2023
05
Sep
Proclamation on National Wilderness Month
Dear Friends,
Reading books. Not reading books. Re-reading books.
Since I was very young, reading has been a passion. But, for a long dry spell during my early and middle professional career, there simply wasn’t time to read books.
Then, in the early portion of my “late professional car...
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2023
04
Sep
NSF Grant News to Share!
Karen Gust Schollmeyer, Preservation Archaeologist and Director, Preservation Archaeology Field School
(September 5, 2023)—I recently received some wonderful news: My friends and colleagues Jeff Clark and Mike Diehl and I have been awarded a new grant from the National Science Foundation to s...
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2023
29
Aug
Evidence that People Bred Macaws at Mimbres Site
Dear Friends,
Over the past 10 days I spent several days in Traverse City, Michigan, four days in San Diego, California, and a half-day on Mount Lemmon, a peak just outside of Tucson that rises over 9,100 feet.
These places have an important thing in common—they are MUCH cooler than Tucson.
...
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2023
28
Aug
Indigenous Sustainability and "Little Elders"
Caitlynn Mayhew, Diné, cyberSW Native American Fellow
(August 29, 2023)—Yá’át’ééh shik’éí dóó shidine’é. Shí éí Caitlynn Mayhew yinishyé. Kin Łichii'nii nishłį́ dóó Bilagáana bashishchiin. Táchii’nii dashicheii dóó Bilagáana dashinalí. K’aabiizhii Nasdlah...
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2023
23
Aug
An Audio Postcard from Mesa Verde National Park
Dear Friends,
Good morning! And I say that because it’s 6:30 a.m. here in San Diego as I begin to write this.
I’ll confess. I forgot about you.
I take that as a good sign. It suggests that I really can occasionally step away from work and relax. Last evening—at the time I am normally ...
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2023
15
Aug
Monuments Lawsuit Dismissed; Antiquities Act Holds
Dear Friends,
Last Friday, a federal judge made a big decision.
Judge Nuffer, a Utah District Court Judge, dismissed Utah lawsuits that challenged President Biden’s use of the Antiquities Act of 1906 to restore Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
...
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2023
15
Aug
On Head Shaking While Others Nod: Archaeology Southwest’s Collaborative Opposition to the SunZia Power Line
Archaeology Southwest issues statement on recent Notice of Dispute
sent to BLM Director Stone-Manning
John R. Welch, Bill Doelle, Skylar Begay, and Ashleigh Thompson
Tucson, Ariz. (August 15, 2023)—On August 4, 2023, Archaeology Southwest, the Tohono O’odham Nation, and the San Carlos Apach...
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2023
08
Aug
Meet the Newest US National Monument, Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni
Dear Friends,
Today’s greeting began in my laundry room over the weekend. The latest issue of Journal of the Southwest arrived last week, and it features an article by my friend Bill Doolittle. Bill is a geographer who is retiring after a long career at the University of Texas at Austin. It’s...
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2023
02
Aug
The Story of Our Headquarters
Linda J. Pierce, Deputy Director
(August 2, 2023)—I’ve been thinking lately about places and their role in our stories. Humans are all about stories. We tell ourselves and others stories all the time—about our past, our future, about what things mean, about why it all matters. We can tell o...
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2023
01
Aug
Woman the Hunter
Dear Friends,
I started my most recent audio book, The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet, by Jeff Goodell, about three weeks ago. That was early in Tucson’s long string of days over 100 degrees. (Yes, Phoenix, I know you only count days over 110 degrees.)
Often th...
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2023
25
Jul
New National Monument Honors Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley
Dear Friends,
Yesterday, President Biden signed a proclamation to establish the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Mississippi and Illinois. Till’s brutal 1955 murder helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This marks the fourth time President Bide...
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2023
18
Jul
Chaco Hearing News
Dear Friends,
I have just three short paragraphs to share this week.
Monday afternoon brought rain—lots of it—to Tucson. There’s good reason to believe that the Akimel O’Odham and Tohono O’odham deserve our thanks for this wonderful gift of rain. To understand why, I recommend you wa...
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