Nevadans for Cultural Preservation

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. 

November 2022

NVFCP's first Pastries for Preservation was a success. Participants met at the picnic area for Red Springs, part of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. They were treated to hot coffee and tea as well as mini donuts, muffins, and cinnamon rolls among other snacks. Dr. Kevin Rafferty, Professor Emeritus from the College of Southern Nevada provided a great overview of the archaeological studies conducted in the area and his findings from reviewing that research and relocating collections of artifacts. 

We then went on a short stroll along the .5 mile boardwalk. Along the rock face, Executive Director, Rayette Martin joined Dr. Rafferty in pointing out the various petroglyph panels visible from the boardwalk. We returned to the picnic area for more discussion and snacks before ending our morning outing. 

NVFCP hopes to host more Pastries for Preservation with snacks and a guided tour or hike. Keep a look out for more events!

(photo: Rayette grabbing a snack before the event gets started.)

November 2022

Abigail Peeples, Park Archeologist for Lake Mead National Recreation Area, has been working at the park for about two years. She presented a brief archeological overview of the Lake Mead area with a focus on currently stewarded sites. She discussed one of the first sites excavated at Lake Mead, the lifeways of Indigenous people since time immemorial, petroglyph sites, and the Euro-American colonization of the area of Lake Mead including a Mormon settlement. 

A recording of this Zoom webinar is available on YouTube here. 

November 2022

NVFCP happily provided a cultural resource preservation presentation for this very large and active club in Mesquite, NV.  Formed in 1996, the Kokopelli ATV Club advocates and promotes the responsible use and conservation of our public lands and natural resources to preserve their aesthetic and recreational qualities for future generations.

They are happy to help report damage they find to cultural sites in Nevada and quite a few signed up to learn more about the OHV Preservation Ambassador program coming soon. 

What a great club!

October 2022

NVFCP was invited back to the Annual Off-Road Event, Hump 'N' Bump. Attendees are led on various trail rides in the Logandale Trail System. They have everything from rock crawling to stock friendly sight seeing. This year, NVFCP was able to hand out plastic reporting cards and ask attendees to report any damages they see to cultural sites across Nevada. We also were able to promote the OHV Preservation Ambassador program. 

Representatives from the Nevada Off Highway Vehicles Program, Tread Lightly, Bureau of Land Management, and US Forest Service also had informational booths in the vendor area.