The Clock is Ticking

The clock is ticking. It has been almost exactly six months since Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt agreed to halt oil and gas lease sales within a ten-mile buffer zone surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park for one year. That means we are halfway to the end of Interior’s temporary ban on new developments near the park, and the fate of the Greater Chaco Landscape remains in limbo. Chaco is like no other place on earth. It is a living cultural landscape with significant architecture, pictographs and petroglyphs, and other resources that are reminders of the economic, agricultural, and ceremonial hub.  http://bit.ly/36lgQ2W – By Paul Reed, Archaeology Southwest

Please take a moment to follow the link to learn more.  The Greater Chaco Landscape connects the people of the American Southwest to our shared heritage, and it must be granted official federal protections before it is lost forever.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Guadalupe Outlier - Greater Chaco Landscape

Over twenty years ago I was wandering around out in the Greater Chaco Landscape of New Mexico.  Nancy and I were living in Seattle.  A conversation with a friend had led to me making a trip to New Mexico and spending some time in his family's cabin near Cuba, NM.  Driving north from Albuquerque Cabezon loomed large on the horizon.  Over the next week I explored dirt roads leading out into a stunning landscape.  Stopping often to make photographs, it was a photographer's holiday.  Meeting a local rancher, he asked "are you looking for the old Indian ruins"?  He pointed me in the direction along the mesas by the river.  I found Guadalupe.

Much has changed over those twenty years.  The site was discovered in the early 1970's.  Located on BLM land it is the responsibility of the BLM for the stewardship of this sacred site.  Nancy and I have returned numerous times to this very special place.  We have seen many changes.  Most not for the better.  Once a location found as it was when the Ancestral Chacoans left, today the BLM has desecrated the site with metal roofs placed on sacred kivas, cemented walls, and the removal of most of the signs of the Pueblo People.  

Last week I flew the site to document and record the site conditions.  My heart was saddened by what I saw.  

Click here to see Guadalupe as it is today.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

America's 11 Most Endangered Places 

On May 30, 2019, the National Trust announced its annual list of 11 most endangered places.  America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places is a list of places in the United States that the National Trust for Historic Preservation considers the most endangered. It aims to inspire Americans to preserve examples of cultural heritage that could be "relegated to the dustbins of history" without intervention.

At the top of the list is Ancestral and Sacred Sites of Southeast Utah.  This includes Bears Ears, Combs Ridge, and Hovenweep.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has offered almost 19 million acres of public land for oil and gas leasing—an area larger than the entire state of West Virginia.  All this is being done at the same time the administration is revising the management plans for more than 24 million acres of public land and proposing to slash conservation protections by 80%.

Help us as we strive to document and preserve cultural, sacred sites, and endangered landscape in the Southwest.  To learn how you can help visit Question of Power.

be strong, be safe, Talon

112,000 Acres of Public Lands Leased by the BLM 

Since the beginning of 2018 the BLM has leased 112,000 acres of Public Lands in Southeast Utah. This is all part of the Greater Chaco Landscape.  In many cases as little as 2% of the recently leased land has been surveyed for cultural and sacred sites. There are 1700 known sacred sites in three recent lease sales.  The Trump administration immediately targeted this region for development by reducing the size of Bears Ears National Monument by nearly 85% and leaving that previously protected landscape open to mineral, oil and gas development.

Last week I spent time in part of the Bears Ears previously protected landscape, an area called Valley of the Gods. Standing under a brilliant blue sky surrounded by red sandstone mesas, buttes, and towers, all remnants of an ancient landscape, it was a time and place to renew my soul.  Difficult to imagine the long term effects of opening up this and the surrounding landscape for oil and gas industrialization now that protection for the areas has been removed.

Follow this link to experience the beauty of Valley of the Gods.

be strong, be safe, Carlan