Cultural Resources
Helping clients navigate cultural resources management needs. Interpreting historic uses to facilitate informed project decision.
Ascent’s cultural resources staff have specialized training in archaeology, historic preservation, architectural history, cultural resources compliance monitoring, and tribal consultation. As your cultural resource consultants, we are committed and ready to provide more than just report preparation; we will listen closely to your needs and offer ideas, guidance, and brainstorming to help you deliver high-quality projects to the public. Ascent’s goal for tribal relations is to provide local agencies with a suite of tools to empower their own staff to perform meaningful consultation themselves.
Our cultural resources staff have worked in coordination with various government agencies including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Aviation Agency, Federal Highway Administration, US Department of the Army, and California Department of Transportation. We offer expertise in documenting built-environment resources from single building evaluations to district-wide surveys for higher education facilities, pre- and post-World War II residential and commercial buildings, prison facilities, agricultural properties, and water conveyance systems. Our archaeological staff have field and reporting experience in the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada foothills, San Francisco Peninsula, Southern California, and the Great Basin, as well as in parts of Nevada and southwestern Arizona.
- CEQA/NEPA/Section 106/PRC 5024.5 compliance documentation
- Archaeological and built environment surveys
- National Register and California Register evaluations
- Archaeological treatment plans
- HABS/HAER record documentation
- Tribal consultation (AB 52)
- California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
- California High-Speed Rail Authority
- California State University
- City and County of San Francisco
- City of Davis
- City of Elk Grove
- City of San Jose
- City of Sunnyvale
- City of West Sacramento
- California Department of General Services
- Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
- Sacramento Municipal Utility District
- County of Santa Clara
- Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
- Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
- SE Group
- State Water Resources Control Board
- University of California, Davis
On March 1, 2025, Governor Newsom proclaimed a State of Emergency to expedite implementation of fire fuel treatment projects. Among other provisions, the Proclamation directs the suspension of certain “statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements” for projects subject to approval by departments of the California Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency for “critical fuel reduction projects” that are “initiated this calendar year.” It also called for the immediate update of the California Vegetation Treatment Program EIR to increase its usefulness and efficiency for “promoting rapid environmental review for large wildfire risk reduction treatments.” At its Regional Meeting in Marin County on March 27, 2025, the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force released more information to explain how CNRA and CalEPA will execute this directive.
Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) focus on reducing wildfire risk to people, homes, businesses, watersheds, cultural resources, infrastructure, natural ecosystems, and other values or resources within the community. CWPPs are collaboratively developed by local, state, federal and tribal partners, such as emergency responders, FireSafe Councils, local planning staff, and state or federal resource agencies. The California CWPP Toolkit, a great new resource, has been launched by the state. It is a free online resource containing a comprehensive guide, customizable template, best practices, and additional resources to help communities develop and implement effective CWPPs.
Two new state laws—Senate Bill (SB) 1425 and Assembly Bill (AB) 1889—require counties and cities to update their general plans to address equitable access to open space, rewilding, wildlife and habitat connectivity, and climate resilience. SB 1425 requires every city and county to review and update its general plan open space element by January 1, 2026, to include plans and an action program that address equitable access, correlated with the environmental justice element; climate resilience and other co-benefits of open space, correlated with the safety element; and rewilding opportunities correlated with the land use element. AB 1889, the “Room to Roam Act,” requires cities and counties to consider the effect of development on wildlife movement and habitat connectivity in the adoption or next revision of their general plan conservation element beginning on January 1, 2028. These new laws can guide the development of more inclusive, resilient, and ecologically connected landscapes across California.
