March 2003 Volume 23 Number 3 Monthly newsletter of URARA, the Utah Rock Art Research Association President’s Message Well, the drought continues and we may all be bathing in dust this summer, but I refuse to feel guilty for something beyond my control. The good news is the temperatures and the relative lack of snow make for an excellent time to get out and look at rock art. I’ve made several trips so far and others are getting out too. At the March 14 membership meeting, Jesse Warner has agreed to speak The title of his talk is: Understanding what we’re seeing in rock art. “Sometimes we see things in rock art and assume we know what we’re looking at, but there are other meanings we need to examine.” Warner is a founder of URARA and a two-time past president. He’s been involved in studying rock art since just moments after a lot of it was created (you know that I say this with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek). It’s always nice to see and talk to him. The speaker we had lined up for March, Lori Hunsaker of the Salt Lake BLM office, will speak at a later month after some planning is done. She will tell us about BLM procedures and how we can help protect rock art sites. We’re especially concerned about sites around Utah Lake, subjected to ongoing vandalism. You’ll notice from the calendar in this issue that the field trips are lining up one after another. Some details are included for each (refer to the February issue of Vestiges for more), but I want to give you additional details for our April meeting that will take place in Bluff on April 12 in conjunction with the Bluff field trips. This will not be a typical meeting. The headquarters for the weekend is the Desert Rose Inn, the very nice log motel in town. Those who can arrive by Friday night will want to attend a welcoming social at the motel that evening at 7 p.m. Signups for the field trips will be available then, and also at the same place from 7:30 Saturday morning. Saturday field trips will leave from here. The facility will have a special price for URARA members who wish to stay there. Rooms are normally $69 a night but members will pay only $52. To obtain the discount simply mention you’re a member when you register. The facilities are very nice; I stayed there last year with a tour group and really enjoyed myself. The meeting Saturday night will take place at the Twin Rocks Trading Post in Bluff. Steve and Barry Simpson will host us. They’ll talk about changes taking place in the traditional trading post business, and highlight one of the current rages in Indian arts and crafts — Navajo folk art. I’ve been following Navajo folk art trends for years, delighted at talented artists as they carve out break-dancing chickens and other figures from soft native woods, create delightful figures from sandstone rocks, and produce many other fanciful figures reflecting their everyday lives and aspects of their colorful culture. Barry and Steve are also at the forefront in the blossoming Navajo pictorial basket business. Navajos stopped creating baskets years ago because of the many traditional taboos associated with them, until Mary Black decided to ignore them. With inspiration and guidance from the 2 Simpsons, Mary now produces some of the most beautiful baskets I’ve ever seen. Thankfully, she’s also taught her daughters and daughters-in-law to do the same. The back wall of the trading post is now lined with the wonderful baskets, many of which sell for several thousand dollars. Their presentation should be interesting and educational. In conjunction with the weekend, URARA field trip chairperson Nancy Mason is looking for volunteers to lead the field trips. Because of its timing and popularity, Nancy wants to have three different field trips each of the two days. We can also put together advance field trips on Friday if there is a demand. Let me know if you’d like that. And please contact me if you want to attend this weekend. The new URARA Board of Directors is meeting monthly and is busy getting things done. Last month the group finalized a new symposium speaker’s agreement, which spells out details on production rights and obligations for the proceedings. The board is working on at least two training opportunities for members as we prepare for Range Creek. Steve Manning will head the training effort, which could be a requirement for members attending the terrific Range Creek fieldwork opportunity. I say “could” be a requirement, because we are still working on the details. The archeologists in charge want us to participate in recording, which involves filling out the complex IMACS form required by the State. I’ll give you more details as the event moves closer. The Range Creek recording project begins June 23 and ends August 2. Teams of workers will find and record archeological sites. Each team will be accompanied by a URARA rock art “spe- cialist.” The rock art specialist needs to know how to locate, identify, and record rock art, plus assist with the recording of other cultural resource sites. We will do everything within our power to provide recording training for everyone interested. Please contact me if you’d like to partici- pate. We need rock art specialists in the canyon for the entire period. I’d like to give a special “Thank you” to Gerry Dean for his near life-long dedication to the distribution of URARA publications. Gerry epitomizes what a URARA member should be. He has dutifully taken his responsibilities very seriously and has jealously guarded the publications until relieved of them recently. My hat and other articles of clothing go off to him (wow, that’s a nasty thought!). Thanks for all you’ve done, Gerry! I’m sure you all noticed what a great Vestiges issue we had last month. Dorde Woodruff is doing an excellent job and we all appreciate it. Thanks, Dorde! Our URARA membership database is now completely housed with Dorothy Lynn, URARA secretary. With the technical help of Troy Scotter, URARA treasurer, it is now possible to coordi- nate membership renewals. You’ll receive notification on your membership renewal, whether you receive Vestiges via email or snail mail. If you haven’t received your newsletter recently, if you want to change your delivery method, or if you have questions about your membership, contact Dorothy. Her contact information is included on page 15. We owe a big “Thank you” to Troy, also, who put all this together. Troy is out on a job in England for a while, but continues to maintain close contact with us via email. Thanks, Troy! I’m enjoying working with everyone on the Board, and everything seems to going very well for URARA. The Board members are a dedicated bunch, willing to do what is best for the group. Please keep in touch with me, and let me know how you think we are doing. See you in the field soon. Layne Miller 2003 URARA President Did you forget something? David Sucec, last year’s symposium chairperson, reports that a Coleman lantern was left at the symposium in St. George. The owner can contact him at 801-359-6904 or [email protected] 3 It’s big. Very big. Everything about the new monument is big. Its 164,000 acres surround 31,000 acres of private land, portions of Hovenweep Monument, a Wilderness Study Area, and contain 140,000 acres leased for oil or gas exploration. It produces about 2 million barrels of oil, 2 billion cubic feet of gas, and 260 billion cubic feet of carbon dioxide annually, worth millions in royalties 4 for the state of Colorado. Close to Mesa Verde, it contains 20,000 to 30,000, or even by some estimates 50,000, archeological sites, including pueblos, great kivas, towers, fieldhouses, irrigation features, shrines — and rock art. Interest in protecting the region goes back to at least 1894 when the old Salt Lake Times ran an article on it. Work on making it a national conservation area started in 1979. Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who was working on that in 2000, put it on hold when word began to come around on the possibility of a monu- ment, one of the Babbitt- Clinton deals that were so controversial. Environ- mentalists loved it, local people hated it. Campbell withdrew support. It was given to the BLM to manage, under multiple use. Livestock grazing and hunting continue. Wholesale local opposi- tion seems to have died down. But some aspects are still controversial, especially last fall’s seismic-truck “thumping”. Although there were al- ready a lot of constraints and rules, Earthjustice (“because the earth needs a good lawyer” — formerly the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund) and the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies took to the courts to get more careful rules, in part to be sure of protecting archeological sites. The BLM reached an agreement with them out of court and the testing did occur, after a total of a couple of years of negotiations. Continuation of oil and gas production in the monument is allowed under the proclamation creating it, because of the existing leases. A plan for Questar to drill a gas well in the monument was submitted late last year. These plans are always looked at carefully, to make sure they disturb the least amount of land, and use existing roads when possible, and so forth.