California increasingly recognizes Native cultural and religious practice on ancestral lands. But legal recognition alone does not create a working access system. Communities and agencies still need MOUs, notice procedures, contacts, field protocols, and protected records.
Legal recognition of cultural and religious practice does not by itself create a usable, protective access system.
The practical systems that connect legal recognition to safe, usable access: MOUs, notice, contacts, field protocols, and protected records.
Three field sheets stay with the report: an event log, a contact-and-notice log, and a discovery protocol.
Before relying on an older copy: recheck current law, agency contacts, access rules, and any legal deadlines.
These exact field-sheet editions remain with this report. They are independent public appendices, not Institute-maintained standards. Keep protected meaning and private information out of circulating copies; recheck current law before relying on the discovery-protocol deadlines.