To: Archaeology & Historic Preservation Community
From: Loretta Neumann
Re: CHACO NAMED TO LIST OF 100 MOST ENDANGERED MONUMENTS
As you may have read in the newspapers, the World Monuments Fund selected
Chaco Culture National Historical Park and associated archaeological sites in
New Mexico for its first annual List of 100 Most Endangered Monuments. The
list is part of a new 5-year project, entitled World Monuments Watch, to
identify and preserve the world's endangered cultural landmarks. It is a
program of the World Monuments Fund, a private not-for-profit organization
established to help preserve the world's artistic and architectural heritage.
Other sites nominated to the 1996 World Monuments Watch list include a
Greco-Roman archaeological site in Albania, the Taj Mahal, the Byzantine
church of Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, Tibetan monasteries in Nepal, the
equestrian monument of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, Angkor Wat in Cambodia,
and the Khami National Monument in Zimbabwe. In the United States, selected
sites include Ellis Island in New York, the Eastern State Penitentiary in
Philadelphia, adobe missions of McKinley County in New Mexico, and Lafayette
Cemetery in New Orleans.
The nomination of Chaco was made with the support of the National Park
Service by me and a number of archaeologists and other people concerned about
Chaco's future. As part of the nomination, we were also required to develop a
proposal that would address its threats. We did so, as described
below--essentially a well-facilitated strategic planning effort to bring
other the diverse stakeholders who are concerned about Chaco to devise
strategies for its protection. The World Monuments Fund has a grant from
American Express that will help some but not all of the listed monuments.
Not all sites on the list will receive financial assistance; the grants will
not be announced until the end of May. Even if the Chaco project gets
funded, it will need augmentation from other sources. It will also require
the participation, on a largely volunteer basis, of many other people who
want to add their knowledge and expertise to this effort.
This memo will provide some information about Chaco, the nature of the
threats to the area and our proposed project.
If you would like to be added to our Chaco e-mail
list to be kept posted on our acuities, please send me a
private e-mail message to:
[log in to unmask]
Snail Mail Address:
CEHP Incorporated,
1627 K Street NW, Suite 300
Washington DC 20006
Phone: 202 - 293-1774 FAX: 202-293-1782
CHACO'S IMPORTANCE
Chaco Canyon and its associated archaeological sites are unique and
extraordinary examples of a culture's ability to adapt and flourish in a
harsh environmental setting. The basin has been used for thousands of years
by nomadic groups of hunters and gathers (as evidenced by elusive PaleoIndian
and Archaic cultural remains), sedentary ancestral Pueblo agriculturalists,
and Spanish, American, and Indian peoples from the 16th century through the
present.
The Chaco Canyon ruins were proclaimed a National Monument by President
Theodore Roosevelt in 1907. Most of the monument's large "town sites" were
listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966 and in
1980, the U.S. Congress redesignated the monument as the 33,989-acre "Chaco
Culture National Cultural Park" and designated 33 outlying sites as "Chaco
Culture Archeological Protection Sites"(Public Law 96-550). In 1995,
Congress added 6 areas to the list of protection sites, bringing the total to
39 on 14,372 acres.
The park-- including Kin Bineola, Kin Ya'a, and Pueblo Pintado
outliers--along with Aztec Ruins National Monument, also administered by the
National Park Service, and selected outlier sites on lands administered by
the Bureau of Land Management are also on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
IMMINENT THREATS
As we stressed in the nomination of Chaco to the list of endangered
monuments, the Chaco ruins face a number of dire threats, several of such an
immediate nature that the very qualities that make Chaco unique are in danger
of being lost. Although the types of threats stem from natural as well as
human causes, the solutions to both types require human intervention--and
soon. Among the naturally caused threats are water from summer thunderstorms
that seeps into masonry joints and winter snow accumulations that melt and
trickle down into the walls sections. Extreme temperature, wind storms,
accumulation of sand in the wall, xeric plant species, and livestock all add
to the threat. The National Park Service has documented in its recent
strategic plan, "Vanishing Treasures," that the ruins are deteriorating at a
rate which far exceeds the Service's efforts to maintain them.
Although the naturally-caused threats are extreme and the most immediately
obvious, it is the human-created threats that may ultimately cause the most
severe problems. These threats center around the adverse impacts of tourism
and the lack of a comprehensive planning strategy among the various agencies
and groups involved in the care and management of the archaeological
resources. The ruins are extremely fragile and easily damaged by vehicular
and pedestrian traffic. Although both types of traffic are heavily controlled
through park policy, the sheer increase in the annual number of vehicles and
people visiting the park results in accelerated deterioration. In response to
increased visitation, the National Park Service has attempted to control
visitor access and to keep up with ruins deterioration, but has fallen short
due to budget limitations and factors relating to the sustaining capacity of
the ruins themselves. The Park Service recently resorted to testing new
techniques such as backfilling ruins. Backfilling, however, will drastically
change the character of the visitor's experience and some archaeologists are
concerned about the long-term effects of backfilling on the ruins themselves.
