The Senate Energy Committee held a
hearing July 27 on legislation that would protect one of North America's
richest archaeological sites. S. 286, the Petroglyph National Monument
Establishment Act by senators Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Jeff Bingaman (D)-NM),
would protect 5,280 acres of West Mesa, an area outside Albuquerque, New
Mexico, for the preservation, study and interpretation of the more than 15,000
Native American and early historic petroglyphs found there.
The area's
highly significant rock art is threatened by rapidly encroaching suburban
development, vandalism and inappropriate forms of recreation, according to
Harvard Ayers and Ike Eastvold of the Sierra Club's Native American Sites
Committee.
The West Mesa petroglyph area is not only of outstanding
national significance for the history of our country, it is clearly of
international significance along with the rock art sites of Paleolithic Europe,
Australia, Algeria, and South Africa, said Ayers in testimony before the
committee. Conservationists are advocating that the size of the monument |
proposed in the bill be increased to
7,274 acres to encompass additional areas of cultural significance threatened
by development.
Conservationists' testimony at the hearing centered on
land acquisition for the proposed monument. The Westland Development Co., Inc.
has proposed that its 1,964 acres -located in the southern portion of the
proposed monument - be acquired by the Park Service in the form of a
conservation easement, so that it can retain ownership of the land. "the
easement proposed by Westland would threaten the monument from the outset with
damaging activities such as cattle grazing and mineral development," said
Ayers. "As a development corporation, Westland could frequently be at odds with
the preservation mission of the Park Service." Conservationists advocate the
outright purchase of Westland.
Rep. Steven Schiff(R-NM) has introduced
a companion bill, H.R. 745, in the House. Interested Sierra Club members can
write their senators and representatives to urge them to cosponsor the
legislation.
Contact: Harvard Ayers, (704)
264-4367 |