ARCHIVED REPORTS LEC APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION

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LODI ENERGY CENTER PROJECT(LEC);CULTURAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT Railroad,on the eastern end of the project area and will connect to existing Pacific Gas and Electric pipeline,Line 108, on the east side of the rail line. The project site is located approximately 41/2 miles southwest of Lodi. The LEC site is located in the San Joaquin Valley in an area with recent sedimentary and metasedimentary fan deposits and basin deposits (Strand and Koenig 1965) and the site is relatively flat. Considerable disturbance exists within the STIG plant, the WPCF, and the LEC site. Excavation and grading occurred during the WPCF's initial construction in the late 1960's and excavations to a depth of six feet occurred during the construction of the STIG plant in the 1990's (Joe Bittner, 2008, email June 24, 2008). An underground Pacific Gas and Electric line runs to the STIG plant, through the LEC project area and two of the laydown and/or parking areas, through the WPCF, and continues east. Areas surrounding the STIG plant, the WPCF, and the LEC have been excavated to create reservoirs for the WPCF to the north and the San Joaquin mosquito abatement ponds to the south. Additionally, extensive earthmoving activities were observed within the proposed project area and the natural gas line is proposed along a corridor where a natural gas line is already extant. Prehistoric Period The general trend throughout California prehistory has been an increase in population density over time, coupled with greater sedentism and the use of a greater diversity of food resources. There is abundant evidence that humans were present in the New World for at least the past 11,500 years. There is also fragmentary, but growing, evidence that humans were present long before that date. Linguistic and genetic studies suggest that a date of 20,000 to 40,000 years ago for the human colonization of the New World may be possible. The evidence of this earlier occupation is not yet conclusive, but it is beginning to be accepted by archaeologists. The Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania and Monte Verde in Chile,for instance, are two early sites that have produced apparently reliable dates as early as 12,500 years before present. These earliest known remains indicate very small, mobile populations, apparently dependent on hunting of large game animals as the primary subsistence strategy. Several chronologies have been proposed for central California archaeology. Generally, these chronologies are variations based on the general California chronology,which consists of an Early Horizon, a Middle Horizon, and a Late Horizon (Fredrickson 1974, Elsasser 1978). However, wide regional differences in central California, as well as significant temporal overlap between site types classified into these three horizons, prevented clear distinctions between horizons. Eventually, a model was proposed for central California that primarily emphasized the patterns of cultural identity and deemphasized associated occupation dates (Moratto 1984). The earliest sites in the San Joaquin Valley are Fluted Point Tradition and Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition sites found at Tracy, Tulare, and Buena Vista lakes. These sites are few in number and remain undated by scientific means but the assemblage types indicate probable ages of 11,500 to 7,500 years old. Deposition in the San Joaquin Valley is quite active; many older sites are likely buried under rapidly building alluvial deposits (Moratto 1984).