Archaeological treasure in legislators' hands

Protecting the archaeological resources of Range Creek Canyon used to be the self-appointed responsibility of a single landowner. Now the job belongs to the Utah Legislature.

Last June, state officials announced that Utah was the new owner of property once protected by rancher Waldo Wilcox near the Carbon-Emery county border. The property was purchased by the Trust for Public Land, a conservation group, and then Congress appropriated money to help the state acquire it.

Altogether, the site about 130 miles southeast of Salt Lake City includes about 4,000 acres in new state land. It controls access to another 50,000 acres of federal and state school land, much of it in two wilderness study areas.

It is rich in the homes, art and artifacts of people who lived there 1,000 years ago. Because of Wilcox's diligence in keeping looters off his ranch, most of the sites are undisturbed by vandals.

The Legislature is considering budget requests to continue the work of protection, make repairs to the Wilcox ranch buildings and to fund archaeological surveys, inventories and artifact cataloguing.

Amounts sought are $104,000 in ongoing funds through the Department of Natural Resource Appropriation Subcommittee; a $57,000 one-time appropriation for the DNR in the same subcommittee, and $50,000 through the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Higher Education is involved because the Utah Museum of Natural History, located on the University of Utah campus, is spearheading the archaeological surveys.

Darin Bird, deputy director of the DNR, pointed out that the department and higher education requests regarding Range Creek are spelled out on the same sheet "so legislators would get the big picture." The $57,000 one-time funding was not listed by the state's fiscal analyst office, which discussed the governor's budget requests; it probably will come up near the end of the session, he said.

Range Creek is an important resource for the state, Bird said. "For those who understand archaeological sites, it's a great area."

Duncan Metcalfe, curator of archaeology at the natural history museum, said a couple of public weekends are being considered, when the canyon would be open to public viewing. "We've been looking into the idea of using concessionaires to give guided tours into the canyon," he said.

These guides would be "local folks who are familiar with the place."

Meanwhile, nearly 300 sites have been discovered. About 90 are isolated granaries, 50 are the pit-houses the residents lived in, and rest are rock art panels "and various combinations of the three things," Metcalfe said.