Expiration of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Was Also an Assault on Public Lands

Expiration of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Was Also an Assault on Public Lands
When armed men shut down the 107-year-old Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the sagebrush steppes of the northern Great Basin on Saturday, their anti-government anger put federal management of public lands in the West in the spotlight for the second time in a month. While the militia’s assault on the refuge was direct, a subtle and some say more insidious attack from Congress took place in December. Three months earlier, a committee in the House of Representatives allowed a popular national parks and recreation program to expire for the first time. Over the program’s 50 years of rebuilding community playgrounds and improving public access to wilderness areas, it provided more than $680,000 for Malheur. http://bit.ly/1SHGa8I – Al Jazeera America

Land and Water Conservation Fund Provided a 3-Year Reprieve
It wasn’t quite the victory conservationists wanted, but the Land and Water Conservation Fund — often hailed as the nation’s most successful conservation program — will remain in place for at least another three years. The LWCF was reauthorized and funded to $450 million on Dec. 18, when Congress passed its $1.8 trillion omnibus spending package for the 2016 fiscal year. Congress had allowed authorization for the LWCF to lapse on Sept. 30, 2015, despite its having enjoyed bipartisan support for more than 50 years. http://bit.ly/1RDqSkl – Telluride Daily Planet

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson, AZ
Making Archaeology Public 2016 marks the 50^th birthday of the National Historic Preservation Act, a law that greatly expanded the amount of archaeological work conducted in advance of construction and development projects. The Making Archaeology Public project is celebrating this landmark by compiling stories from across the country about discoveries and insights that never would have been known without this work. Please join historic preservation enthusiast, Lynne Sebastian, and others for videos and discussion of projects in Arizona, New Mexico, and nationwide on January 14, 2016 from 7 to 9 pm, at the Scottish Rite Temple, 160 S. Scott Avenue. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit: https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/tab3.aspx?EventID=1655911 or contact sherr@desert.com.

Learning About Perry Mesa – One Sherd at a Time
“Sherd!” That’s the sound 16 volunteers had their ears out for as they surveyed an area in Perry Mesa, 77 miles north of Phoenix, looking for prehistoric artifacts one cold December morning. The volunteers, four of which are Arizona State University students, were to yell “sherd” whenever they found an artifact. The sherds  will help piece together where a mysterious population, who once made this area their home, came from. It’s part of a five-year research project conducted by ASU and the Friends of Tonto National Forest. http://bit.ly/1mOBy48 – Arizona State University

Appeals Court Orders Utah BLM to Begin Archaeological Inventory
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said federal land managers cannot indefinitely postpone carrying out an inventory of cultural resources — such as Native American artifacts — in south-central Utah. “This region is home to an abundance of archaeological resources — including caves, rock shelters and rock art — that provide a window into the lives of the early inhabitants of the Colorado Plateau,” said Kevin Jones, former Utah state archaeologist, adding that 4,000 miles of dirt roads and trails used by off-road vehicles compromise the resources. http://bit.ly/1N0ZXst – KSL.com

Archaeology Café (Phoenix): Canal Irrigation Studies on the Gila River Indian Community and Modern Water-Rights Issues
On January 19, 2016, Kyle Woodson and Wesley Miles (Gila River Indian Community) will discuss the Gila River Indian Community’s long-term cultural resource management study of Hohokam canal irrigation along the middle Gila River. The study was facilitated by archival and ethnographic research, intensive archaeological survey and excavation projects, as well as oral history interviews.
We meet in the Aztec Room of Macayo’s Central, 4001 N. Central Ave. Presentations begin after6:00 p.m. Archaeology Café is free, but guests may order from the menu. http://bit.ly/1kYLC9p  – Archaeology Southwest

Video Interview – Karen Adams on the Ethnobotany of the Southwest
In this episode of Canyon Chronicles, host Mike Woodrow talks with archaeobotanist Dr. Karen Adams about her research into the plant foods that prehistoric people of the Southwest domesticated and ate, and how it sheds light on the food systems of today. http://bit.ly/1RuqF4P – KSJD

