This document is a report for the 30th Space Wing Civil Engineer Squadron (30 CES) at Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB) for the proposed repair and/or upgrade at various creek crossings along the unimproved portion of Coast Road. These crossings are subject to storm damage that can restrict or eliminate mission critical access to the southern end of the base. One of the crossings is clearly within archaeological site CA-SBA-207. Seven of the remaining creek crossings are near archaeological sites, including CA-SBA-210/552, -609, -614, -618, -768, -1847, and -2868. However, the exact relationship between the creek crossings and each of these seven sites was unclear. Vandenberg AFB is responsible for managing archaeological resources under its jurisdiction in accordance with Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended), Section 5 of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (as amended), Air Force Instruction 32-7065, and other federal authorities governing cultural resources. Repairing and upgrading the Coast Road creek crossings is an undertakings per 36 CFR 800.16(y) and thus subject to 36 CFR 800, the regulations implementing Section 106 of the NHPA. Given those responsibilities, the 30 CES, Environmental Flight, Cultural Resources Section (CEVNC) at Vandenberg AFB instigated a program to investigate the archaeological resources in and near the creek crossings. At CA-SBA-207, the purpose of the work was to evaluate the site’s eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and to assess adverse project effects if the site was considered NRHP eligible. At the seven creek crossings near archaeological sites, the purpose of investigations was to define site boundaries relative to the proposed crossing repairs. This program was implemented by Applied EarthWorks, Inc.
Lebow et al. (Tue,) studied this question.