Ascent assisted SMUD in working with three local tribes to develop measures to either avoid or mitigate for potential impacts to archaeological sites and tribal cultural resources located in portions of Hagan Community Park, the American River Parkway, and two schools that were once part of a large and heavily populated indigenous setting.

Under an on-call contract with UC Davis, Ascent’s cultural resources team has been responsible for the documentation and evaluation of multiple buildings and structures throughout the UC Davis campus. Our work includes the establishment of historic contexts for each functional area, field survey, archival review, and evaluation of educational and residential buildings, agricultural and veterinary facilities, and airport structures for National Register and California Register eligibility. Ascent’s architectural historians have also prepared multiple memos to document how building modifications and seismic upgrades to existing historical resources would be made in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards to support CEQA exemptions.

The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority’s Leavesley/Dexter Mountain Ranch property was recommended eligible for the National Register of Historic Places as an individual resource. During archival review, it was determined that a thorough historic context, related to early cattle ranches of southern Santa Clara County, needed to be developed. Ascent conducted additional survey and evaluation of the property’s structures and features to help inform the design of the proposed bridge replacement and public parking lot and trailhead in the preserve.

The 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fire burned extensive portions of the Santa Cruz Mountains, leaving behind large amounts of dead and dying vegetation. The Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County proposed to implement two vegetation treatment projects to remove dead and dying vegetation and improve habitat conditions and ecological resilience. The Resource Conservation District retained Ascent to complete an archaeological survey report with impact assessment and treatment requirements for the Last Chance Road and the Skylark Ranch Girl Scout Camp forest health project, for a total of 120 acres.

Ascent prepared an architectural resource survey and evaluation for San Quentin State Prison in compliance with Public Resources Code Section 5024.5. Our architectural historian evaluated the prison at a district level, which included an inventory of 202 historic-era buildings and structures, using both National Register and California Historical Landmark criteria. The evaluation concluded that the prison appears eligible for listing on the National Register and as a California Historical Landmark, consisting of 22 contributing buildings and structures, including 11 individually eligible buildings.