Cultural & Historic Resources

GDB assists its clients in analyzing the extent to which their proposed projects could affect cultural and historic resources that exist on their properties or in the immediate vicinity.

Working with certified archaeologists, tribal resource specialists and architectural historians, GDB helps landowners and project applicants determine whether project sites contain cultural artifacts or historic structures that should be avoided. GDB also helps project applicants devise mitigation plans for those cultural and historic resources that cannot be avoided. Through these efforts, GDB helps its clients comply with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

These laws now demand that local and federal agencies, along with project applicants, engage in robust consultation with affected stakeholders, most notably the Native American tribes whose connections to the project site may go back thousands of years. GDB facilitates these required consultations and routinely negotiates mitigation strategies with tribal leaders to ensure that projects move forward while protecting the existing cultural resources and being sensitive to tribal concerns. 

In addition, GDB has experience with buildings and other structures of historical importance. GDB works with clients to determine whether such structures must be preserved in place, relocated, or made the subject of extensive documentation prior to removal. 

When necessary, GDB litigates cultural and historic impact and mitigation issues under CEQA, NEPA, and the NHPA.