Our Native American Monitors are trained by Cultural Resources experts and Tribal Archaeologists to efficiently study and inspect soil during earth-disturbing activities. The Tribe has maintained a professional Native American Monitoring (NAM) service for decades by aligning its traditional framework of preserving cultural, spiritual, and emotional ties to the land with effective options for mitigating potential damages to cultural resources at risk from increasing development.

Pre-Native American Monitoring Requirements:

Cultural Resources Workshops. In partnership with local Archaeologists, the Tribe hosts “Cultural Resources Workshops”  multiple times a year to ensure that its monitors have opportunity to recreate certain artifacts that are found in the field. In doing this, monitors have a greater understanding for how a specific cultural resource was created, what kinds and shapes of debitage, trash materials, are created during that process and would most likely be encountered in the field, and the overall energy expended towards making each stage of the product.

Monitoring Manual. To ensure that its Native American Monitors are well-informed of the protocol in the field, the Tribe produced and implements a “Monitoring Policy and Procedural Manual.” The manual informs monitors on THCP policies, safety requirements, archaeological protocol, cultural recommendations, and includes information on conducting efficient cultural resources inspection in the field.

Examples of the Tribe’s Native American Monitoring requirements include, but are not limited to:

• Native American Monitors must have OSHA 10 certification & are required to maintain safety protocol standards at all times
• Memorization of Tribe’s “Monitoring Policy and Procedural Manual”
• Completion of certification test with 70% or higher
• Attendance of quarterly Cultural Resources Workshops
• Daily Activity Sheets with supporting documents and photographs
• Expertise on Fernandeño(villages associated with Mission San Fernando)-specific Cultural Resources and History, and Archaeological and field familiarity

If you are association with a Project and are interested in hiring a Native American Monitor through this Tribe, please contact the Tribe’s CRM Division, at thcp@tataviam-nsn.us