All posts by mjh

Mark Justice Hinton lives in New Mexico and loves the Four Corners region, as well as the Rocky Mountains. Write him at chaco@mjhinton.com.

The Buffalo Commons

Make Way for Buffalo

[T]he boldest idea in America today: rescuing the rural Great Plains by returning much of it to a vast ”Buffalo Commons.”

The result would be the world’s largest nature park, drawing tourists from all over the world to see parts of 10 states alive again with buffalo, elk, grizzlies and wolves. Restoring a large chunk of the plains — which cover nearly one-fifth of the lower 48 states — to their original state may also be the best way to revive local economies and keep hamlets like Rawson, ND, from becoming ghost towns.

San Juan mountains and national forests

The San Juan Mountains are in Southwestern Colorado (part of the magnificent Four Corners Area: Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah). I hesitate to say this is the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen.

Below is a link to a page of links put together by the San Juan Mountains Association. Also, a link to a map of this stunning area.mjh

Links: Want to know more about Southwest Colorado and public lands?

big map of San Juan National Forest area

Moab Men Charged with Digging Up Anasazi Ruins

KSL News: Moab Men Charged with Digging Up Anasazi Ruins

Three men have been accused of causing ten thousand dollars damage to an Anasazi archaeological site, charges that bring a decade in prison and a hefty fine.

Phillip C. Morse, Donald Snowberger, and Woodard J. Cresswell, all of Moab, are accused of damaging the Side Canyon Rock Shelter on Bureau of Land Management property near Moab.

They were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City on charges of violating the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and damaging property of the United States.
The first count carries a term of up to two years behind bars and the second has a ten-year maximum. The maximum fine for violating each law is 250 thousand dollars.

The alleged violations took place December second, 1998.

A U-S Attorney’s Office spokeswoman says these cases often take years to come to court because experts must assess the damage.

The indictment says that the site consists of material remains of human life and activity dating to the Basketmaker Period. The Utah State Historical Society says the Anasazi came to Utah around 400 A-D, bringing their basketmaker cultural traditions.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Still more on Chaco corn research

Ancient corncobs unlock riddle

At its height, Pueblo Bonito is thought to have supported between 6,000 and 12,000 people. Excavations of the largest building have found hundreds of rooms, turquoise ornaments, unusual cylindrical jars, finely crafted spear points and icons of tropical birds from Central America.

Beyond the central city, a network of roads led to outlying villages that were scattered across more than 23,000 square miles of the San Juan Basin.

Each of the article I’ve linked to is a little different from the others, though some names & quotes are the same. mjh

Dinétah

AGEEZI, N.M. — The Navajo revere this remote area around a tabletop mesa in northwestern New Mexico as the place where the mythical figure Changing Woman gave birth to two warrior sons who made the universe safe.

Energy companies desire this area for its strategic location in the San Juan Basin, a geological mother lode of natural gas reserves in the Four Corners region that has become one of North America’s richest sources of mineral wealth.

The almost inevitable clash of these conflicting values has laid bare the Navajo Nation’s contentious relations with oil and gas companies, including accusations of underpayment for land leases and negligence by the government agencies overseeing such agreements.

It’s Gas vs. Heritage in Navajo Country

The outrageous actions of the energy industry in the Four Corners have caused ranchers and Navajos to shout “enough!” mjh