Archaeology Southwest’s Paul Reed on Protecting Chaco Canyon

Editorial: Archaeology Southwest’s Paul Reed on Protecting Chaco Canyon
Our public lands were at the center of many celebrations this past year. The centennial of the National Park Service allowed Americans across the country to celebrate what makes America so special: our public lands, cultural sites and natural wonders. This year, New Mexicans also were able to celebrate important progress on protecting one of our most beloved places, Chaco Canyon — where the UNESCO World Heritage Site preserves the history and culture of Pueblo people. In October 2016, the Bureau of Land Management took a positive step forward announcing that it planned to collaborate with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on a new oil and gas management plan for the Greater Chaco Landscape. http://bit.ly/2l8sAkS – Santa Fe New Mexican

Related: How to Take Action to Protect the Greater Chaco Landscape
Here is the background on the current action item (deadline February 20): The Bureau of Land Management Farmington Field Office is amending their Resource Management Plan (RMP) to address issues related to oil and gas development in the Mancos Shale/Gallup Formation, which includes the Greater Chaco Landscape. Now is the time to contact BLM-Farmington and BIA-Gallup and make your voices heard. The deadline to comment on the BLM–BIA partnership and Resource Management Plan (RMP) amendment and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is February 20, 2017. http://bit.ly/2l8A0EQ – Paul Reed via Archaeology Southwest

Editorial: Measure to Pause Fracking on the Chaco Landscape Defeated
Today, after lengthy and emotional testimony from residents about the effects that fracking has had on their health and livelihoods, a memorial to halt fracking failed to pass the House Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Committee (HENRC). In a 6-6 tied vote, every Republican on the committee voted against the measure to temporarily pause fracking operations in Chaco Canyon to allow for an assessment to study the full array of environmental impacts of fracking.  http://bit.ly/2l8VaT8 – New Mexico House Democrats via KRWG

Editorial: Hopi Vice Chairman Alfred Lomahquahu on Preserving Bears Ears
The past few weeks have been troubling for our tribes (Hopi, Navajo, Ute, Mountain Ute and Zuni), which are formally joined in a union of governments as the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. President Trump’s issuance of a presidential memorandum to proceed with the Dakota Access pipeline over the objections of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe disregards treaty rights and threatens tribal sovereignty, and we pray that it is not a sign of things to come for Utah. Utah’s GOP congressional delegation, state Legislature and governor are threatening our sovereignty as well by calling upon the president to undo Bears Ears National Monument. We are dismayed that such actions are being discussed without consulting us, before our new secretary of interior has even been confirmed. http://bit.ly/2l8SYvh – Salt Lake Tribune

Editorial:  The Native American Lands Conservancy Argues for the Protection of All Native Lands
In Native American culture, the land, landscape, and everything in it is intertwined – it is sustenance, it is shelter, it is health. Tribal people’s relationship with the land also goes beyond the physical and is part of a connection to the spiritual and ancestral. Today, many other communities find solace and healing in the outdoors – whether hiking, hunting, or picnicking with family. This is a testament to the lost links between people and our natural environment. http://desert.sn/2klwuCU – Robert Paull via USA Today

Editorial: Legal Experts on Why Monument Declarations Should Not Be Subject to Revocation
Most Americans have probably never heard of a remarkable little law called the Antiquities Act of 1906. This obscure statute helped create some of our most treasured national parks. The Antiquities Act allows the president to proclaim a national monument — setting aside lands to protect and conserve our nation’s most spectacular historic, cultural, biologic, and aesthetic resources. Sixteen of the 19 presidents since the law’s passage, including plenty of Republicans, have used this special power. http://cnn.it/2l91ryt – Mark Squillace and John H. Bernetich via CNN.com

