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archaeological excavation,will be conducted to reduce the project's ' effects/impacts to less-than-significant in compliance with both the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act(NHPA). ' The archaeological work plan includes seven steps consisting of field testing, analysis, evaluation, mitigation plan, data recovery, analysis, and report ' production. In accordance with the treatment plan, field testing, evaluation, and data recovery will be combined into one phase of fieldwork. This approach will reduce the archaeological excavation process from typically several months to 2 weeks,thereby expediting the construction start date and minimizing potential down time that usually results when unexpected archaeological remains are inadvertently discovered during the construction of the project. Work will be conducted prior to demolition of the structures, which will allow for the excavation to proceed before the parcels are significantly disturbed. Additionally, existing fencing can be used to establish historic lots lines,thereby ensuring that any deposits found are correctly assigned to their associated parcel. ' The excavation areas will be scraped with a backhoe with a 36-inch-wide smooth bucket to expose buried ground surfaces in plan view(from above). Precautionary measures will be implemented to ensure the safety of personnel and ' the community during excavation, including any measures needed based on the hazardous materials studies conducted prior to fieldwork commencing. When backhoe scraping is complete, exposed features will be associated with the ' appropriate parcel, dwellings, and historic residents where possible. It is anticipated that hollow/filled features (wells,privies, and/or refuse pits) will be exposed during excavation. These types of features commonly contain a high quantity of artifacts that can be closely correlated to individual residents/households and specific periods of occupation. Such archaeological ' deposits have the ability to address multiple research questions and are usually significant in terms of Section 106 of the NHPA and CEQA and require considerable post-field analysis. Archaeological features and strata identified during excavation will be exposed in plan view by hand, photographed, and mapped in relation to'a permanent datum. ' To assess the feature's content and integrity, an appropriate portion of each feature will be hand excavated (typically 50% of the feature is excavated). The ' majority of excavated materials will be screened through 1/4-inch mesh, but 1/8- inch mesh will be used when smaller artifacts are anticipated. ' Archaeological features will be evaluated during excavation for their significance according to Section 106 of the NHPA and CEQA. If features are found to be PEA Workplan 11 Spans Elementary School January 18,2006