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Section 5 <br />IMPACT CR-4: Would the project directly or indirectly disturb or destroy a <br />unique paleontological resource or site? <br />Alternative 1: No Federal Action/No Project <br />Under Alternative 1, the project would not be im plernented. The project area <br />would continue to have low potential to encounter paleontological resources <br />within surface deposits of younger Quaternary alluvium and some potential to <br />encounter paleontological resources within the older Quaternary deposits. <br />Alternative 2: Proposed Project <br />The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) was contacted <br />and requested to review their topographical maps for the project area to <br />determine the geology underlying the project site, the sensitivity of the site for the <br />presence of fossils, and if any fossil-bearing localities had been recorded. <br />According to NHLMAC, the entire project area has surface deposits of younger <br />Quaternary alluvium, derived as fluvial deposits from the Santa Ana River that <br />flows through the western portion of the proposed project area. There are no <br />fossil vertebrate localities anywhere nearby from these deposits and they are <br />unlikely to contain significant vertebrate fossils, at least in the uppermost layers, <br />Older Quaternary deposits could occur in the proposed project area at unknown <br />depth and could contain significant fossil vertebrate remains. The closest <br />vertebrate fossil locality from these older Quaternary deposits is LACM 1339, just <br />west of south of the proposed project area east of the Santa Ana River near the <br />top of the mesa bluffs along Adams Avenue, that produced fossil specimens of <br />mammoth (Mammuthus) and camel Cameliclae) bones from sands approximately <br />15 feet below the top of the mesa that is overlain by shell-bearing silts and <br />sands. <br />Surface grading or shallow excavations in the project area probably would not <br />uncover significant vertebrate fossil remains. Excavations that extend down, into <br />the older Quaternary deposits, however, could well encounter significant fossil <br />vertebrate specimens. Any substantial excavations below the uppermost layers <br />in the proposed project area should be monitored closely to quickly and <br />professionally recover any fossil remains discovered while not impeding <br />development. Sediment samples should also be collected and processed to <br />determine the small fossil potential in these deposits. Any fossils recovered <br />during mitigation should be deposited in an accredited and permanent scientific <br />institution for the benefit of current and future generations. With the <br />implementation of Mitigation Measure CR-3 potential impacts to unknown <br />paleontological resources would be reduced to a less than significant level. <br />Mid Basin Centennial Park Project Final EIR 5-76 <br />