COALITION TO PRESERVE ROCK ART
Jon Gum 1234 West Red Butte Washington, UT 84780
435-627-1086 preserverockart@gmail.com
The Coalition Progress Report March 19, 2008
The progress of the Coalition to Preserve Rock Art (CPRA) is now evident. The first key was to get the word out of our goals and objectives, then to follow with more information supporting the Awareness concept and more material to aid in the Education area. We then need to couple this with Actions or Implementation to see progress toward achieving the objectives.
CPRA’s membership is now well over 100 and we are now international with a new member from Germany. We are not limited to SW Utah, since our members have residences in Massachusetts, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Moab, and other communities. Membership growth is presently due to the Internet (www.exploringrockart.com), to presentations such as that at the St. George Newcomer’s Club (over 15 new members), and to the Rock Art Class conducted by Boma and Kat Johnson (about 15 new members). Our expectations are that the critical mass we need is about 200 members so we will continue to contact interested citizens in Utah as well as work with Internet users and other friends of Rock Art.
Specifically:
We continue to support URARA and other organizations interested in Preservation by responding to the BLM Resource Management Plans in Utah. So far we have responded on Moab, Kanab, Richfield, Monticello, Price, and Vernal.
BLM has announced the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the West Tavaputs Plateau Natural Gas Full Field Development Plan. This could mean the drilling of up to 807 new natural gas wells in the Nine-Mile Canyon area. The Coalition will respond to the EIS (due May 1, 2008) and we hope to attend at least one Public Information Open House in the Price area if the BLM holds them as indicated. We urge all of our members to be active in responding to this EIS. Let me know if you want to be involved in responding to the EIS. Nine-Mile Canyon is a very important series of sites.
One of our favorite local sites is Telegraph Hill. The city of St. George now informs us that the entire development is platted out and that they cannot have a real impact in establishing a park or private area. We still intend to ask for a meeting with the developer and will ask that the city join us. We are not giving up yet but it is private property and we are unlikely to have a major success.
The difficulty in determining a way to preserve this site has resulted in discussions with a CPRA member who believes that promoting “Green Developers”, those who intend to preserve archaeology assets located on private property could be productive. We are going to try this or perhaps a similar approach that you might suggest. We intend to meet with a St. George developer who has preserved a pithouse area, might go to Kanab to meet with a developer, might meet with one in Moab, and will extract information from appropriate Press Releases that we can find. Our Green Developer program will endorse positive actions of developers and will include comments from a Real Estate Agent (a CPRA member) who firmly believes that the preservation of archaeology assets adds value to residential property. We want your thoughts on this program because if we embark on it, we will be seeking publicity outlets in all our represented communities. Our intention is to then show positive results to developers such as the one on Telegraph Hill and try to get a change in the direction in which they intend to go. We also seek your ideas regarding this approach. Maybe a “Green Developer” Plaque or a Certificate with a specially designed emblem? Any good designers? The results in Kanab, in Orem, and in Moab where residential developers have taken steps to preserve Rock Art seem to be positive. We need to follow that pattern of success perhaps with an added feature.
We have another residential development in St. George where we need to address preservation. The site known as South Airport Hill, Malibu Cleaners, or Black Ridge reportedly has development on the North end of the Rock Art area that is potentially encroaching. The Rock Art is on the slope and the development is apparently at the top of the hill. More information will be coming when we have an opportunity to look at the potential issues.
The City of St. George is still evaluating the Temple Quarry Trail where the Trail comes close to a couple of boulders with Rock Art. We are still waiting for information from St. George.
We believe that we have positive results to report on Well Site #4 south of Gunlock. BLM has advised Dixie Archaeology Society (DAS) that they will install barriers and signs to prevent traffic (vehicular) and hopefully suppress foot traffic on the horizontal panels. More on this next month. If true, a very positive accomplishment.
DAS now plans the first road cleanup project in April of 2008. We were given a 2-mile section of St. George roadway to clean up 3 times a year. We accepted this project to get name recognition and to do something good for the community. St. George, in its own way, changed the name on the sign to St. George Archaeology Society from Dixie Archaeology Society - that must be the political correct way at the moment. Not exactly the name recognition we sought, but….
In November 2007, Dixie Weekly News published an article that gave very specific directions to Cave Valley, a well known and recognized sacred site between Virgin and Kolob Reservoir. In early March, CPRA hand delivered two letters to Dixie Weekly News protesting the precise public disclosure, one signed by 20+ members of CPRA and another signed by 20+ members of DAS. The editor in the St. George office understood our concern and said our letters would be forwarded to Salt Lake City. We intend to go one step further and contact the Archaeologist at Zion to see if they wouldn’t issue advisement to the magazine. Dixie Weekly News previously ran two very favorable articles on our preservation efforts and we hope to work with them again on publicity.
