Project delays and additional costs estimated at $17 million are expected for the Feather River West Levee Project since the discovery of a number of Native American archaeological sites.
So far, 15 sites containing prehistoric artifacts and human burial remains have been identified, and 13 are affecting ongoing construction of this year's work schedule, which includes upgrades on 19.5 miles of levees in Sutter and Butte counties.
Project leaders were surprised — pre-construction research and subsurface archaeological testing identified only two potential sites, said Mike Inamine, executive director of the Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency.
The sites were discovered in mounds that were preserved and utilized, and subsequently buried, when the levees were constructed as far back as the 1850s. Those mounds became part of the levee system structure.
The budget for the project set aside $3 million for work on those two sites. With 13 additional sites, and the potential of even more, agency staff is preparing a new budget for approval by the agency board of directors.
That new budget will likely pull another $3 million from the $11 million contingency fund, look to cut costs in the project in ways that will not jeopardize the safety of the citizens the levees protect and utilize some of the savings the project is projected to realize by its quicker-than-expected construction time, said Kash Gill, incoming chairman of the board.
"Our goal is still to get the project done by next year," Gill said. "But the savings we thought we would realize might not be there now."
The agency is partnering with tribal government leaders to move and reinter the human remains in accordance with the wishes of the tribe, Inamine said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requires certain mitigation efforts to handle cultural issues.
Tribal monitors from the United Auburn Indian Community are at the site daily to monitor areas under construction.
The sites were likely occupied by the Nisenan Indians, Doug Elmets, spokesman for the United Auburn Indian Community, said in a prepared statement.
One site is associated with the Nisenan village of Hok, which later became John Sutter's Hock Farm, where Nisenan Indians labored for free in the 1850s in return for not being forcibly removed to the Nome Lackee reservation hear Tehama, Elmets said.
"Dedicatory households and places of ancestor worship along the Feather River are associated with the Sutter Buttes (or middle mountains), which the Nisenan considered to be the ultimate residing place for the spirits of the deceased," Elmets said.
Other than the unexpected discovery of a number of prehistoric cultural sites, the second year of construction on the Feather River West Levee project is running as planned.
About 250 people and eight different mixing operations are spread across the levees in Sutter and Butte counties.
The work involves installing a 3-foot-wide slurry wall, which consists of bentonite clay, water and soil, reaching between 38 and 120 feet deep. The slurry wall is intended to prevent underseepage, which was the cause of all the major levee breaks in the area, including the deadly 1955 flood.
Last year's construction got off to a late start due to permitting delays from the Army Corps of Engineers, but construction crews have made up some of the ground, said Mike Inamine, executive director of the Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency.
