From left to right: Mary Oliva, Sr. Environmental Planner, Caltrans Dist. 10, Ross Chittenden, Director, Caltrans Dist. 10, Silvia Burley, Chairperson, California Valley Miwok Tribe, Debra Grimes, Cultural Preservation Specialist, California Valley Miwok Tribe, Kathleen McClaflin, Native American Liasion, Caltrans Dist. 10 and Ken Baxter, Deputy Director, Caltrans Dist. 10 (not pictured).
The California Valley Miwok Tribe – located at 10601 Escondido Pl., Stockton, CA 95212 – hosted a Government-to-Government Consultation meeting on Thursday, March 4, 2010 between the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans Dist. 10) and the CVMT Tribal Cultural Preservation Department. In attendance representing their departments were Ross Chittenden, District 10 Director; Ken Baxter, District 10 Deputy Director; Kathleen McClaflin, District 10 Native American Liaison; Mary Oliva, District 10 Senior Environmental Planner; Silvia Burley, Chairperson of the California Valley Miwok Tribe and Debra Grimes, California Valley Miwok Tribe Cultural Preservation Director.
The meeting was scheduled to be able to better address mutual concerns and to build a better understanding on how to work more cohesively in the future. Existing projects and strengthening of the tribes’ involvement in future projects were the main topics of discussion. Everyone whom attended contributed greatly and much was accomplished. The Tribe is grateful that Caltrans District 10 is working to strengthen its relationship with the Tribes that reside within its district, and is prioritizing that endeavor with meetings such as this. The Tribe looks forward to working more closely with Caltrans in 2010 with the better understanding that meetings such as this have helped to create. We would like to thank all those (whom attended) for their time and expertise and to Caltrans for initiating this event.
