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Threats to archaeological sites on Rattlesnake Island
Rattlesnake Island has been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic
Places and is listed on the State Register of Historic Resources. The
Island is also listed as a Sacred Site by the State Native American Heritage
Commission.
The Lake County Community Development Department (CDD) is processing a
grading permit to allow the construction of two homes, a septic system, and 209
feet of utility trenches on the island. These projects will require
grading and trenching within one of the recorded archaeological sites on the
island.
Following a public hearing on May 13th 2010, the County
Planning Commission decided not to adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration
proposed by the CDD. The Commission has requested a focused EIR be done
for this project. The focused EIR will address impacts to
cultural/archaeological resources and visual impacts.
In a letter to the Lake County Planning Department, the State Office of
Historic Preservation has said,
“this property and the historical resources on
it appear to be of a level of significance that would qualify the island as a
National Historic Landmark.”
Too see the actual National Register documentation, click
on the "nomination" button at left.
During the May 5th 2006 meeting of
the California Historical Resource Commission, 7 speakers spoke in favor of the nomination. To see an Adobe PDF file of Dr. Parker's presentation and see a list of speakers supporting the nomination click
on this link: SHRCpresentation.pdf
The California Historic Resource Commission members relied heavily on the thoughts of fellow commission members Donn Grenda (prehistoric archaeologist) and Trish Fernandez (historic archaeologist). Donn commented that "a tremendous amount of work has gone into this nomination." "There are no critical flaws in the nomination." Both archaeologist commission members agreed that "it is clear that the other sites on the Island are likely to yield information important in prehistory and one site has already yielded important information." Commission Chair Luis Hoyos agreed with staff that "there is very little doubt that the sites hold potential and are significant." He further stated that "this is a more than reasonably documented nomination." One other commissioner commented that it was a "fascinating nomination."
The commission voted unanimously to pass the nomination along to the Keeper of the Register in Washington D.C. for final listing.
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