Grand Junction, CO
| Contacts: | Erin Curtis (970) 244-3097 |
Cultural Finds at BLM’s Indian Creek Area Part of Historic Preservation Month
Grand Junction, CO -- A presentation Thursday night at the Museum of Western Colorado’s Whitman Educational Center will feature prehistoric archaeology in the Indian Creek area on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management Grand Junction Field Office. The presentation is part of a celebration of Colorado Archaeology and Historic Preservation Month this May.
Research conducted through a partnership between the museum, the Dominguez Archaeological Research Group and BLM will shed more light on the pre-history of Western Colorado and the people who lived here centuries ago.
BLM has identified the Indian Creek area as an important cultural and archaeological resource and an area important to the cultural heritage of the Ute Tribe. The Grand Junction Field Office is currently revising its Resource Management Plan, which lays out how it will manage public lands over the next two decades. The new plan will take into account the importance of protecting this area as a cultural resource while encouraging further scientific research.
"D.A.R.G.’s research is important to BLM as we consider how best to manage public lands while protecting archaeological and cultural resources like those at Indian Creek, and make them available for scientific study," said Grand Junction Field Manager Catherine Robertson. "We are pleased to be a partner in this important work and to share what we’ve learned with the public as part of Archaeology and Historic Preservation Month."
Geoarchaeology of the Indian Creek Area
Who: Dominguez Archaeological Research Group, BLM and Museum of Western Colorado
What: In this presentation, James C. Miller will describe the Holocene to late Pleistocene deposits in Indian Creek and their associated prehistoric archaeological contexts. Results are part of an area assessment by D.A.R.G.
Where: Museum of Western Colorado’s Whitman Educational Center, 248 South 4th
When: Tonight, Thursday, May 21, 7:00 p.m.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.