The “Lands Between”
In recent years, Friends of Cedar Mesa has assisted in leading a group of core partners—including leaders from the region’s Tribes and Pueblos, Indigenous-led organizations, archaeologists, and conservation groups—in a collaborative effort to advocate for the protection of the “Lands Between,” located between Bears Ears, Canyons of the Ancients, and Hovenweep National Monuments. This landscape is an integral part of a contiguous cultural landscape that connects Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, Bears Ears, and beyond.
The “Lands Between” is an ancestral and spiritual home of the Hopi, Zuni, the Rio Grand Pueblos, Nuche (Ute), Diné (Navajo), Paiute, and other Indigenous people, that preserves a history of human occupation dating to at least the Archaic period (6,000 to 2,000 BC).
This region is the most archaeologically rich swath of public lands in the United States that remain unprotected against oil and gas leasing. Spanning over 500,000 acres, these “Lands Between” hold a staggering number of cultural sites.
Yet, this landscape remains threatened by the oil and gas industry. Between 2018 and 2019, the Trump Administration leased more than 100,000 acres of this landscape to oil and gas interests—often with minimal input from Tribes and the public. There are approximately 50,000 acres of Utah State School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) lands embedded in the “Lands Between,” acreage that SITLA is especially interested in developing for mineral extraction.
In response to this threat, FCM and our core partners are educating and advocating on behalf of this landscape, prioritizing Indigenous leadership in decision-making and speaking throughout these efforts.
FCM has already facilitated visits to the “Lands Between” by the Hopi Lands Commission and members of the Pueblo of Acoma’s Tribal Historic Preservation Advisory Team. Our team presented to All Pueblo Council of Governors (APCG) leadership, APCG Natural Resources Subcommittee, and the Navajo Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Office.
Our team also presented to the All Pueblo Council of Governors Natural Resources Council as well as the Navajo Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Office. We will continue to facilitate visits with Tribal authorities, archaeologists, and other interested parties.
Alongside our core partners, FCM has encouraged BLM leadership to pause, if not defer, all new industry-nominated oil and gas leases in this culturally significant landscape. And with support from Advocates from the West, FCM refiled litigation on the 2018 oil and gas lease sales in the “Lands Between.”
Moving forward, FCM will continue to advocate for the “Lands Between” alongside Indigenous leadership and other core partners in the vital effort to preserve and protect this ancestral landscape.
Cultural Site Preservation
Friends of Cedar Mesa’s field program is about much more than trail work and cultural site preservation. Its intent is to not only mitigate detrimental impacts from visitation and land use, but to engage with Indigenous partners through site visits and collaboration.
In recent years, FCM’s field program—run by Field Director Britt Hornsby and Field Manager Ryan Pelizzoni–has taken on significant projects, made possible by support from many partner organizations and government agencies.
Since 2017, much of this work has been done in partnership with Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps (ALCC), when FCM first contracted a crew from the Pueblo of Acoma. FCM’s field program has continued contracting ALCC to bring young folks from the region’s Tribes and Pueblos out onto the landscape to engage in cultural site preservation.
Despite recent limitations due to the Covid pandemic, these crews have accomplished a great deal. They closed spur trails on the rim, and cleaned up fire rings in the parking area, of Road Canyon; installed VWR signage at various sites and throughout the BLM Monticello Field Office; constructed a trail to Cave Towers, as well as numerous other cultural sites; built a fence on the River House Bench; delineated parking areas and trailheads on Cedar Mesa; weeded at the Cave Towers upper parking area; engaged in site stabilization efforts all across Cedar Mesa; mitigated visitor impact at numerous Forest Service Sites, including Doll House; carried out surveys and assessments in anticipation of upcoming work at sensitive sites; the list of successfully completed projects goes on.
Chas Robles, Director of ALCC, explains that the work these crews have completed “has not only created positive impact for these important places, but has also provided incredible opportunities for our young people to reconnect with these places.”
Looking to the future, FCM’s Field Program will continue this important cultural site preservation work alongside ALCC, including wrapping up projects at numerous Forest Service Sites, backcountry sites in Grand Gulch, and developing schematics to repair and preserve the Sand Island panel.
There is an additional ongoing effort to closely involve ALCC crew members in Condition and Survey Assessments. The goal is for ALCC crews work alongside Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants to complete these surveys and assessments. The first of these projects is scheduled for this upcoming fall.
The field program continues to reach out to Tribes and Pueblos, coordinating visits for individuals to engage with important cultural site preservation that’s being done, and what’s to come.
We are also expanding the reach of these field visits to include an ethnographic component. On certain field visits, an ethnographer will accompany the crew to document the experiences and information shared over the course of the outing. This shared experience produces a document for both the involved Tribes and Pueblos and Friends of Cedar Mesa, that will hold both great cultural and educational value. We have already facilitated one major ethnographic visit to one of our work sites, and are excited to incorporate ethnography in upcoming visits.
While FCM’s field program is certainly driven to mitigate the impacts of—and protect from future degradation caused by—visitation and land use, the ultimate goal is to maintain cultural site integrity. Cultural integrity pertains to the significance that these sites hold to the region’s Tribes and Pueblos. By continuing to engage our Indigenous partners throughout the entire process of cultural site preservation, we can work closer to that goal.
“To me, the most important part of what we do is that we’re connecting Native hands to the sites now,” says Field Director Britt. “We tend to think of them as ruins, old sites that have lost their function and utilitarian purpose and that’s a mistake. They might not be used as defensive structures or to store corn anymore, but they’re very significant culturally still.”