Outdoor Industries Fighting Back Against the State of Utah’s Plans for Public Lands
While the Bundy family’s exploits in Nevada and Oregon have drawn attention recently as trials proceed, the Sagebrush Rebellion has been advancing steadily on another front in Utah. Over the past few years, the state’s congressional representatives have spent over $500,000 studying the viability of transferring federal lands to state control, promoted a $14 million lawsuit to try to force transfer, and introduced a slew of bills to gut federal oversight and protections of public lands. Now, a battle is brewing between two of the state’s most powerful forces: its conservative political leadership, which harbors a century-old distrust of federal land agencies, and its massive outdoor recreation industry, which depends on those same public lands for its survival. http://bit.ly/2l8HM1H – High Counrty News

Pueblo Language Preservation, Conducted with an Eye to Cultural Protection Instead of Academic Publication
Erin Debenport works with indigenous tribes in the Rio Grande Valley to help preserve their languages. But she has to keep her work a secret. Debenport, an assistant professor of linguistic and sociocultural anthropology who joined the UCLA faculty in fall 2016, said the tribes she works with are losing their languages because young people are not learning their native language. But the tribes also maintain a strict control over outsiders learning their languages. http://bit.ly/2l8PecZ – Daily Bruin

Editorial: The Recreation Economy Is Pushing Back on Plans to Sell off Public Lands
We are fortunate to live in Southwest Colorado, surrounded by a rugged and natural landscape that provides us opportunities not seen in many parts of the country. Not only do visitors come to our area from near and far to discover and explore, the locals graze cattle, hunt, gather firewood, hike and bike on lands that those who came before us had the foresight to set aside for future generations. While there is a long history associated with public lands in the region, it is the story that is being shaped about our lands today that will have a lasting impact on communities like Durango and Cortez for decades to come. http://bit.ly/2l8MRa7 –  Diane Wren Via the Durango Herald

Fly-Fishers Rally to Protect the Antiquities Act
Last Friday the Utah State Senate joined the House to approve a resolution asking President Trump to abolish the Bears Ears National Monument. In December, former president Obama used the Antiquities Act to convey protected status on 1.35 million acres in southeastern Utah, a move that prompted fierce opposition and backlash from local republican lawmakers. While the Bears Ears area isn’t exactly an epicenter for angling, its status does affect some fisheries. Dustin Carlson, a local angler and former owner of the online retailer Fishwest claims that protecting the area could have significant impact on the long-term health of part of the San Juan River and Lake Powell. http://bit.ly/2l8Byi0 – The Drake

Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Month Is Fast Approaching
On Saturday, March 4, 2017, the Himdag Ki Museum in Topawa, Arizona (south of Sells) will host the 2017 Arizona Archaeology Expo from 10 am to 4 pm. Listen to presentations on current archaeological research on the Tohono O’Odham Nation, visit a nearby rock art site, and watch demonstrations on ancient technology. Join us as we celebrate Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness month. The event is free and open to everyone. The 2017 Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month Posters and the 2017 Listing of Events Brochures are now available for free at the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office at 1100 W. Washington in Phoenix. Can’t stop by to pick them up? No worries, we can mail them to you. Contact Kris Powell at 602-542-7141 or http://www.azstateparks.com/archy for more information.

Field School Opportunity at Crow Canyon
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center is offering a College Field School for graduate and undergraduate students this summer. Learn the fundamental techniques of archaeological site identification and recording, excavation, and basic artifact processing and analyses. The five week course runs from May 21stto June 24th and six credit hours may be earned through Adams State University. We will be working at the Haynie site, a Chaco outlier, in the central Mesa Verde region of SW Colorado as part of the larger Northern Chaco Outliers Project. The field school is certified as RPA-5 by the Register of Professional Archaeologists.More information and application materials can be found at:  http://www.crowcanyon.org/fieldschool.

Paid Internships at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center is currently accepting applications (application deadline is March 1st, 2017) for archaeology, education and American Indian Initiatives internships. We are seeking advanced undergraduate or graduate students in archaeology, anthropology, Native American studies, or other related fields to assist with archaeological field or lab work or educational programing related to archaeology and anthropology of the Southwest. More information and application materials can be found at:  http://www.crowcanyon.org/index.php/internships.

