The President Is Expected to Announce Cuts to Our National Monuments Today

President Plans to Cut Crucial Areas from Two of Our National Monuments
Two of the nation’s most scientifically significant landscapes — the Kaiparowits Plateau and Cedar Mesa — could be largely stripped of hard-won protections when President Donald Trump appears in Utah on Monday to announce major reductions to Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments, according to leaked documents obtained by The Washington Post. The areas form the hearts of their respective national monuments, yet portions of them were targeted for removal under recommendations to Trump by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. After reviewing several large monuments across the U.S. earlier this year, Zinke concluded past presidents abused the Antiquities Act when they used the landmark conservation law to designate oversized monuments in southern Utah. http://bit.ly/2iIOfkP – Salt Lake Tribune

Editorial: Bruce Babbitt on the President’s “Vandalism”
America’s wild places survive by the grace of a human promise. For more than 150 years, it has been an article of collective faith and national pride that once we protect a wild place, it is to be safeguarded for all time. But in the coming days, President Trump will try to shatter that promise. http://nyti.ms/2AE94VL – New York Times

Thousands Rally in Support of Bears Ears
Thousands turned out to support public lands Saturday at a rally held in response to President Donald Trump’s visit to Utah, during which he plans to announce a reduction to two national monuments in the state…. “This is truly a monumental mistake,” Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Salt Lake City, said during the well-attended rally at the state Capitol. “These national treasures are owned by all Americans and future generations. We will not let our sacred monuments be broken up and downsized.” http://bit.ly/2AFbTG7 – Deseret News

LA Times Sees Coming Conservation War
I wrote my first letter pleading for preservation of Utah’s Kaiparowits Plateau as a college student 45 years ago. When President Clinton proclaimed Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996, he ended a 30-year debate about whether we should strip-mine coal on the Kaiparowits, a vast and remote wildland offering rich resources for scientific research. I thought the plateau, one of three key landscapes protected by the monument, was safe. Turns out the monument’s canyons, plateaus and riversheds still need defending. http://bit.ly/2AI6a20 – LA Times

A Simple set of Maps Shows why Bears Ears is Under Assault
President Trump will travel to Utah next Monday to sign an executive order attempting to significantly cut the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monuments. What will be the largest elimination of protections for our shared public lands in U.S. history comes as a hand-out to coal, oil, and uranium companies at the expense of the region’s public lands and wildlife. The two monuments contain significant reserves of coal, oil, and uranium that could be sold-off for extraction. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch’s office told Utah lawmakers that the president plans to reduce Grand Staircase-Escalante by 40 to 60 percent and Bears Ears by 80 to 90 percent. http://bit.ly/2AJI3jS – Westwise

Arizona Representative Launches Bill to Protect Bears Ears
Today, Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-07) introduced a bill to protect the Bears Ears National Monument from an unprecedented attempt by the Trump administration to downsize and redraw the monument’s boundaries. Last year, following extensive negotiations with five Native American tribes, President Obama signed Proclamation 9558, which established the Bears Ears National Monument, conserving 1.35 million acres of wilderness and protecting over 100,000 Native American archaeological and cultural sites. http://bit.ly/2AIevTs – Office of Ruben Gallego

The Treasures of Chaco Canyon Are Threatened by Drilling
In the remote high desert of northwestern New Mexico lie the threatened ruins of Chaco Canyon, arguably the most significant cultural site on public land in the United States. The canyon and the surrounding region contain the remnants of great houses, kivas, ancient roads and sacred places built a millennium ago by an indigenous people who became proficient in architecture, agriculture, astronomy and the arts. Everything we know about them comes from these ruins and the artifacts they left behind, but it appears now that much of it could be at risk from the Trump administration’s unseemly haste in allowing oil and gas drilling nearby. http://nyti.ms/2AGHffn – New York Times

San Juan County Tries to Assert Authority over Road through Recapture Canyon, Again
San Juan County is suing the federal government, saying it is the rightful owner of access to Recapture Canyon. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Utah on Wednesday, seeks dominion of a path in Bureau of Land Management territory that was closed to motorized use in 2007 due to damage at nearby archaeological sites. The section starts at Recapture Dam and goes south for about 3 miles, County Commissioner Phil Lyman said. http://bit.ly/2iIxuGs – Salt Lake Tribune

Blogs Worth Reading: The Legislative Attacks on Historic Preservation and Archaeological Research
About a year ago, in the wake of the election, I wrote a piece for the MAPA Blog evaluating the ways in which the new administration would be able to roll back protections for historic and cultural resources.  I warned then that these efforts would not necessarily be titled “repeal of the law,” so we would have to be watchful for sneak attacks on our profession in the form of riders, hidden provisions, amendments and bills defunding the protections that currently exist. This month, in a whirlwind of activity carried out largely behind closed doors, Congress has launched a number of such attacks. While I’m no expert on tax law or legislative process, in the interest of keeping archaeologists updated on these developments, I’ve summarized some of the current legislative threats to historic preservation and archaeological research.  The two most pressing attacks are attempts to rewrite the Antiquities Act and the proposed tax reform bill currently on the Senate floor. http://bit.ly/2AGw9XJ – Michelle Turner via MAPA

