Utah rock art canyon up for historic designation

[L. Coyote]

Source: AP

By Mike Stark
11/12/2009

A section of petroglyphs in Daddy Canyon inside Nine Mile Canyon, in Utah. Parts of this remote Utah canyon decorated with more than 10,000 ancient Indian rock carvings and drawings are being nominated for the National Register of Historic Places. The Bureau of Land Management recently nominated 63 sites along Nine Mile Canyon, which some call the world's longest art gallery. (AP Photo / Bureau of Land Management, File)

....

The Bureau of Land Management this week nominated 63 sites along Nine Mile Canyon, which some call the world's longest art gallery. It contains more than 10,000 prehistoric rock carvings and paintings of bighorn sheep, owls, a two-headed snake, spear-wielding hunters and warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

In the coming years, the BLM in Utah plans to nominate more than 800 sites in the canyon for the national register, according to Megan Crandall, an agency spokeswoman in Salt Lake City. She said it's the largest such attempt for archaeological sites in Utah.

.....

The BLM is about to launch another in-depth study on the nearby West Tavaputs Plateau. The agency has been considering a proposal that would allow about 800 more natural gas wells in the area and increase truck traffic on the narrow, 78-mile road that snakes through the sandstone and shale canyon.

Conservationists worry the extra truck traffic .....

Listing on the National Register is an honorific designation and wouldn't provide additional protections

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/outdoors/ci_13763014

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Competing interests, energy and cultural preservation, have been at odds in Nine Mile for years now. This article minimizes the issue. Google " Nine Mile Canyon Coalition " for more.

IMAGES HERE: http://jqjacobs.net/rock_art/fremont.html

[Mari333]

1. long overdue

In Europe, rock art drawings are sancrosanct. National Heritage sites. Here, pfft. ignored.

too bad the europeans in this country do not recognize that their own neolithic and paleolithic ancestors once had the same kind of tribal customs and art as the native americans.

[MuseRider]

2. Didn't they lose a lot of these

when they created Lake Powell?

[L. Coyote]

6. Yes, dams, railroads, highways, gravel, road fill, Sam's Clubs and other

development has destroyed uncounted archaeology sites. Rock art is often concentrated were roads, dams, and railroads also locate.

[jmondine]

3. We could petition Obama to invoke the Antiquities Act

Designate the site as a National Monument

[jaksavage]

4. I love southern Utah.

Too bad it is ruled by northern Utah.

[harmonicon]

7. yeah, that's a good way to put it

Southern Utah is my favourite place on the planet in many many ways, but I'm afraid that I'd never be able to live their for too many practical reasons (including the political).

[liberal N proud]

5. Would have thought this would have been protected already

But after watching Ken Burns series on the National Parks, Saving the wilderness and artifacts of this country has always had to fight greed.

Hope they get this protected soon.