In December 2007, Today in Dixie published an article giving specific directions to Shaman’s Gallery, a lesser known site between Colorado City and the Grand Canyon. In early March, CPRA hand delivered two letters to Today in Dixie protesting the disclosure of location, one signed by 20+ members of CPRA and another signed by 20+ members of DAS. The Acting Editor took issue with our comments, stated that she knows her readers and they need to be informed of sites like these to visit and enjoy, and indicated that she will continue to inform them completely. She clearly stated that her readership wouldn’t damage such a site. Comments as to her “complete” knowledge of her readership (no author knows all her readers and all the reader’s acquaintances and she rejected the suggested approach that less specific directions might be appropriate) were met with continued discussion. I believe that the site is located on BLM property and intend to pursue additional comments with BLM.
A site along the Virgin River close to Washington has received a lot of attention recently since the sole building (pioneer construction) has received damage and there is a reward for identifying the damagers. There is significant Rock Art close to this site. We have discussed with the “informal caretaker” of the site that their group might help us install signs to advise that the Rock Art needed to be protected. I will go first to the Zion National Park Archaeologist who has previously offered signage but must determine if the signs are purely for BLM property. Does anybody have any other ideas on how to obtain signs?
We have a presentation scheduled on March 28 at the Book Seller in St. George which should attract more members. We now need to advise the Rotary Club, Lion’s Club, Kiwanis Club, etc. that we have presentations and are willing to work with them. The presentation recently given is about 80% travelogue (for entertainment and awareness, and the initial approach to education) and about 20% concentrated on preservation. We want to also return to the format of a more concentrated Awareness and Education presentation format but we end up offering what our audience wants. And St. George residents want entertainment.
One of our longer term goals has been to have a city administration endorse and sponsor a Rock Art Day. We are formulating our plans to do this (in 2008) and should gain a lot of publicity to promote our efforts if we are successful.
The Coalition is researching the requirements to become a recognized non-profit organization and a 501.(c).3 organization. We feel that government approval will be needed to achieve our objectives and that a small amount of funding will be required to get the approval. We will be guided by administrative advice and assistance offered by a Board Member of URARA.
We keep moving forward, but, never as fast as we want, unfortunately. Thank you for your help and your support. It’s appreciated,
Jon Gum
Jon Gum 1234 West Red Butte Washington, UT 84780
435-627-1086 preserverockart@gmail.com
The Coalition Progress Report March 19, 2008
The progress of the Coalition to Preserve Rock Art (CPRA) is now evident. The first key was to get the word out of our goals and objectives, then to follow with more information supporting the Awareness concept and more material to aid in the Education area. We then need to couple this with Actions or Implementation to see progress toward achieving the objectives.
CPRA’s membership is now well over 100 and we are now international with a new member from Germany. We are not limited to SW Utah, since our members have residences in Massachusetts, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Moab, and other communities. Membership growth is presently due to the Internet (www.exploringrockart.com), to presentations such as that at the St. George Newcomer’s Club (over 15 new members), and to the Rock Art Class conducted by Boma and Kat Johnson (about 15 new members). Our expectations are that the critical mass we need is about 200 members so we will continue to contact interested citizens in Utah as well as work with Internet users and other friends of Rock Art.
Specifically:
We continue to support URARA and other organizations interested in Preservation by responding to the BLM Resource Management Plans in Utah. So far we have responded on Moab, Kanab, Richfield, Monticello, Price, and Vernal.
BLM has announced the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the West Tavaputs Plateau Natural Gas Full Field Development Plan. This could mean the drilling of up to 807 new natural gas wells in the Nine-Mile Canyon area. The Coalition will respond to the EIS (due May 1, 2008) and we hope to attend at least one Public Information Open House in the Price area if the BLM holds them as indicated. We urge all of our members to be active in responding to this EIS. Let me know if you want to be involved in responding to the EIS. Nine-Mile Canyon is a very important series of sites.
One of our favorite local sites is Telegraph Hill. The city of St. George now informs us that the entire development is platted out and that they cannot have a real impact in establishing a park or private area. We still intend to ask for a meeting with the developer and will ask that the city join us. We are not giving up yet but it is private property and we are unlikely to have a major success.
