Working to Preserve, Protect, Manage, and Interpret the Cultural Resources of the Eastern Arizona Strip
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Paria Plateau and the Vermilion Cliffs with
the Kaibab Plateau in the background
(Click image to see larger photo) |
A petroglyph of a bighorn sheep fairly leaps from a varnished sandstone wall; a patch of green at the base of the Vermilion Cliffs marks springs where Mormon newlyweds stopped for the night along the Honeymoon Trail; a Paiute family still gathers plant seeds alongside the highway; and the hinge on the barn door at Kane Ranch headquarters creaks in the wind. These sights and sounds bear witness to a long human presence and passage in the eastern Arizona Strip, spanning at least 10,000 years--from Ice Age big-game hunters, to later hunter-gatherers, Basketmaker and Pueblo farmers, Spanish explorers, Mormon missionaries and colonists, ranchers, and today’s travelers.
These traces of the past are part of the region’s cultural heritage, which will irrevocably disappear if not properly cared for and well managed. But, given the vast landscape of the eastern Arizona Strip, tending to these tasks is a tremendous undertaking. On a tour hosted by the Bureau of Land Management in the spring of 2005, Coconino County Supervisor Carl Taylor got a first hand look at the challenges the agency faces. Concerned about the potential loss of the region’s cultural heritage, he convened a meeting to discuss creating a group that could help land managers preserve, protect, and manage these irreplaceable resources. Those in attendance agreed that forming such a group could be beneficial, and they agreed to work together to create it.
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The Arizona Strip 's eastern end has many historical structures, such as this building
constructed by early Mormon pioneers.
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In the late spring of 2006 a key meeting was held at the Kane Ranch headquarters, located in the heart of the area in which the group proposed to focus its efforts. At that meeting, the name for the group was chosen, ideas for the group’s structure were discussed, the scope of the work was better defined, and Supervisor Taylor and the Grand Canyon Trust agreed to jointly fund a part-time coordinator. Representatives from the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Museum of Northern Arizona, Northern Arizona University, Coconino County, the Grand Canyon Trust, and several interested archaeologists attended the meeting, and with the addition of the Grand Canyon National Park, they constitute the Alliance’s steering committee.
Mission and Goals
The mission of the Kaibab-Vermilion Cliffs Heritage Alliance is to develop a deeper understanding of the cultural resources of the eastern Arizona Strip and to help preserve, protect, manage, and interpret them.
The goals of the Alliance include:
- Assist agency archaeologists in protecting and managing sites
- Support research to better understand the human and cultural relationships both prehistorically and historically
- Support applied research that can provide information useful to land managers as they make decisions regarding cultural resources
- Consult with archaeologists and historians to identify sites that may be at risk from various land use impacts, and support agency archaeologists to avoid or mitigate damage
- Organize and assist with volunteer projects, field schools, and other activities to identify and inventory cultural sites
- Facilitate communication and share information among agencies and the cultural resource community
- Coordinate and develop, with governmental agencies, appropriate interpretation of the area’s cultural history for the public
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Petroglyphs carved by prehistoric residents.
(Click image to see larger photo) |
The Alliance will plan and carry out projects on the ground with the help of volunteers, students, and researchers. Opportunities for involvement will be posted here as they arise.
For more information about the KVCHA, contact the Coordinator at P.O. Box 22311, Flagstaff, AZ 86002, by telephone at (928) 779-2962, or by Email
We are creating a digital library of documents related to the area in which the Heritage Alliance works. To visit the library, click on the link below:
https://secure.osisecureweb.com/grandcanyontrust/
USERNAME: heritage
PASSWORD: alliance
A Short Bibliography
Altschul, Jeffrey H. and Helen C. Fairley
1989 Man, Models and Management: An Overview of the Archaeology of the Arizona Strip and the Management of its
Cultural Resources. US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
Billingsley, George H., Earle E. Spamer, and Dove Menkes
1997 Quest for the Pillar of Gold, The Mines and Miners of the Grand Canyon.Grand Canyon Association,
Grand Canyon.
Cox, Nellie I.
1982 The Arizona Strip--A Harsh Land and Proud. Cox Printing Co., Las Vegas.
Cox, Nellie I., and Helen B. Russell.
1973 Footprints on the Arizona Strip. Horizon Publishers, Bountiful.
Davenport, Marietta A., John A. Hanson, and Lawrence M. Lesko.
n.d. The Rocks Remember...The Art of Snake Gulch. In American Indian Rock Art, Vol. 18, edited by
Frank G. Bock.
Dutton, Clarence E.
2001 Tertiary History of the Grand Canyon District. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Reprint
of 1882 edition, U.S. Geological Survey Monograph Vol. 2, Washington, D.C.
Fairley, Helen C., Peter W. Bungart, Christopher M. Coder, Jim Huffman, Terry L. Samples, and Janet R. Balsom.
1994 The Grand Canyon River Corridor Survey Project: Archaeological Survey along the Colorado River
Between Glen Canyon Dam and Separation Canyon. Grand Canyon National Park, in cooperation with
the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies, Flagstaff.
Geib, Phil R.
1996 Glen Canyon Revisited. University of Utah Anthropological Papers No. 119. Salt Lake City.
Hall, E.T., Jr.
1942 Archaeological Survey of Walhalla Glades. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 20. Flagstaff.
Kelly, Isabel T.
1964 Southern Paiute Ethnography. University of Utah Anthropological Papers No. 69. Salt Lake City.
Kelly, Isabel T., and Catherine S. Fowler.
1986 Southern Paiute. In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11, Great Basin, edited by Warren
L. D’Azevedo. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
McFadden, Douglas A.
1996 Virgin Anasazi Settlement and Adaptation on the Grand Staircase. Utah Archaeology 1996. Salt
Lake City.
2000 The Arroyo Site, 42KA3976: Archaic Level Investigations. Utah Archaeology 2000. Salt Lake City.
Moore, Rick.
1994 Preserving Traces of the Past: Protecting the Colorado Plateau’s Archaeological Heritage. Grand Canyon
Trust, Flagstaff, AZ.
Museum of Northern Arizona.
1986 The Arizona Strip, Splendid Isolation. Plateau Magazine, Vol. 57, No. 2. Flagstaff.
Pyne, Stephen J.
1982 Dutton’s Point, An Intellectual History of the Grand Canyon. 1982. Grand Canyon Natural History
Association, Grand Canyon.
Reid, Connie.
2003 North Kaibab Ranger District Heritage Resource Program Archaeological Survey and Site
Documentation Guidelines. Ms. on file, Kaibab National Forest, Williams.
Stoffle, Richard W., and Michael J. Evans.
1978 Kaibab Paiute History, The Early Years (Resource Competition and Population Change: A Kaibab
Paiute Ethnohistorical Case). Kaibab Paiute Cultural Heritage Series, Pamphlet No. 1. Fredonia.
Talbot, Richard K.
1990 Virgin Anasazi Architecture: Towards a Broader Perspective. Utah Archaeology 1990. Salt Lake
City.
Thompson, Richard A.
1970 Prehistoric Settlement in the Grand Canyon National Park. Southern Utah State College Faculty
Research Series No. 1. Cedar City.
Young, Christian C.
2002 In the Absence of Predators, Conservation and Controversy on the Kaibab Plateau. University of
Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London.
Links
Arizona Strip District, Bureau of Land Management
Kaibab National Forest
Grand Canyon National Park
Museum of Northern Arizona
Northern Arizona University Anthropology Dept
Partners–BLM, USFS, NPS, MNA, NAU, Coconino County |
