federally Recognized Tribes located in California.  In my prior work experience I have had the pleasure of working with many Tribes in California from Tribal Administrator to Grant Administration which included the development of all work plans as well as budget and scope of work.  I have also have been a Cultural Coordinator, Tribal Air Monitor Coordinator, Tribal Lands Coordinator and I am HAZMAT Certified.   I am also involved with various committees & memberships throughout California such as Clear Creek Community Services, Cal EPA, Cal Trans, RTOC, US EPA, HRSA Tribal Coordinator and Plumas County Emergency Preparedness Advisory Board Member.  I look forward to this training, and if you have any questions regarding these subjects, please do not hesitate to ask me.  

Gerrit L. Fenenga, Ph.D. - Ihave been a professional archaeologist for about 40 years in California.  In that time, I have worked in most of the Counties in the State and had a wide variety of experiences and exposure to the archaeology of California.  I was educated at the University of California, Berkeley where I obtained both my Masters and Doctoral degrees in Anthropology.  I have been professionally involved in teaching archaeology for more than 20 years and have taught in the UC, State University, and Community College systems.  I now teach archaeology to fire fighters, foresters, and other resource professionals for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).  I have also served time with the BLM, USFS, and California Department of Parks and Recreation, as well as worked as a private archaeological contractor.  My research interests are diverse, but center around archaeological epistemology and California prehistory.  I am trained and experienced in both osteology and lithic technology and have conducted research on archaeological materials from ranging from the earliest times in prehistory to the survival of native technology into the late 20th Century.

Tina Fulton is currently the Native American Coordinator for Caltrans Central Region Environmental and works with Caltrans projects in eight counties within District 10. She came to Caltrans with four years of experience working in Cultural Resource Management as an archaeologist.  She is also a Graduate Student (Master's Candidate) with the California State University Los Angeles Anthropology Department.  Her research is focused on the analysis of worked bone artifacts from southern California coastal sites and San Nicolas Island sites.  She is fortunate to have worked with Native American tribes and individuals from central and southern California, Nevada, and Arizona.  She has learned much from tribal representatives during monitoring, surveys, excavations, data recoveries, lab analysis and the curation of collections.

Dr. Charlotte Tsali Hunter
Bureau of Land Management
Tribal Relations, Archaeology, and Paleontology State Lead

I’m Cherokee and Scottish and I’ve been in Cultural Resource Management for 20 years. I’ve worked in California, Hawaii, Arkansas, Tennessee, New England, and Arizona.  At the BLM State Office in Sacramento, I develop policy and support the Field Offices.
I will be teaching an introduction to Federal Laws and how they relate to the important work the Tribal Monitors perform. My specialty is bridging the communications gap between tribes and the federal government.

Shahar Jones holds a Bachelors of Arts in Anthropology with an emphasis in archaeology from the University of California, Davis. Mr. Jones worked for three years as a professional archaeologist for private cultural resource management firms, gaining extensive field experience.  Currently, Mr. Jones works as an Environmental Planner (Archaeology); at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 10 for the MPS and Local Assistance Branch.  He has been employed at Caltrans for over a two years.

Gaylen Lee has a bachelors of Arts degree in Anthropology with an emphasis in archaeology from the California State University of, Fresno. Gaylen has worked for preservation of cultural sites since 1970. Working with his grandmother with place names of the traditional lands of the Nim (Mono). Worked for the North Fork Rancheria monitoring numerous sites under construction in the last six years. For the past 7 months after graduation he has worked as a professional archeologist as a cultural resources management contractor in Madera County. He has worked at the Granddad site with CSU Fresno archeology field school for the past four years. The Field school is excavating a leaders house and excavating through a roof. 

Linda Pollack, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (Cal Fire) Southern Region Senior State Archaeologist, is the supervisor and senior technical expert for the archaeological review of all projects within Cal Fire’s Southern Region.  As part of her duties, she has developed procedures on policy implementation for cultural resource reviews for Cal Fire.  Linda is the lead for Cal Fire’s planning and delivering archaeological training sessions throughout the state, both for internal and external training.  She has worked for Cal Fire for 16 years and has a B.A. in Anthropology in 1992 from U.C. Davis.