ICF completed surveys of prehistoric and historical archaeology, historic resources, and ethnographic resources for a newly created statewide geographic information systems (GIS) database used by Caltrans to manage road improvement projects.
Specifically, the work involved surveys. funded by Transportation Enhancement Activities (TEA), of rural conventional highways in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Roadways encompassed by the project included a total of 450 miles of Caltrans rights-of-way. The work involved extensive field surveys and photography of rural roads. Team members obtained record search information before going into the field, where they either corroborated or updated this information for entry into the GIS database, and generated a separate Cultural Resources Inventory Report for each county.
As part of an inventory of cultural resources and Native American traditional cultural properties, ICF conducted fieldwork with Native Americans—including the California Indian Basketweavers Association, and provided ethnographic studies that discussed local plant resources, sacred sites, and landscapes adjacent to the Caltrans rights-of-way—and prepared a separate Ethnographic/Ethnohistoric Report for each county. At the request of District 7, a separate GIS shapefile was created for these plant resources.