Grounds for Concern : Native Americans: Officials say the system for protecting ancient Chumash burial sites is easily abused.

Regulations several Ventura County cities established to protect ancient Chumash burial grounds need to be overhauled because they invite abuse and have spawned anger and division among Native Americans, state and local officials said.

The problems stem from fierce competition within the Chumash community for jobs as construction site monitors--observers that Ventura County and most local cities require when projects are in culturally sensitive areas.

Monitors, who usually need only to say they are Chumash to be eligible for hiring, often lack the qualifications to review archeological finds, state officials said. That lack of knowledge has made it easy for archeologists and developers to manipulate findings in some cities, they said.

“We’ve definitely got a problem,” said Larry Myers, executive secretary of the California Native American Heritage Commission. “There is concern that developers are hiring people who don’t know anything and are paying to get answers they want.”

In addition, Myers and others said that most Ventura County cities, in adopting their monitoring policies, ignored the fact that more than a dozen Native American clans fall under the umbrella term Chumash.

The policies have left the groups competing for the lucrative contracts, leading to angry clashes between different Chumash clans.

Last month two groups disagreed so strongly about the fate of bones found on a public park site in Thousand Oaks that discussions deteriorated into name-calling and charges of impropriety.

In September, a Ventura clan, called the Chumash Native Nation of California, wrote letters to city, county and state officials demanding that it be the exclusive provider of project monitors. The cities of Thousand Oaks and Ventura received such letters.

And over the summer, city officials in Malibu began revamping their cultural heritage ordinance after an Agoura Hills businessman alleged that he had received late-night threats by the leader of the same group.

Malibu’s policy was rigged so that one group would receive all contracts, the businessman said. City officials said they are changing their ordinance to encourage other Chumash monitors to participate.

Similar problems have flared around Ventura County, prompting both Chumash leaders and government officials to re-evaluate procedures established to protect artifacts and ancient burial grounds.

Since the late 1970s, when state officials first realized that valuable archeological sites were being bulldozed, cities have been required to protect “important archeological resources.” Ventura, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Moorpark and Thousand Oaks were among the cities that responded by forcing developers to hire Chumash monitors.

The goal was to have Native Americans present when artifacts or bones were unearthed so they could tell archeologists how best to preserve sacred sites.

Chumash remains are found all along California’s central coast, where an estimated 15,000 once lived in scattered villages. Anthropologists estimate that only about 3,000 people of Chumash descent remain.

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State officials who introduced monitoring had noble intentions, local Chumash say.

“We always wanted this,” said Richard Angulo, a Chumash monitor based in Thousand Oaks. “We were tired of seeing people come in here and trample sacred land. These are our ancestors and we want to look after them.”

But from the start, cities have had trouble finding well-trained monitors and creating a system that dealt consistently with artifacts.

In Thousand Oaks, city planner Greg Smith said there have been numerous occasions over the last decade when monitors did not show up for site investigations or would sit in a car all day and collect a paycheck at sundown.

Angulo recalled another instance when a monitor halted a housing project for days when she found an item later revealed to be a clay flowerpot.

Even well-trained monitors do not always agree on the best way to handle artifacts once they are found.

John Johnson, a Chumash expert at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, said that on one occasion archeologists found a painting of a shark on a human bone. Scientists and Chumash leaders in Santa Ynez asked that the rare find be preserved, but the monitor on site decided it should be reburied.

“There seems to be no right or wrong answer as to how artifacts should be handled,” Johnson said. “It just depends on who the monitor is.”

Developers say they look at the process as a potentially costly and frightening risk because it empowers people who are not well-trained to stop a project.

“When you hear that there is going to be an investigation of your land, it’s one of those things where you just have to hope for the best,” said Gary Austin, a developer of a giant project in Moorpark. “It’s totally out of your control.”

Jack Skene, the Agoura Hills businessman, confronted Malibu about its policies after his plan to build a home on five acres was stalled when he refused to use a specific monitor. He said placing such power in the hands of a monitor or archeologist is a mistake, especially because those decisions could cost builders hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The monitors charge about $30 an hour, and archeology costs can exceed $50,000 even on a small project, Skene said. The more they find, the more days they work and the more they charge, he added.

“My wife is part Indian, and I have respect for these people. But at the same time I don’t want to get screwed,” Skene said. “These people are hunting around my land trying to find ways to charge me more and more money. It’s crazy.”

In Thousand Oaks, where monitors have been used since 1981, planner Smith said the city no longer accepts observers whose only qualification is a claim to be Chumash.

“That was just not enough,” Smith said. “We need to know what their background is, what professional experience they have and what their availability is.”

But other local governments are not as stringent.

Camarillo, Ventura and Simi Valley are among those where officials said they rely on a list provided by the state Heritage Commission to find monitors.

Ventura senior planner Karen Bates said her city approves any monitor whose name appears on the list.

“Anyone on that list is qualified, as far as were concerned,” Bates said.

But Heritage Commission secretary Myers said that list was never intended to be used as a source for monitors. Anyone claiming to be Chumash can be placed on the list, he said.

“We provide that list to cities and developers so they can contact Indians in their area,” Myers said. “We have done nothing in the way of reviewing these people to determine if they are qualified to monitor a site.”

One Chumash group from Ventura tried last month to prevent the Heritage Commission from providing the list to cities. But builders and other Chumash responded by accusing the group--led by Ventura resident Kote Lotah--of trying to corner the market by using strong-arm tactics.

Skene, for example, reported that Lotah threatened to plant artifacts on his five-acre property in the middle of the night if Skene refused to hire Owl Clan Consultants, a business run by members of the Chumash Native Nation of California.

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Paul Varela, curator of the Chumash Interpretive Center in Thousand Oaks, said Lotah’s efforts in Malibu reflect how aggressively he has pursued jobs elsewhere.

Lotah, whose 19 monitors are frequently hired by local cities, acknowledged that he can play rough. But he denied threatening Skene.

“We are intimidating. But if you’re going to have monitoring from inexperienced people, we’re going to confront you,” Lotah said. “We feel very strong about preserving these sacred sites.”

To prevent use of inexperienced monitors, county planner Milada Allen said that her office is looking into more stringent competency standards.

And, while most Chumash agree that stronger standards are needed, members of several smaller groups said care must be taken so they are not written out of the process.

“We feel like there is an effort to have monitoring locked up to a choice few,” said Beverly Folkes, a director of the Oakbrook Park Chumash Indian Corp. in Thousand Oaks.

“I want to be involved in monitoring, and I want to pass that down to my son,” she said. “But people like me can’t because we’re considered too small and so we’re being excluded,” Folkes said.

Most Chumash say groups such as Oakbrook and Owl Clan and Angulo’s California Indian Council must agree on competency standards for monitors--and a fair distribution of monitoring jobs--if the system is to be trusted.

Finding peace among the diverse groups will be a difficult task, Angulo said.

“I would love to see us join together to solve this, but that’s going to mean a lot of effort on everyone’s part to put ego aside,” he said. “I don’t know if we can do that.”

Part of the reason compromise is so difficult, Johnson explained, is that the Chumash people are not like other tribes.

“We’re talking about people who came from numerous villages along the coast, many of whom spoke different languages,” Johnson said. “The law asks cities and developers to turn to a unified Chumash voice for answers about how to treat artifacts and burial sites, which is something that by their very nature, (Chumash) cannot do.”

Myers said he saw little hope of a system that ensures consistency and quality.

“The Heritage Commission just doesn’t have the funds or the capability to ensure that the monitors are adequate,” Myers said. “Perhaps there should be a system, but I don’t see it happening in the foreseeable future.”