Native America Victorious at Standing Rock

Native America Victorious at Standing Rock
The Army Corps of Engineers will not grant the permit for the Dakota Access pipeline to drill under the Missouri river, the army announced on Sunday, handing a major victory to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe after a months-long campaign against the pipeline. Assistant secretary for civil works Jo-Ellen Darcy announced the decision on Sunday, with the army saying it was based on “a need to explore alternate routes” for the crossing. http://bit.ly/2gqvXhV – The Guardian

Timeline of the Controversial Pipeline Project
News about the Dakota Access pipeline and the protests in North Dakota near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation has filled headlines and social media feeds for the past few months. But before the protests grabbed the attention of the nation, a variety of legal battles had already set the stage for the ensuing events. Here is a look at how it all evolved: http://usat.ly/2gqvs7K

Snopes Debunks Popular Pro-DAPL Editorial
On 6 November 2016, web site InsideSources.com published an editorial (“What the Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Aren’t Telling You”) that was picked up and run by newspapers across the United States. The piece appeared in opinion sections days before the filing of a motion by Energy Transfer Partners [PDF], and made a variety of rebuttals to what the author said were claims and demands made by Dakota Access Pipeline protesters. http://bit.ly/2gDMdzc – Snopes.com

Utah Representative Ron Bishop Is Pushing for Monument Nullification
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said he believes it’s possible for President-elect Donald Trump to unravel controversial monument designations under the Obama and Clinton administrations, including the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Bishop said he’s meeting Monday with members of Trump’s transition team to discuss issuing new executive orders to upend previous designations he calls “outrageous and controversial,” as well as overturning any action President Obama may take regarding the proposed Bears Ears national monument. http://bit.ly/2gDrb3A – Deseret News

Preservation Archaeology in Action: Archaeology Southwest and the Great Bend of the Gila
Wright is a preservation archaeologist with Archaeology Southwest, a nonprofit conservation organization based in Tucson. He’s been studying the Great Bend of the Gila River for two years as part of an effort to turn the area into a national monument. U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva reintroduced legislation in Congress in June to designate 84,000 acres of land along the river as a national monument. He had initially introduced it in 2013, but the bill was unsuccessful. “Nothing’s getting done in Washington in terms of this kind of legislation,” said Bill Doelle, the president and CEO of Archaeology Southwest. “But we will continue to work because we think this is incredibly important.” http://bit.ly/2gDtlAa – Arizona Daily Star

Tribal Leaders Want Answers on Fracking and the Chaco Landscape
Leaders from several American Indian communities want federal land managers to consider the cultural significance of a large swath of land surrounding Chaco Cultural National Historic Park as they plan for more oil and gas development in northwestern New Mexico. The All Pueblo Council of Governors recently passed a resolution calling for the Bureau of Land Management to make permanent a 10-mile buffer around Chaco park. They’re also asking for the federal agency to develop a master leasing plan that takes into consideration the significance of the region. http://bit.ly/2gDATTv – Santa Fe New Mexican

Podcast: Mark Udall on Bears Ears
In our third episode of Go West, Young Podcast, we talk to former U.S. Senator Mark Udall about his thousand-mile trek through the Four Corners region, and why he’s such a vocal supporter of national monument designations for Bears Ears and the Greater Grand Canyon. http://bit.ly/2gDFmWB – Center for Western Priorities

A Field Day for Looters at Unprotected Bears Ears
Last January, a volunteer preservationist patrolling near the town of Bluff in southeastern Utah found a rock-art panel of a humanlike figure at least five times older than the Liberty Bell but marred by a similar crack. A thief had tried to cut the petroglyph from the cliff with a rock saw, to keep or sell to a collector. The botched result was a permanently disfigured piece of Native American history—and an argument for protecting the area as part of the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. http://bit.ly/2gpPhMu – Sierra Club

Archaeology Southwest Notes the Passing of Tony Reyna
A man who for generations has stood for freedom and the dignity of his people is gone. Native American veteran and community leader Tony Reyna died in the early morning hours of Sunday Dec. 4 at age 100, according to his daughter Diane Reyna. He passed away in his sleep at his home at Taos Pueblo, where he was with family. “All was peaceful and all is well,” Diane Reyna said. http://bit.ly/2gqiXZJ – The Taos News

Editorial: Public Land Decisions Need to Be More Inclusive
My father and mother raised my four siblings and me to appreciate the beauty of our environment by hiking, mountain climbing, and visiting parks and other natural sites. At the time, I didn’t think much about it, but when I reflect back on those outings, I realize that there weren’t that many people who looked like us visiting or working in the parks. http://bit.ly/2gDIuld – Santa Fe New Mexican

BLM Updates Policies on Cultural Consultation to Encourage Better Communication among All Stakeholders
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today issued an updated rule that will make its land use planning more accessible to the public, more responsive to the changing conditions on the public lands, and more efficient. The BLM developed this rule through years of work with state and local governments, cooperators, communities, stakeholders, and the public at large. The rule updates regulations that are more than 30 years old, provides additional and more robust opportunities for input into the agency’s planning process, and ensures that science is a cornerstone of the BLM’s planning work. The BLM launched this effort after hearing from stakeholders that the current planning process is too slow and cumbersome. http://on.doi.gov/2gDAtwE – Bureau of Land Managment

