by
Sharon A. Waechter
Senior Staff Archaeologist
Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.

and
 
Daniel G. Foster
Senior State Archaeologist
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
 
July, 2003

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection wears many hats. The Department's primary mission is to protect the people of California from fires, respond to emergencies, and safeguard the state's natural and cultural resources, as well as providing social, economic, and environmental benefits to the public.

"Cultural resources" are the archaeological and historical sites that occur virtually everywhere in California: Native American camps and settlements, pioneer homesteads, old mines and mills, and many others. These are the fragile and irreplaceable remains of California's past.