INVITATION FROM OUR PRESIDENT -- ED DOBSON 02/08/2012
Cedar Mesa is the archaeological crown jewel of the millions of acres of public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. It has exceptionally well-preserved ruins and world-class rock art – all in a phenomenally scenic, hiker-friendly landscape. But the area’s resources are at risk and need increased protection to be preserved.
Friends of Cedar Mesa speaks for this unique corner of the Colorado Plateau. We are a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to protection of Greater Cedar Mesa, 450 square miles surrounding Grand Gulch Primitive Area, a unit of the Federal Landscape Conservation System. We are headquartered in Bluff at the portal of Cedar Mesa in Southeast Utah.
The voices of small communities often go unheard as decisions on federal lands are made in the nation’s capital. Recently, all of Utah’s congressional delegation said they wouldn’t act on protective federal lands legislation without local support. Our goal is to provide this local backing with help from regional and national cohorts.
Cedar Mesa has long been at the forefront of studies of human prehistory in the American Southwest. Early archaeologists and pothunters quickly saw the importance of the ruins they found. Collections gathered from sites on Cedar Mesa helped spark national and international interest in the ancient Puebloan peoples. Fortunately, some of the artifacts recovered at the end of the 19th century eventually ended up in museums in Chicago and New York where they remain accessible today to researchers and educators.
But only a small fraction of Cedar Mesa’s archaeological sites have been properly surveyed and protected. Many are in need of stabilization to prevent walls from falling under the pressures of visitation. Numerous sites have been looted and their artifacts dispersed without any record of discovery or opportunity for research.
Cedar Mesa also records the history and cultural heritage of other groups. Rock art and occasional camps and dwelling sites document use by Navajo and Ute people, for whom the mesa continues to be spiritually important and a place where fire wood and traditional plant resources can still be gathered. Traces remain on Cedar Mesa of the Hole-in-the Rock trail, along which Mormon settlers passed on their way to founding the community of Bluff. And cowboy camps, some dating to the late 19th century, record the historic use of the area for livestock grazing, an economic activity and way of life that continues there today.
Friends of Cedar Mesa exists to help the BLM protect and manage this land. We recognize that the land and its cultural resources are inseparable. To protect the land is to preserve cultural resources. All visitors need to be better educated about low-impact ways of enjoying public lands. Ruins are not always obvious and damage occurs when people pass over mere bumps in the trail that are actually cultural sites. Increased education, visitor management and law enforcement are essential.
We recognize that ranchers have long used this landscape and wish to continue permitted uses of public land. We know there are areas where livestock cause unnecessary and sometimes irreversible damage to land, streams and archaeological sites. We will work with the BLM and ranchers to find ways to protect the most sensitive areas from trampling and damage. In heavy recreation use areas such as Butler Wash, we will work to ensure that the recreational experience of visitors is not unduly compromised by the impacts of public lands grazing.
We also recognize that local economies thrive on tourists attracted to the immense backcountry resources on and around the mesa. Visitors come from all parts of the world to experience the area’s unique cultural, historic and scenic qualities. The demand for low-cost camping, hiking, riding and for just being in beautiful, isolated places has increased the prominence of Cedar Mesa and surrounding areas. New generations want to experience and enjoy public lands like their parents and grandparents did, yet increased visitation brings increased impacts. Our challenge is to preserve the wonder of these places.
Long-term solutions to protect these lands ultimately rest with the federal government. New laws and better funding are needed to properly manage and protect the area. Designation of Wilderness, National Conservation Area and National Historic Monument are potential solutions. We need to explore these and other ideas alongside other stakeholders in the region.
Friends of Cedar Mesa celebrates the wild areas of San Juan County. We will be at the forefront as decisions guiding the future of these public lands are made.
Won’t you join us?
To become a Friend of Cedar Mesa, please send us your name, home address, phone and e-mail address to friendsofcedarmesa@gmail.com or mail to PO Box 338 Bluff, Utah 84512
You will receive emails and other communications about opportunities to support our work and help protect Cedar Mesa.
Cedar Mesa is the archaeological crown jewel of the millions of acres of public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. It has exceptionally well-preserved ruins and world-class rock art – all in a phenomenally scenic, hiker-friendly landscape. But the area’s resources are at risk and need increased protection to be preserved.
Friends of Cedar Mesa speaks for this unique corner of the Colorado Plateau. We are a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to protection of Greater Cedar Mesa, 450 square miles surrounding Grand Gulch Primitive Area, a unit of the Federal Landscape Conservation System. We are headquartered in Bluff at the portal of Cedar Mesa in Southeast Utah.
