Page 14 - Winter 2016 flip 1

14 Friends oF red rock canyon

By Chuck Williams &
Roger and Sue Kolar

riends of Red Rock Canyon’s Culture County and in 2015 published a history book
F Resource Committee was reactivated in about Red Rock Canyon, “Seekers, Saints &
2001 at the request of the Bureau of Land Man- Scoundrels.” The book was researched, written
agement (BLM) and asked to document Native and edited by committee volunteers over a three
American rock art sites year period. Friends of
within Red Rock Can- Red Rock Canyon was
yon. The BLM felt that able to publish the book
these sites were most in assisted by a grant from
danger of being damaged the City of Las Vegas
by nature or vandalism. Historic Preservation
Commission. The book
Over the next ten years, was printed in the USA
the members volunteered on recycled paper with
over 10,000 hours docu- all proceeds going to
menting eighteen major Friends of Red Rock
rock art sites within Red Canyon.
Rock Canyon and one
site at the Desert Na- Currently the commit-
tional Wildlife Preserve tee has been tasked by
Volunteers dedicated to the preservation of Red Rock Canyon
managed by the US Fish BLM Archeologist Mark
& Wildlife Service. The Boatwright with com-
finished documentation pleting site assessments
contains drawings for Falling Man Site at over 300 pre-historic
over 500 panels of rock Friends Archives sites within Red Rock
art detailing 8,955 indi- Canyon. Our volunteers
vidual motifs. will use existing older documentation
to locate the sites and then update the
The group was honored by the BLM records using GPS data, photos, maps
with the 2010 National Volunteer Award and detailed site descriptions.
“Making a Difference” on the Public
Lands for their work in documenting What’s involved with site assess-
and preserving the cultural sites within ments and updating the records? The
the conservation area. During this same assigned teams will first try to locate
period, the committee invested over Falling Man Inking the site based on the existing documen-
800 hours organizing, scanning and Friends Archives tation. In some cases this many not be
indexing thousands of historic docu- possible based on vague site descrip-
ments and photos from the Eileen Green archives. tions, old topo maps and lack of GPS coordinates.
These archives are now available to researchers in Once a site is located, a complete new survey is
a searchable database. executed including a site sketch, measurements,
photos, environmental data, natural or human
In the past few years, the volunteers have as- threats and recommendations if management ac-
sisted in documenting other rock art sites in Clark tions are needed.

the Rock - Volume 7 Issue 2