http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/121080

Published: 03.21.2006

Border artifacts and cultural sites at risk
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX - Urbanization, dynamic population growth, illegal immigration and related enforcement are destroying archaeological and historical sites along the U.S. border with Mexico, according to a new presidential advisory panel report.
The realization should prompt immediate responses to protect the sites if they are not to be permanently lost to future generations, the panel report warns.
The panel's recommendations are not binding but are being distributed to government officials, landowners and others to increase awareness and generated coordinated public and private efforts to preserve the historic sites and lands.
"It's impossible to preserve everything," said Paul Ganster, chairman of the Good Neighbor Environmental Board, a committee of academics and representatives of local governments, non-profit groups, tribes and federal agencies that advises the White House and Congress about border issues. But "we should want to preserve for future generations the opportunities we've had to enjoy these areas that remind us of our historical and cultural past and (that) relate to who we are and where we've come from. Once changed, they are obliterated forever.
More than 50 acts of vandalism to sites in southern Arizona were documented by the volunteer Arizona Site Steward Program during 2005, the board said, including pothunting, surface collection of artifacts, illegal dumping of trash, removal of petroglyphs, fence-cutting and damage from off-road vehicles.
In El Paso County, Texas, vandals at the Hueco Tanks Historic Site have defaced pictographs (rock paintings) in the past 15 years, causing what the report calls "irreparable destruction."
Illegal immigration and related enforcement activities have led to increased environmental damage, including networks of roads and trails in once-pristine wilderness area that could take generations to recover.
Trash left behind by thousands of migrants litters the area. Tohono O'odham Vice Chairman Ned Norris Jr. said his tribe estimates that as many as 1,500 undocumented migrants cross its lands each day, leaving about 6 tons of trash, including backpacks, blankets, water bottles, plastic sheeting and even automobiles.
Damage to culturally important natural areas and vegetation and sacred sites is widespread, Norris said. One area cited by Norris, and in the committee's report, is the Baboquivari Peak area, which he said "is, in fact, sacred to our people."
"We believe our creator lives in this mountain," he said, adding that pilgrimages are made there for spiritual purification and strengthening.
The panel recommends more monitoring at archaeological sites, greater efforts by public and private groups to buy sensitive lands and manage growth.
Other recommendations include added incentives for preservation and minimizing off-road driving and creation of new roads by the U.S. Border Patrol.
And the report recommends that some areas could be declared National Heritage Areas, designated by Congress as containing natural, cultural and recreational resources that are nationally distinctive and significant. Once designated, an area is eligible to receive up to $10 million in 50 percent matching funds over 15 years. Only one exists in the border region: the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area.
The "border region" is defined in the report as areas in the four states that are within 60 miles of the U.S.-Mexican line.
In the almost 10,000 years of settlement in the region, the report says, there are archaeological sites and cultural areas that include Native American villages, historic mission churches and Mexican and U.S. territorial-era ranches, as well as historic mining districts, frontier towns, and early railroads, roads and trails.