The voices of small communities often go unheard as decisions on federal lands are made in the nation’s capital. Recently, all of Utah’s congressional delegation said they wouldn’t act on protective federal lands legislation without local support. Our goal is to provide this local backing with help from regional and national cohorts.
Cedar Mesa has long been at the forefront of studies of human prehistory in the American Southwest. Early archaeologists and pothunters quickly saw the importance of the ruins they found. Collections gathered from sites on Cedar Mesa helped spark national and international interest in the ancient Puebloan peoples. Fortunately, some of the artifacts recovered at the end of the 19th century eventually ended up in museums in Chicago and New York where they remain accessible today to researchers and educators.
But only a small fraction of Cedar Mesa’s archaeological sites have been properly surveyed and protected. Many are in need of stabilization to prevent walls from falling under the pressures of visitation. Numerous sites have been looted and their artifacts dispersed without any record of discovery or opportunity for research.
Cedar Mesa also records the history and cultural heritage of other groups. Rock art and occasional camps and dwelling sites document use by Navajo and Ute people, for whom the mesa continues to be spiritually important and a place where fire wood and traditional plant resources can still be gathered. Traces remain on Cedar Mesa of the Hole-in-the Rock trail, along which Mormon settlers passed on their way to founding the community of Bluff. And cowboy camps, some dating to the late 19th century, record the historic use of the area for livestock grazing, an economic activity and way of life that continues there today.
Friends of Cedar Mesa exists to help the BLM protect and manage this land. We recognize that the land and its cultural resources are inseparable. To protect the land is to preserve cultural resources. All visitors need to be better educated about low-impact ways of enjoying public lands. Ruins are not always obvious and damage occurs when people pass over mere bumps in the trail that are actually cultural sites. Increased education, visitor management and law enforcement are essential.
We recognize that ranchers have long used this landscape and wish to continue permitted uses of public land. We know there are areas where livestock cause unnecessary and sometimes irreversible damage to land, streams and archaeological sites. We will work with the BLM and ranchers to find ways to protect the most sensitive areas from trampling and damage. In heavy recreation use areas such as Butler Wash, we will work to ensure that the recreational experience of visitors is not unduly compromised by the impacts of public lands grazing.
We also recognize that local economies thrive on tourists attracted to the immense backcountry resources on and around the mesa. Visitors come from all parts of the world to experience the area’s unique cultural, historic and scenic qualities. The demand for low-cost camping, hiking, riding and for just being in beautiful, isolated places has increased the prominence of Cedar Mesa and surrounding areas. New generations want to experience and enjoy public lands like their parents and grandparents did, yet increased visitation brings increased impacts. Our challenge is to preserve the wonder of these places.
Long-term solutions to protect these lands ultimately rest with the federal government. New laws and better funding are needed to properly manage and protect the area. Designation of Wilderness, National Conservation Area and National Historic Monument are potential solutions. We need to explore these and other ideas alongside other stakeholders in the region.
Friends of Cedar Mesa celebrates the wild areas of San Juan County. We will be at the forefront as decisions guiding the future of these public lands are made.
Won’t you join us?
To become a Friend of Cedar Mesa, please send us your name, home address, phone and e-mail address to friendsofcedarmesa@gmail.com or mail to PO Box 338 Bluff, Utah 84512
You will receive emails and other communications about opportunities to support our work and help protect Cedar Mesa.
Voices and Images of Cedar Mesa"Elements" by Ann Walka from her book WATERLINESDown from Muley Point canyon walls rise straight and dignified above the copper river They are washed with rose and coral and burnt sienna and smudged with gray lichen a hand-tinted illustration in a volume from an antiquarian bookstore Nineteenth century naturalists learned from the Greeks that there are only earth air fire and water In the hubris that is science we forgot Down from Muley Point I merge like a tributary into rills of pink water and sing off key to an upstream wind Burned to ash my dreams make stones on the hillside crackle and slide My skin taste of salt and iron and dust What more can I say Torrents of knowledge may pour down on us like red mud flooding over a cliff but still we are only these four strands arranged in the minds of rivers | Explore Cedar MesaCedar Mesa occupies 475,000 acres of high plateau country in Utah's San Juan County. Learn more about this unique archaeological landscape in this video, posted courtesy of National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Talking Comb: Winston Hurst speaks at Edge of Cedars Museum in Blanding, Utah February 25, 2012 2:00 to 3:30 pm
| ||
Friends of Cedar Mesa is a nonprofit organization that supports stewardship of the natural and cultural resources of Cedar Mesa and other public lands in San Juan County, Utah. Support is welcome. Simply sign up to receive our monthly email newsletter and occasional announcements of news and events. Join us.
|
Website copyright 2010 Friends of Cedar Mesa and the individual authors.
|
