[MSN] Lawmakers seek cash, manpower to save West's treasures. Archaeological, historic sites at risk, Ariz.'s Grijalva says.

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Lawmakers seek cash, manpower to save West's treasures 
Archaeological, historic sites at risk, Ariz.'s Grijalva says

Billy House 
Republic Washington Bureau 
Jul. 14, 2006 12:00 AM


WASHINGTON - A newly formed bipartisan group of lawmakers is pressing the
U.S. Department of the Interior to spend more money and devote more manpower
to protecting Western states' archaeological and historical sites, including
areas held sacred by Native Americans.

Instances of vandalism, artifact theft and illegal off-road vehicle use have
underscored shortages in the federal Bureau of Land Management's funding and
its inability to identify and protect the sites, said Rep. Raúl Grijalva,
R-Ariz.

"The consequences are that (archaeological) sites are not being inventoried
. . . and there's significant evidence of looting and damage, whether
purposeful or accidental," said Grijalva, who is leading the group of about
15 House lawmakers who are working to call more attention to the problem and
push for solutions. advertisement  
 
Their efforts may be bolstered by a report in May by the National Trust for
Historic Preservation warning that vandalism, such as the recent
spray-painting of prehistoric rock art panels in Colorado's McInnis Canyons
National Conservation Area, off-road vehicle use and artifact-hunting, are
"robbing the nation of these cultural resources."

Although the BLM spends $15 million a year for the surveying and protection
of sites, the trust's report calls on that amount to grow over the next five
years to $50 million a year.

But protecting or even identifying all the historically significant areas
within the 261 million acres of desert, forests, mountains and canyons
managed by the BLM is an enormous task, the report points out.

The effort is made all the more daunting by the growing populations of
cities and suburbs of the West, increased recreational use within
once-remote areas, and greater pressure by the Bush administration to open
up more of the land to oil and gas drilling.

According to the trust report, only about 17 million, or 6 percent, of those
BLM acres across 11 Western states, including Arizona, have been surveyed so
far to identify cultural and historical resources.

Because the BLM already has more than 400 sites listed on the National
Register of Historic Places, a complete survey of all its lands could
uncover an additional 68,000 sites eligible for listing on the national
register, Destry Jarvis, a former assistant director of the National Park
Service and author of the trust report, told reporters this week.

Of the 86 million acres that fall under BLM oversight in Arizona, 95,757
acres so far have been inventoried, and 20 sites are now listed on the
National Register.

"Clearly the BLM has enormous responsibility," Jarvis said.

But he said the bureau also has "too little resources, too few people and
too little money being expended for taking care of cultural resources in its
charge."

The report notes that the BLM has had some highly publicized enforcement
actions taken against thieves stealing archaeological artifacts from public
lands and that officials work well with state and local jurisdictions. But
law enforcement is spread thin for such efforts.

For instance, there still are only two investigators to cover nearly 9
million acres of state trust land in Arizona. On a state-by-state basis,
most BLM enforcement personnel are assigned to cover a minimum of 1 million
acres and often much more.

Jarvis said that the Interior Department, to which the BLM belongs, is one
of the few arms of the federal government that actually generates more money
from such things as mineral, oil and gas development and royalties, grazing
and timber fees, and park and recreation-user fees, than it receives from
Congress.

An Interior Department spokesman, Frank Quimby, confirmed the department's
receipts during this current fiscal year are estimated to reach $16.9
billion, while the agency's budget approved by Congress is set at $16.3
billion. 

Receipts for fiscal 2007 also are projected at higher than what the Bush
administration has proposed to spend on the agency.

Celia Boddington, a BLM spokeswoman, said bureau officials "absolutely
appreciate the congressional interest."

But she also said that the BLM is making progress in its efforts to protect
such areas, with 25 million acres now falling under a special landscape
conservation program that was put into place in 2001, known as the National
Landscape Conservation System.

Special resource management plans are now in place in 26 specific sites, she
said, including the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, about 50 miles
southeast of Tucson.

But the Bush administration is calling for a $5 million cut in the budget of
the conservation program, which would bring it to about $37million, the
lowest amount since the program's inception.

Grijalva said his group of lawmakers, which includes Arizona GOP Reps. Rick
Renzi and Jim Kolbe, will write to new Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne
about their concerns, as well as try to convince House colleagues of the
importance of their mission.

"The lack of protection of these lands is a great loss to Americans who use
them and love them," Grijalva said. 


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