How Cultural Resource Management fits in with SCU's vision of the future
Santa Clara University is proposing its 2020 Plan for the enhancement of the University’s education programs and student support. A significant part of Santa Clara 2020 is the University’s five-year program of capital improvement projects. The major capital projects are likely to produce a significant level of various environmental impacts, including those to archaeological (cultural) resources. Planning, permitting, and construction of these projects is phased over the next five years, and the implementation of the Santa Clara 2020 Plan and capital improvements requires an amendment to the University’s Master Use Permit, first granted by the City of Santa Clara in 1997. As part of the application for the amendment and in support of the Environmental Impact Report for the amended Master Use Permit, the university is required to prepare a Master Cultural Resources Treatment Plan.
CRM Plan
The Master Cultural Resources Treatment Plan contains: 1) a review of existing conditions on campus, including a discussion of known and anticipated cultural resources; 2) contextual information on the pre-Colonial, Mission, Mexican, and American periods, as represented by the archaeological signature on campus; 3) resource sensitivities for each of the major and secondary capital projects; 4) general protocols for the treatment of resources, including treatment of human remains and resources of significance to Native Americans; and 5) general protocols for analysis, reporting, and public interpretation. The CRM program at SCU coordinates and administers this program in conjunction with university and city planners, input from the public and the use of a cultural resources consulting firm with a full-time staff of professional archaeologists who are cross-trained in the fields of construction management and who specialize in California archaeology.
In addition, all new construction contractors who will be performing ground-altering work must undergo CRM sensitivity training