Lecture Opportunity–Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Steve Lekson, Curator of Archaeology, Museum of Natural History and Professor of Anthropology, Jubilado, University of Colorado; Editor, The Architecture of Chaco Canyon; The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon; Author, A History of the Ancient Southwest; Chaco Meridian: Centers of Political Power in the Ancient Southwest; Archaeology of the Mimbres Region, Southwestern New Mexico, USA who will give a lecture Mimbers Pots: Dimples, Slip Slop, and Clapboard (What They Are and Why They Matter) on February 20 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Ancient Sites Ancient Stories Lecture Series. Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt telephone: 505 466-2775; email: southwestseminar@aol.com; website: http://southwestseminars.org

Lecture Opportunity–Taos
The Taos Archaeological Society is pleased to present Caroline Jean Fernald, Executive Director of the Millicent Rogers Museum and PhD candidate in Native American art history at the University of Oklahoma, who will lecture on Prehistoric Trade Between Mesoamerica and the American Southwest on Wednesday, February 22 at 7 pm at the Kit Carson Electric Board Room, 118 Cruz Alta Road, Taos.  Contact Rebecca Quintana at 575-770-7460 for questions or further information

Hands-On Archaeology Workshop–Tucson: How Did People Make and Use Stone Tools?
Enrollment for participants 18 and older is now open for Allen Denoyer’s next flintknapping workshop, which will be held on Saturday, February 25, from 9:00 a.m. to noon, at Archaeology Southwest’s Tucson headquarters, 300 N. Ash Alley. The fee for the workshop is $40. http://bit.ly/1VKAFHv – Archaeology Southwest

Lecture Opportunity–Tucson
On February 23, at 5:30 p.m., the Tucson chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt will welcome Dr. Ronald Leprohon (University of Toronto) for “A Wall for All Seasons: The funerary chapel of Pahery at El Kab.” The Eighteenth Dynasty tomb chapel of Pahery, the Mayor of El Kab in southern Upper Egypt, contains scenes of the work done during all three seasons of the Egyptian calendar. A description of these and the symbolic direction in which they were meant to be viewed will be followed by an examination of the hieroglyphic captions accompanying the scenes and how these offered a different message to a literate audience. The program will be held in Room 110 of the Bannister Building, University of Arizona campus, 1215 E. Lowell Street. Nearest parking is in the Sixth Street garage.

Lecture Opportunity–Tucson
On February 28, at 5:30 p.m., the Tucson chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America will welcome Nick Card, University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute, AIA Samuel H. Kress Foundation Lecturer, for “A New View of the Neolithic through Orkney’s Ness of Brodgar.” Card will explore how recent archaeological research at this remarkable site is radically changing our views of the period, providing a sharp contrast to the Stonehenge-centric view of the Neolithic, and revealing a 5,000 year old complex, socially stratified, and dynamic society. The program will be held in Room 216 of the Haury Building, University of Arizona campus, 1009 E. South Campus Dr. http://bit.ly/2l8zGWH – AIA Tucson

Lecture Opportunity–Tucson
Archaeologist Barbara Roth gives a free presentation “New Insights into Mimbres Pueblo Communities: Excavations at the Elk Ridge Site” during Old Pueblo Archaeology Center’s February 16, 6-8:30 p.m. “Third Thursday Food for Thought” dinner at El Molinito Mexican Restaurant, 10180 N. Oracle Rd., Oro Valley, Arizona. This 200-room, Classic Mimbres period (AD 1000-1130) pueblo site suffered heavy looting but recent excavations in a protected portion of it, led by Dr. Roth and archaeologist Darrell Creel, provide new insights into Mimbres society. No entry fee. Guests may purchase their own dinners. Reservations required before 5 p.m. February 15: 520-798-1201 or info@oldpueblo.org.

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