The Archaeological Conservancy œ Preserving the Past for the Future

The Archaeological Conservancy is a national non-profit organization dedicated to the acquisition and management of significant archaeological and historical sites located on private land. Over the past 41 years, we've established 550 archaeological preserves in 46 states. We greatly appreciate the assistance from our members and the help that it's given us through the years. This brief discussion explains how we use those funds to accomplish our preservation goals. The first and usually largest expense incurred in creating a preserve is the cost of acquiring the land. We rely heavily on foundations, corporations, and large donors to fund land acquisition. Acquiring a property is just the first in a series of subsequent steps we take to create an archaeological preserve. We rely on donations from our members to fund the steps that follow the initial acquisition. Those steps include fencing. It's very important to fence archaeological preserves, not only to deter trespassers, but also to prosecute looters. Most courts, especially in the western U.S., will not convict individuals for trespassing, property damage, or looting unless that individual has crossed a perimeter fence marked no trespassing. Fences usually cost between three dollars and eight dollars a linear foot, depending on where they're being built and what type of fence is being constructed. We normally use five-strand barbed wire fences with t-posts on 20-foot centers. We use barbed wire in rural areas where cows are present and smooth wire in urban areas. Some preserves we acquire are already fenced. Some require a minimal amount of new fencing. Many require a new perimeter fence. A fencing project can run from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. Creating a management plan. We create a management plan for all new preserves. The plan is created by a committee, which includes the former landowner, adjacent landowners, archaeologists, descendant community members, such as Native Americans. The meeting is usually a one-day event that is held in a meeting room near the preserve. It includes a morning visit by the committee to the site, followed by an afternoon discussion. The plan is not a consensus document, but instead it represents a forum of ideas about managing the preserve. Topics covered include access to the preserve by archaeologists, access to the preserve by the public, access to the preserve by descendant community members, ground cover, erosion control, along with any other issues mentioned by the participants in the meeting. The plan is then made available to conservancy board members to be considered whenever important decisions about the preserve need to be made. The average management plan usually runs about two to five thousand dollars, depending on travel expenses. The management plan can be revised, expanded, or amended if circumstances of the preserve change. Site stewards. The conservancy recruits volunteer site stewards to assist us in watching over our preserves and to conduct tours of the preserves. These are usually neighbors or local avocational archaeologists who are interested in preservation. Several states in the southwest region, including Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and Utah, have statewide volunteer site steward programs that the conservancy partners with. We often train our site stewards about the archaeology at the preserve. They protect and offer them handouts, photos, and maps that they can use to explain the significance and history of the preserve to visitors. Once the stewards have been selected and trained, the cost of managing the site steward program is minimal. Educational opportunities. We like for our preserves to be used by the public. The photo shows archaeologist Carol Patterson giving a tour to a group on the conservancy's Chabonneau petroglyph preserve near Montrose, Colorado, featuring Ute petroglyphs. We do our best to offer tours on demand to school groups, archaeological interest groups, and the public, usually led by an archaeological expert. Again, on an established preserve, the cost of extending educational opportunities is usually minimal. Mapping. Most of the preserves we acquire lack an adequate archaeological map. Maps are an important planning tool for identifying areas that need backfilling, receding, or where standing walls need stabilization. We invite archaeology students, as well as interested avocational archaeologists, to practice their mapping schools on our preserves. We also hire professionals to map our preserves using traditional mapping techniques, as well as LIDAR. Professionals who specialize in mapping often donate their services to the conservancy. Backfilling. Sites that have been looted using mechanical equipment should be backfilled to protect the remaining intact deposits. If a looted masonry room is left unbackfilled, surrounded by intact deposits, through time the four walls of the vacant room will collapse, corrupting the archaeological integrity of the intact adjacent rooms. The photos show the Box S Pueblo in western New Mexico, adjacent to the Zuni Reservation. It represents a proto-Zuni site occupied between AD 1260 and 1280. Out of the 1100 rooms in the Pueblo, 110 had been looted with a backhoe. Since the Pueblo was two stories high, many of the shafts created by the looter were 20 feet deep and the depth and width of a Pueblo room about 8 feet by 10 feet. After mapping the site with the assistance of Zuni archaeologists, tribal members, and volunteer conservancy members, we backfilled all 110 looted rooms over a three-week period. This project cost just under $20,000. This 160-acre preserve was transferred to Zuni Pueblo in 2000. Stabilization. The man in this photo works for Salomon Ruins Museum Division of Contract Archaeology in Bloomfield, New Mexico, as part of an award-winning professional stabilization team. The conservancy hired the Salomon Ruins team in 2013 to stabilize Garcia Canyon Pueblito, a nine-room gubernador phase Navajo structure built in a remote area of northwest New Mexico between AD 1712 and 1722. Built atop a boulder 70 feet above Francis Canyon, Garcia Canyon Pueblito provided a defensive refuge for a Navajo family, protecting them from retaliatory Spanish expeditions and Ute and Comanche raids during a difficult time of conflict and unrest in the southwest. The stabilization project cost $64,000, with $40,000 provided by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. Revegetation. In the arid southwest, adequate ground cover is vital to preventing erosion, as well as discouraging invasive species of shrubs and grasses. This is the 196-acre Smith Family Petroglyph Preserve in Utah County, Utah. Revegetation of a half-mile-long section of the preserve with native grasses was necessary after a devastating wildfire swept through the preserve in 2020. The revegetation project cost the conservancy about $16,000. Interpretation. The conservancy encourages use and visitation of our preserves. This interpretive kiosk at the Smith Family Petroglyph Preserve was completed in 2019 using volunteer labor at a cost of $3,000. The $3,000 was generously provided by the Utah Department of Transportation. That is just a short example of some of the projects that are done after acquisition, and we certainly, again, appreciate the contributions that have been made to the conservancy by our members, which help us accomplish these important steps. Thank you.