The Northwest Information Center (NWIC) has long been part of Sonoma State University and the School of Social Sciences. The purpose of the NWIC is 1) to manage cultural resources records, reports, and maps; 2) to supply cultural resources information to the private and public sector (some restrictions do apply); and 3) to provide educational support and information about cultural resources in California to the students of Sonoma State University and the general public.
As the State began to take on the responsibility of assisting in this management, and even funding it to some degree, the NWIC, under the direction of SSU Anthropology professor Dave Fredrickson, became established as a ‘District Clearinghouse’ in 1973. Functions of the NWIC shifted over time and then, in the mid-1990s, the NWIC became a separate, independent SSU Center of its own. For nearly 20 years after, the NWIC was managed by Leigh Jordan, who retired in 2014. Now, the NWIC is managed by Bryan Much.
The biggest shift in our information management has occurred over the last 15 years, as computer-based geographic information systems (GIS) began to replace the data managed on paper maps. The NWIC also developed a robust relational database that links PDFs of documents to the attributes of the resources and reports in the system, along with their locations. This GIS system has been deployed across the other information centers located throughout the state, working together with the Office of Historic Preservation and the State Historical Resources Commission as the California Historical Resources Information System.
The NWIC also provides vital and essential services to our clients across various sectors of the local and regional economy, both public and private. During state or federal emergencies, agencies such as the Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), or the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) may reach out to the NWIC for cultural resources data to guide their response to emergency impacts on cultural resources. Cultural resource managers, as well as planners, at the local, state and federal levels, along with tribal governments, use this cultural resource data to identify, evaluate, and protect cultural resources that may be impacted during various development projects. Operating under a fee-for-services trust, the NWIC uses the fees collected from services provided, not SSU general fund monies, to fund the above operations.
We have recently moved our off-campus location, and can now be found at 1400 Valley House Drive, Suite 210. Come on by and visit us sometime!