2025
27
Mar
Update on the Ninth Circuit Hearing Regarding the SunZia Case
John R. Welch, Vice President, Preservation & Collaboration
(March 27, 2025)—Friends, you find me cautiously optimistic after my day (as a spectator) in court: The Ninth Circuit panel was skeptical about federal government and industry claims for the legality of the approval process for the ...
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2025
27
Mar
Six Tribes Announce Formation of GSENM Inter-Tribal Coalition
Hi everyone!
Steve is on a prospective colleges tour with his twin sons this week. He hoped he’d be able to check in with you all, but: Teenage boys. A lot of driving.
So, I’m here to share something I read yesterday that really moved me, and that I shared with Steve (we’re both from the...
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2025
20
Mar
Raúl Grijalva’s Legacy
Dear Friends,
THEY’RE HERE! HOT OFF THE PRESSES!
I am thrilled to report that the latest issue of Archaeology Southwest Magazine—focused on Mesa Verde—has just rolled off the delivery trucks!
It’s called “Continuity and Connections: The Living Landscapes of Mesa Verde” and is a ...
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2025
13
Mar
Concern Mounts as Review of National Monuments Continues Behind Closed Doors
Dear Friends,
What’s happening these days? A lot, it turns out.
Tonight, a “Blood Worm Moon,” caused by a total lunar eclipse, will occur after midnight. The name refers to back to Farmer’s Almanac-style insights on increased earthworm and perhaps insect activity as the northern hemisp...
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2025
06
Mar
In Honor of Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma (1950–2025)
Dear Friends,
On Wednesday, March 5, Archaeology Southwest’s new Director of Development Dani Phelps and I made one of my favorite drives across the American Southwest—the scenic route from Tucson to Santa Fe. We headed east on Interstate 10 and crossed the San Pedro Valley in the early morni...
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2025
04
Mar
The Places That Hold Our Nation’s Stories Are Not for Sale
By John R. Welch, Paul F. Reed, and Skylar Begay
(March 4, 2025)—At Archaeology Southwest, a Tucson-based nonprofit that works across the US Southwest, we believe in the power of place. Places embody people’s stories, and the public lands carved out of Native American territories safeguard an...
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2025
27
Feb
What the General Public Needs to Know about NSF Grants
Dear Friends,
I write to you from Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, Louisiana, on my way back from the 10th Annual Repatriation Conference hosted by the American Association of Indian Affairs. Over the course of an intense three days, repatriation specialists from across the n...
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2025
27
Feb
What You Need to Know about NSF Grants
(February 27, 2025)—Grants have been in the news lately, including grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Adults reading this in the US support NSF programs every year when we pay federal taxes. Most of us have paid around 44 cents a year for NSF programs, including just over one penny...
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2025
20
Feb
Potential Impacts of Freezes and Firings at NPS
Dear Friends,
In my note here on November 7, 2024, I quoted the following passage from Rabbi Abraham Heschel:
How strange we are in the world and how presumptuous our doings. Only one response can maintain us: Gratefulness for witnessing the wonder; for the gift to our unearned right to live, t...
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2025
13
Feb
Oil & Gas Advocate Named as Director of the Bureau of Land Management
Dear Friends,
These are difficult times.
Our world is changing, and changing rapidly.
The new presidential administration is attacking the people, programs, policies, places, and values at the very core of Archaeology Southwest’s work.
The body blows are coming fast and furious, and th...
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2025
11
Feb
Emerging Attacks on Our Public Lands
Paul F. Reed, New Mexico Director and Preservation Archaeologist
(February 11, 2025)—Dramatic and harmful changes in Department of Interior management policies are beginning to emerge from the new administration. Last week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum released Secretarial Order (SO) 3418. Th...
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2025
06
Feb
Our Public Lands Are Once Again in Jeopardy
Dear Friends,
As I said last week, one of the joys of working at Archaeology Southwest is that no one day is like another. We work on a wide range of mission-driven projects that have different timelines and cadences. We can’t control external events that have an impact on what we do, we simply...
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