Did Political Bickering Cost Arkansas Archaeologist His Job?
Bob Scoggin, 50, the Department of Arkansas Heritage archeologist whose job it was to review the work of agencies, including DAH and the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, for possible impacts on historic properties, resigned from the agency on Monday. Multiple sources say Scoggin, whom they describe as an “exemplary” employee who the week before had completed an archeological project on DAH property, was told he would be fired if he did not resign. http://bit.ly/2gDEDEE – Arkansas Times

Blogs Worth Reading: We Need a Theory of Cultural Appropriation
The noble purpose of moral critiques is to try and inspire better behavior. The destructive purpose of moral critiques is to elevate the person making them in relation to those being critiqued – “you are bad and I am good and saying so gives me power over you.” Most of the time, I sincerely believe people are operating based on the first purpose, even when I disagree with them about what right behavior entails. But I have never encountered an argument about cultural appropriation that does not fall squarely in the second group. Not once. http://bit.ly/2gDDhcX – Fredrik deBoer

Unbelievable: Yoga Students from Fort Lewis College Vandalize Ancient Places in Southern Utah
Agroup of Fort Lewis College students defaced ancient Native American ruins in the Comb Ridge area near Bluff, Utah, while on an outdoor retreat in October. According to FLC spokesman Mitch Davis, the incident occurred on a Fort Lewis College Outdoor Pursuits overnight “yoga in the backcountry” trip Oct. 14 to Oct. 16. http://bit.ly/2gDFxkx – Cortez Journal

Chaco Canyon Has a Great Deal to Teach Us about Water
Chaco Canyon was the epicenter of civilization for the Ancestral Puebloan people of the Southwest from about 800 to 1250 CE. Trade routes carried macaws from Mexico, shells from the ocean and turquoise across the arid landscape. The people of Chaco built huge, distinctive stone buildings — the “great houses” of the greater Chacoan world. The prevailing theory among archaeologists is that the Chaco people were driven out of the immediate area by drought. It’s a comforting thought that if a drought — severe, vast and sustained — were to hit us, the rest of our modern systems might be resilient enough to keep us in place. But that thought is probably more comforting than it is true. http://bit.ly/2gDIktZ – The Taos News

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
The AIA and the Arizona Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt present Catherine P. Foster, US Department of State, who will present Heritage in Peril: How International Agreements Protect and Preserve Archaeological Sites and Objects.  The presentation will be held on Tuesday December 6, at 5:30 p.m., in the University of Arizona’s Bannister Rm 110. http://bit.ly/2gRYb67 – AIA Tucson

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Jon Hunner, Professor and Chair, Department of History, New Mexico State University and Author, Inventing Los Alamos: The Growth of an Atomic Community; J. Robert Oppenheimer, The Cold War, and The Atomic West; The Melilla Valley: An Oasis in the Desert (New Mexico Centennial Series) who will give a lecture, Celebrating the National Parks: A Centennial Birthday Journey, based on his sabbatical travels throughout the United States visiting a myriad of U.S. National Parks, on December 12 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the annual Mother Earth Father Sky Lecture Series held to honor The New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt tel 505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website: http://bit.ly/YhJddr

Lecture Opportunity – Sedona
The annual holiday celebration of the Verde Valley Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society will be held on Thursday, December 15th in the Community Room at the Sedona Public Library, 3250 White Bear Road, in West Sedona, at 7:00 pm. Visitors are welcome to join us! The program for the evening will be Experiences With Hopi People: 3 Decades Retrospective presented by Sandra Cosentino, Director of Crossing Worlds Hopi Projects, a non-profit service group. Please join us this month for this fascinating program. Admission is free. For additional information or questions, contact Nancy Bihler 928-203-5822 or visit our website: http://bit.ly/1TOb3HQ

Solstice Tour Opportunity – Tucson
On Wednesday, December 21, from 8 a.m. to noon, archaeologist Allen Dart will lead Old Pueblo Archaeology Center’s “Winter Solstice Tour of Los Morteros and Picture Rocks Petroglyphs Archaeological Sites,” starting near the Silverbell Road and Linda Vista Blvd. intersection in Marana, Arizona. Los Morteros includes a Hohokam ballcourt and bedrock mortars; and the ancient petroglyphs at Picture Rocks include a solstice and equinox marker, dancing human-like figures, whimsical animals, and other Hohokam rock symbols. Fee $20 ($16 for Old Pueblo Archaeology Center and Pueblo Grande Museum Auxiliary members). Reservations required by 5 p.m. December 19: 520-798-1201 or info@oldpueblo.org.

Employment Opportunity – Visit With Respect Program Manager at Cedar Mesa
We’re excited to be recruiting a new position to help educate folks how to preserve and respectfully visit sacred cultural/archaeological sites in the Cedar Mesa area. Partially funded through a Cooperative Agreement with the BLM, this position will be key to protecting cultural sites from impacts caused by uneducated visitation. We are working hard to make sure we get a diverse and talented pool of applicants for this important position. You can find the full job description and announcement here. http://bit.ly/2gDWco8 – Friends of Cedar Mesa

A tip of the hat to Josh Ewing, Cherie Freeman and Jesse Schaefer—keep those stories coming!