The difficulty in determining a way to preserve this site has resulted in discussions with a CPRA member who believes that promoting “Green Developers”, those who intend to preserve archaeology assets located on private property could be productive. We are going to try this or perhaps a similar approach that you might suggest. We intend to meet with a St. George developer who has preserved a pithouse area, might go to Kanab to meet with a developer, might meet with one in Moab, and will extract information from appropriate Press Releases that we can find. Our Green Developer program will endorse positive actions of developers and will include comments from a Real Estate Agent (a CPRA member) who firmly believes that the preservation of archaeology assets adds value to residential property. We want your thoughts on this program because if we embark on it, we will be seeking publicity outlets in all our represented communities. Our intention is to then show positive results to developers such as the one on Telegraph Hill and try to get a change in the direction in which they intend to go. We also seek your ideas regarding this approach. Maybe a “Green Developer” Plaque or a Certificate with a specially designed emblem? Any good designers? The results in Kanab, in Orem, and in Moab where residential developers have taken steps to preserve Rock Art seem to be positive. We need to follow that pattern of success perhaps with an added feature.
We have another residential development in St. George where we need to address preservation. The site known as South Airport Hill, Malibu Cleaners, or Black Ridge reportedly has development on the North end of the Rock Art area that is potentially encroaching. The Rock Art is on the slope and the development is apparently at the top of the hill. More information will be coming when we have an opportunity to look at the potential issues.
The City of St. George is still evaluating the Temple Quarry Trail where the Trail comes close to a couple of boulders with Rock Art. We are still waiting for information from St. George.
We believe that we have positive results to report on Well Site #4 south of Gunlock. BLM has advised Dixie Archaeology Society (DAS) that they will install barriers and signs to prevent traffic (vehicular) and hopefully suppress foot traffic on the horizontal panels. More on this next month. If true, a very positive accomplishment.
DAS now plans the first road cleanup project in April of 2008. We were given a 2-mile section of St. George roadway to clean up 3 times a year. We accepted this project to get name recognition and to do something good for the community. St. George, in its own way, changed the name on the sign to St. George Archaeology Society from Dixie Archaeology Society - that must be the political correct way at the moment. Not exactly the name recognition we sought, but….
In November 2007, Dixie Weekly News published an article that gave very specific directions to Cave Valley, a well known and recognized sacred site between Virgin and Kolob Reservoir. In early March, CPRA hand delivered two letters to Dixie Weekly News protesting the precise public disclosure, one signed by 20+ members of CPRA and another signed by 20+ members of DAS. The editor in the St. George office understood our concern and said our letters would be forwarded to Salt Lake City. We intend to go one step further and contact the Archaeologist at Zion to see if they wouldn’t issue advisement to the magazine. Dixie Weekly News previously ran two very favorable articles on our preservation efforts and we hope to work with them again on publicity.
In December 2007, Today in Dixie published an article giving specific directions to Shaman’s Gallery, a lesser known site between Colorado City and the Grand Canyon. In early March, CPRA hand delivered two letters to Today in Dixie protesting the disclosure of location, one signed by 20+ members of CPRA and another signed by 20+ members of DAS. The Acting Editor took issue with our comments, stated that she knows her readers and they need to be informed of sites like these to visit and enjoy, and indicated that she will continue to inform them completely. She clearly stated that her readership wouldn’t damage such a site. Comments as to her “complete” knowledge of her readership (no author knows all her readers and all the reader’s acquaintances and she rejected the suggested approach that less specific directions might be appropriate) were met with continued discussion. I believe that the site is located on BLM property and intend to pursue additional comments with BLM.
A site along the Virgin River close to Washington has received a lot of attention recently since the sole building (pioneer construction) has received damage and there is a reward for identifying the damagers. There is significant Rock Art close to this site. We have discussed with the “informal caretaker” of the site that their group might help us install signs to advise that the Rock Art needed to be protected. I will go first to the Zion National Park Archaeologist who has previously offered signage but must determine if the signs are purely for BLM property. Does anybody have any other ideas on how to obtain signs?
We have a presentation scheduled on March 28 at the Book Seller in St. George which should attract more members. We now need to advise the Rotary Club, Lion’s Club, Kiwanis Club, etc. that we have presentations and are willing to work with them. The presentation recently given is about 80% travelogue (for entertainment and awareness, and the initial approach to education) and about 20% concentrated on preservation. We want to also return to the format of a more concentrated Awareness and Education presentation format but we end up offering what our audience wants. And St. George residents want entertainment.
One of our longer term goals has been to have a city administration endorse and sponsor a Rock Art Day. We are formulating our plans to do this (in 2008) and should gain a lot of publicity to promote our efforts if we are successful.
The Coalition is researching the requirements to become a recognized non-profit organization and a 501.(c).3 organization. We feel that government approval will be needed to achieve our objectives and that a small amount of funding will be required to get the approval. We will be guided by administrative advice and assistance offered by a Board Member of URARA.
We keep moving forward, but, never as fast as we want, unfortunately. Thank you for your help and your support. It’s appreciated,
Jon Gum
