Nevadans for Cultural Preservation

March 24, 2023

The Opening Reception for Modern Desert Markings was held at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. The reception was for a total of three exhibitions. Poet Ms.AyeVee, provided a special reading for Modern Desert Markings. To learn more about this exhibition, visit our webpage. For a video by UNLV of the opening reception click here. Note a second exhibition "Am I Your Type" was also having its opening reception.

March 2023

From February into March, UNLV and CSN students recorded archaeological features and sites at Atlatl Rock in Valley of Fire State Park. NVFCP joined in on their second Saturday to see how the engagement with the public visitors was going. Surprisingly, students were not approached by the public. We believe this is due to the fact that they were wearing high visibility vests and the public did not want to disturb them while they were working. Students had a great experience during this first of what will likely be many field school opportunities in Valley of Fire. 

March 2023

Rayette Martin with NVFCP came out to the OHV Registration event in Las Vegas to promote the preservation of our cultural sites and ask folks to report any damages they find when they are out recreating. OHV Preservation Ambassador, Paul Krachenfels with Dunes and Trails also helped and promoted his club. Lora Hendrickson with MXT media represented Nevada OHV and helped ensure paperwork was properly completed. Last but not least, Boulder City police did VIN inspections and answered questions.

March 2023

NVFCP partnered with Tread Lightly! to engage with racers and spectators at the Mint 400 Great American Off-Road Race. Tread Lightly! generously provided us a booth at the tech inspection/vendor area on Fremont. Each racer had to drive past our booth and fans walked along side them. Then after the races, we all joined up with Fox's Trail Trust to clean up the spectator areas at Jean Dry Lake.  

March 2023

Museum Curator, Jessica Bitter, of Lake Mead National Recreation Area details the lifecycle of documents and artifacts generated in the field. Where do the notebooks, forms, and occasionally collected artifacts from archeologists end up? How are they cared for? Who can access them and how? Jessica provides a behind the scenes tour of the curatorial process, and how the work done if the field is curated so that it can be researched and accessed for generations to come.

Watch a video of the Zoom Webinar here.

February 2023

Forest Service District Archaeologist, Marty McMahon

A talk about some of the historic sites on the Spring Mountains! More popularly known as Mt. Charleston – which is officially part of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA). There are mining sites that go back to the 1800s from Potosi in the south to Stirling in the north, and remains of old saw mills that ran into the 1950s. Of course, some of the more famous sites in the area are the Tecopa Charcoal Kilns and the Civilian Conservation Corps buildings in Kyle Canyon and the Works Progress Administration organization camp (run by Clark County) that is still in use in Lee Canyon.

Watch a video of this Zoom webinar here. 

January 2023

Founding member and Executive Director of NVFCP, Rayette Martin, provided a talk about the importance of public outreach in archaeology. She outlined the steps involved in developing a successful project from recognizing opportunity to selecting fitting techniques. A number of current and past NVFCP projects were discussed. If you are interested in or have been tasked with conducting public outreach, you'll want to take some notes. If you are interested in what NVFCP has been up to, this is also a good opportunity to learn about the way's we are fulfilling our mission of "Preservation through Education."

Check out the video on our YouTube Channel here.

December 2022

Andrea Ramhorst, Archaeologist for the Bureau of Land Management, provided a talk on archaeological sites that represent historic railroad towns and depots on the Wells Field Office. These towns supported the Transcontinental Railroad lines that facilitated the movement of people and freight across the country at the end of the 19th Century. In Nevada, these railroad lines were largely tied to the mining industry, and secondary railroad lines supported copper, silver, and gold mining.

Many of these sites are close to major roads, are threatened by looting, and will be incorporated into the Site Stewardship program for the Elko District. The Nevada Site Stewardship Program trains volunteers to monitor at risk archaeological sites. To learn more visit NSSP. 

This Zoom Webinar talk was recorded and can be viewed on our YouTube Chanel here. 

Unfortunately, there were some internet issues in the middle of the presentation. A PDF copy of the talk can be found here. 

Photo: Nevada Northern RR remnants near the ghost town of Cobre, Nevada. Picture credit: David E. Beedon 2011.

December 2022

NVFCP is assisting the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), College of Southern Nevada (CSN), and the Nevada Site Stewardship Program (NSSP), in providing archaeological site recording services for Valley of Fire State Park through a field school. This will provide the park free assistance and students will get to learn skills in an amazing environment just a short drive from Las Vegas. The field school is available to both UNLV and CSN students. The first area this field school will address is the ever popular petroglyph site, Atlatl rock. This area is vulnerable to graffiti and other high visitation related damage. NVFCP will be preparing students to engage with visitors to discuss the project and the importance of preservation. 

On Thursday, December 1st. Organizers from UNLV, CSN, and NSSP joined our Executive Director at the site and created a plan for updating the records for the area. All of the organizers that attended that day are current board members for NVFCP!  

November 2022

NVFCP held its first OHV Preservation Ambassador Training at the Enterprise Library in Las Vegas. Participants were from the Dunes and Trails ATV Club. This club is working in partnership with NVFCP to develop the program. Those in attendance received their Preservation Ambassador Decal and are tasked with choosing a historic or archaeological site to monitor.  NVFCP hopes to turn this training into a video training that can be accessed from anywhere/anytime. 

Over the next few months, NVFCP will go out to the sites the volunteers pick to ensure the training is adequate and to get video footage for the online training. If you are interested in becoming an OHV Preservation Ambassador click here.