Road improvements pose an especially severe and imminent threat. Currently
the direct routes into Chaco are unpaved. However, improvements in nearby
roads in the basin have already increased access to the park and its
environs; further improvements closer to the park could increase visitation
exponentially. While most visitors are law-abiding, improved access brings
with it the likelihood of inadvertent damage as well as deliberate site
vandalism and looting in previously remote areas. Road improvements are not
solely tied to tourism, but involve the region's economic development
interests, health and safety concerns of local residents, and retrieval of
energy resources by oil, natural gas, and coal companies. The result is the
same. More people will visit the area endangering the ruins and stressing the
ability of their owners to protect them. The intangible visitor experience is
also threatened by development, looting, and over-visitation.
These problems are exacerbated by having many different federal, state,
tribal, and private interests controlling the stewardship of these resources.
No single agency is responsible for considering the environmental and
cultural impacts of such projects. Road construction or resource development
projects are planned by state and local agencies, by federal land management
agencies, and by Indian tribal agencies, in response to needs that each group
perceives as important to their interests. Although agencies do coordinate
some projects and conduct environmental reviews, as required under federal
and state statutes, there is no comprehensive context in which cumulative
impacts to cultural resources can be assessed, conflicts resolved, and
management strategies developed and implemented. In addition, rapidly
expanding oil and gas development in the region is causing imminent threats
to the ruins. Meanwhile, the concerned public is largely unaware of what is
happening.
WHAT'S NEEDED
Several steps are needed to develop and implement an effective protection
plan for Chaco. Following are four initial stages that we identified. Of
these, only number 1 is addressed in the project proposal, based on the WMF's
limited funding (which must be augmented by other sources of support, from
cash or in-kind contributions). Additional sources of funds are needed for
the other stages.
Stage 1. CONSENSUS RUINS PRESERVATION STRATEGY. All interested parties help
develop common goals and objectives for Chacoan ruins preservation (see
description below).
Stage 2. COMPREHENSIVE RESOURCE MONITORING AND PROTECTION PLAN. This plan,
agreed to by the interested parties involved in the Stage 1 ruins
preservation strategy workshop, implements the results of the workshop and
develops criteria for identifying and evaluating archaeological site
deterioration.
Stage 3. RUINS PRESERVATION TRAINING PROGRAM. CEHP Incorporated has joined
the Partners in Parks to develop a workshop in masonry ruins preservation to
develop a compendium of best practices on preservation techniques and a
curriculum for the training of skilled masonry preservation crafts people.
This program compliments stages 1 and 2 providing a solution to specific
problems already known to exist for archaeological sites in the San Juan
Basin and elsewhere in the world.
Stage 4. DEVELOPMENT OF CITIZEN SUPPORT. As part of Stage 1, opportunities
will be identified for developing a citizens support organization, composed
of both local stakeholders and others outside the area--scientists,
conservation advocates, etc--to promote the protection of the park and the
associated Chaco sites in the region. Funding will be sought to organize and
promote such an organization.
PROPOSAL FOR STAGE 1
The proposal requested funding for stage 1, developing a consensus ruins
preservation strategy. The project will: (1)Identify the intents, interests,
and threats that will affect the ruins in the foreseeable future, (2) Develop
strategies to avoid or mitigate negative impacts to the ruins, and (3)Explore
implementation strategies to meet the interests of both public and private
stakeholders. These stakeholders include private landowners or corporations,
public and tribal agencies, and profit and non-profit interest groups.
The project will first identify and interview stakeholders and delineate
their particular intents and interests. A facilitated workshop will be held
to develop a broad-based strategy for addressing the problems facing the
region's significant cultural resources. A workshop report will be prepared
that describes and analyzes the strategies and alternatives discussed during
the workshop and, after its distribution for review and comment, a final
Consensus Strategy Report will be readied for all parties to sign.
WHAT NEXT
We are seeking people and organizations and potential donors to help with
these projects. To assure protection of Chaco could be a massive
undertaking, of which this effort is merely a beginning. Anyone who would
like to work on it is most welcomed.
To begin getting things underway, we want to go ahead and start forming a
"Friends of Chaco" group that will draw upon residents of the area and as
well as nationally to provide support, funding for projects, heighten
visibility, and involve the public. We are seeking interested persons and
organizations to participate in the project. The National Parks and
Conservation Association is hosting a grassroots conference in and for the
Southwest in Albuquerque, NM May 17-19 bring together park advocates and
community leaders in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. The purpose is
to share information, build networks and skills, and emphasize citizen
responsibility for parks. We think this would be an excellent forum to
stimulate interest in a friends' group for Chaco.
For information call 1-800-NAT-PARK, ext. 221 or
contact Dave Simon, NPCA's southwestern director, based in Albuquerque,
phone: (505) 247-1221, or fax (505) 247-1222.
Dave's e-mail address:
[log in to unmask],Internet
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