Audio Post: Preserving Fort Huachuca’s Mountain View Officers’ Club
It appears there’s a plan for a building that, in the past, has been identified as one of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places. The Mountain View Officers’ Club at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista is one of the last two remaining clubs that served African-American soldiers and officers during World War II. The facility at Fort Huachuca was built in 1942. Chris Morris is Field Director for the LA Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and she joins us to talk about it. http://bit.ly/2iIGLyB – KJZZ Phoenix

High Country News Looks at Place Names and Cultural Heritage
Trump’s offer to change the name of a mountain may simply appear as another act of spite toward his predecessor, but it also bucks growing recognition that it matters a great deal what we decide to call places. Denali, for instance, is an Athabascan word for “great one,” and for millennia it’s what Alaska’s original inhabitants called the continent’s highest peak. In 1896, a gold miner tagged the mountain after Ohio-born President William McKinley, a name that stuck, but grew unpopular. For years, Alaska’s congressional delegation tried to restore the original name, but it was thwarted by Ohio’s representatives. Obama’s executive action, which preceded his historic 2015 visit to Alaska, ended the standoff. http://bit.ly/2iHoOAq – HCN

Alan Sullivan Posits an Ancient Fire-Based Subsistence Strategy in the Coconino Region
Conventional wisdom holds that prehistoric villagers planted corn, and lots of it, to survive the dry and hostile conditions of the American Southwest. But University of Cincinnati archaeology professor Alan Sullivan is challenging that long-standing idea, arguing instead that people routinely burned the understory of forests to grow wild crops 1,000 years ago. “There has been this orthodoxy about the importance of corn,” said Sullivan, director of graduate studies in UC’s Department of Anthropology in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences. “It’s been widely considered that prehistoric peoples of Arizona between A.D. 900 to 1200 were dependent on it. http://bit.ly/2iGackS – Phys.org

Amerind Foundation Celebrates 80th Anniversary
The Amerind Foundation is celebrating its history by hosting “A Night at the Amerind Museum” on Saturday, December 9, from 5:00–8:00 pm, at the museum in Dragoon, Arizona. The evening will be marked by the opening of the new permanent exhibit Without Borders: The Deep History of Paquimé, which focuses on the ancient Indigenous peoples of Chihuahua, Mexico, who lived at Paquimé. The museum, art gallery, and Fulton Seminar House will come to life through music, hands on activities, tours, demonstrations, and speakers. The event is open to the public and tickets may be purchased at http://bit.ly/2iKkDDM or by calling 520-686-6172.

Reminder: Archaeology Café (Tucson): 700 Years Ago in Tucson
On Tuesday, December 12, 2017, at 6:00 p.m., archaeologist Mark Elson will explore  700 years ago in Tucson: Making a Living in the Hohokam Classic Period.  Thanks to archaeological investigations at a number of Classic period sites across the Tucson basin, archaeologists have a better idea of what life was like 700 years ago here in Tucson. Elson will summarize some new knowledge and share his views on what it all might mean. Why did building practices and other aspects of material culture seem to change during this time period? Archaeology Café is held at The Loft Cinema (3233 E. Speedway Blvd). While seating is open and unreserved, we are limited to 98 attendees. The Loft Cinema will issue free tickets on the day of the Café. You can pick up tickets from the box office anytime that day. (Limit two tickets per person.) http://bit.ly/2zFgsAC – Archaeology Southwest

Employment Opportunity: Preservation Outreach Coordinator – Tucson
This position coordinates and implements Archaeology Southwest’s cultural heritage site protection activities. The Preservation Outreach Coordinator is a key member of the preservation team. She/He provides leadership in working to protect the cultural heritage—archaeological sites, historic buildings, and cultural landscapes—of the Greater Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah). In cooperation with staff Preservation Archaeologists, the Preservation Outreach Coordinator will identify and evaluate what places are important, where they are located, and how to protect them. She/He works regularly with a diverse array of individuals, tribal, local, state and federal government agencies, and volunteers. Building and maintaining collaborative relationships with diverse interest groups and local communities is one measure of success in this position. http://bit.ly/2iIOr3w – Archaeology Southwest

Holiday Festivities – Grand Junction
Colorado Archaeological Society- Grand Junction chapter is holding its 2nd annual holiday festival and fundraising auction, Monday, December 11th, 5:30-9 PM at Redlands United Methodist Church, 527 Village Way. The evening will include finger food and holiday baked goods potluck, short slide shows and a massive silent auction. The auction will feature everything from $2 book piles to luxury resort packages. There will be live musical entertainment. For details casgjInfo@gmail.com or visit the website http://bit.ly/2iIYkhF – Meetup.com

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
Old Pueblo Archaeology Center’s December 21 “Third Thursday Food for Thought” dinner program at Picture Rocks Redemptorist Renewal Center, 7101 W. Picture Rocks Road, Tucson, archaeologist Allen Dart will lead a tour to the Picture Rocks petroglyphs and present “Celebrating the Solstice: Southwestern Rock Calendars and Ancient Time Pieces.” The presentation will present and discuss archaeological evidence of ancient southwestern U.S. astronomy and calendar reckoning revealed in petroglyphs, architecture, and settlement layouts. Tour at 5:30, dinner at 6, presentation 7:15-8:30 p.m. Reservation deadline 5 p.m. December 19. $15 dinner fee (tour and presentation are free). 520-798-1201 or info@oldpueblo.org.