The Rare Birds of Chaco Canyon
For millennia, people have coveted rare goods they could get only through trade with others. The Ancestral Puebloans of the Colorado Plateau were no exception. They traveled great distances to exchange items like local turquoise, hides, and pottery for exotic shells, copper bells, and cacao. http://bit.ly/1PQA5Ek – KNAU

Despite Strong Growth in Park Visitation, Lack of Engagement by Millennials Concerns National Park Service
“If the park service doesn’t build a new constituency, our longer term future is at risk, to be blunt about it,” said Jarvis, who was in Salt Lake City to share this message with the Outdoor Retailer winter market last week. “This particular industry also needs to build a new constituency.”  Aiding in this mission is the National Park Foundation, which has hired a Madison Avenue advertising firm to conduct research. The foundation is looking to survey millennials in 2017 and compare responses garnered in a 2011 survey. Racial minorities also remain less engaged with the parks, a trend the foundation seeks to reverse. http://bit.ly/1OZZqbA – Salt Lake Tribune

Historic Preservation as an Engine for Economic Preservation
The fame of North Wildwood’s landmark Lollipop Motel has reached all the way to the land Down Under, making the front page of an Australian newspaper just a few years ago. That the business was still around to make the news was news in itself: The Lollipop Motel and other doo-wop style motels in the Wildwoods were listed in 2005 as some of the 10 most endangered sites in New Jersey. But the motels were reborn. There are about 93 of them still in business, refurbished and upgraded. They’re examples of survival through a mix of history and economic development. http://sfg.ly/1TNF7SX – SF Gate

But Taken Too Far, the Past Can Be Marketed as Cheap Carnival
At 1.2 million acres, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake is the largest parcel of land owned by the US Navy. It fills an expanse of remote and rugged desert terrain bigger than Rhode Island; to the naked eye, there’s not much going on inside. You might spend a whole day driving around the perimeter of the base and, notwithstanding an occasional low-flying F-16 fighter jet, never guess there was anything outside your window beyond barren volcanic tablelands, stands of brittle burrobush, and the occasional sidewinder rattlesnake. What makes NAWS China Lake special—beyond being a secret test center for the world’s most advanced weapons—is that inside a handful of its narrow lava canyons lies the largest concentration of Native American rock art in the Western Hemisphere. The images, carvings known as petroglyphs, are found throughout China Lake’s Coso Range and are the oldest in the Americas. http://bit.ly/1OVSC4W – Vice

You Can Help Protect Ancient El Paso Sites
Significant ancient rock imagery sites, ancient cultural deposits, and historic military sites are located on the 7,000 acre Castner Range at Fort Bliss in El Paso Texas. We now have an opportunity to protect these sites through creation of a new national monument. Congressman Beto O’Rourke submitted a bill December 16, 2015 to create the national monument. The goal is to establish Castner Range as a national monument so that it will be protected in perpetuity. Lands within a national monument feature exceptional scientific, cultural, ecological, historical, and recreational values. If Congress fails to act the President can declare the national monument through the Antiquities Act. A local non-profit, The Frontera Land Alliance, is leading the effort and collecting letters of support, to President Obama for the national monument, showing diverse community support. Please support this effort by going to http://castnerrangenationalmonument.org/ where you can access the letter to the President which must be mailed to Frontera Land Alliance at 3800 N. Mesa Street, Suite A2-258, El Paso, Texas 79902 or email to:janae@FronteraLandAlliance.org.

Employment Opportunity – New Mexico
The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs seeks a Director for the New Mexico Historic Sites Division. The Director should have a demonstrated ability in the administration of complex organizations serving multiple community-based constituencies and audiences.  At least three years of experience in a senior management position required; a Bachelor’s Degree required; and an advanced degree in preservation, history, anthropology, museum administration or related field is preferred.  Candidate must have a successful record in strategic planning, grant-writing, staff supervision, and fundraising.  This position is expected to have extensive experience with the development, management, and operation of an organization similar to the Historic Sites, a state funded entity.  Knowledge of the Southwest’s history, architecture and multi-cultural traditions is desired. http://bit.ly/1K6UEHY – New Mexico Culture.Org