Crane Festival to Include Rock Art Exhibit

MONTE VISTA – The Bureau of Land Management, San Luis Valley Public Land Center will sponsor an exhibit and information booth on March 10, 11, and 12 from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM in conjunction with the Monte Vista Crane Festival. The exhibit will feature rock art of the San Luis Valley.

The BLM and the San Luis Valley Archaeological Network have documented nearly 60 rock art sites scattered around the San Luis Valley, recording the history of early residents of the region. The San Luis Valley Archaeological Network is a group of volunteers dedicated to the study, awareness and preservation of cultural resources in the Valley. They have documented pictographs and petroglyphs of animals and plants that today are at risk of being damaged by modern graffiti. Pictographs are painted images on stone while petroglyphs are images chipped or pecked into the rock.

The exhibit aims to increase public awareness of the importance of rock art and other cultural resources on both public and private lands in order to help foster their preservation. Staff archaeologists will be available to answer questions. For more information about the Monte Vista Crane Festival please visit www.cranefest.com or call 719-852-3552.

Across Colorado, the Bureau of Land Management is hosting a number of activities in celebration of the centennial of the Antiquities Act. Check out the current listing of these projects and programs at www.blm.gov/heritage/adventures/menu/events.html. The Act, signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, revolutionized the preservation of our nation’s history by making the federal government responsible for safeguarding historic places and resources that define America. For the past hundred years, the Act has helped citizens nationwide protect, appreciate and celebrate the special places and irreplaceable resources found on public lands: archaeological sites, fossils, and natural wonders.

Across the West, the Bureau of Land Management continues to follow the mission of the Antiquities Act: safeguarding the nation’s legacy of ruins, archaeological sites, fossils, historic and prehistoric monuments and structures, objects of scientific interest, and historic landmarks on public lands.

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