Volunteer Site Stewards Are Making A Big Difference On Arizona's Public Lands. By Kevin Franklin A CIRCLE OF stones caps the small rise in the Mohawk Valley. The stones have been in place for a long time. The accumulated soil around them, the vegetation and the desert varnish on the rocks all bespeak a very old story. Unfortunately, the details of the story have weathered much faster than their remaining artifacts, leaving the exact purpose of this structure buried somewhere here in the heart of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, east of Yuma. I'm here with a group of Arizona Site Stewards on a field trip with area historian Luke Evans. Site Stewards are volunteers who work with the State Historic Preservation Office and the Arizona Archaeology Advisory Commission. Their principal purpose is to monitor sensitive archaeological sites and report vandalism or theft. They also conduct research, stabilize sites, and offer archaeology education and community outreach. So this group is better qualified at making guesses at the purpose of the rock circle than most. Educated guesses range from a hunting blind (except that game would rarely climb this bluff out in the middle of the valley) to a look-out post to give early warning of approaching enemies. But this is a land where humans were never plentiful, and those who remained had to work hard to extract enough resources to survive. Standing vigil seems an unlikely allocation of manpower. Donald Hazelton, a site steward from Gilbert, points out that the bluff makes for an excellent vantage point for monitoring the progression of the sun over the course of the year. The group seems to agree. Standing on the rise today, I can see clearly across the distant San Cristobal Valley. An expansive view of the Growler Mountains to the east is unimpeded. It would be a simple matter to check the position of the sunrise during the year as it moved south to north and back again along the ridge line. Pragmatic reasoning can go a long way toward understanding ancient practices. Despite vast cultural, linguistic and technological differences, people are still the same organisms today as they were 500 years ago. If I wanted to monitor the sunrise or perform a morning ritual at the crack of dawn on this bluff, it would make sense to sleep here; and if I were going to sleep here, an oblong (man-sized) shield of stones might provide some shelter from the nighttime winds. Not as comfortable as a tent, perhaps, but a utilitarian approach given the scant natural resources. But the stones' true purpose is still anybody's guess. Perhaps someone in the future will have better luck divining such secrets, which is precisely why the Site Stewards are so important. They're the custodians of this giant, open-air museum we call Arizona. With people like them monitoring sites and keeping an eye out for vandals and thieves, we have one more safeguard against our heritage being looted or destroyed. "If you're going to attack a problem at all, you've got to start with some knowledge," says Safford Office Bureau of Land Management Archaeologist Gay Kinkade. "You've got to know what you're battling. That's the main significance of the Site Steward Program--they provide land managers with eyes and ears." Kinkade's not only a BLM liaison to the Site Steward program, he also volunteers as a steward himself. "With all the (federal) cutbacks, it makes a lot of difference," Kinkade says. "(As an employee) you end up spending less and less time in the field. By having all these volunteers picking up that slack, you really notice the difference." He says the stewards are also good for the workplace. "When you have volunteers coming back to the office and telling stories about what they saw or how they got stuck, it really boosts morale. Morale at federal and state agencies is not that great these days with all the downsizing and budget cuts." He says their stories remind him of why he keeps doing the work he does, in spite of being cooped up in an office most of the time. Besides helping land managers and protecting resources, Hazelton, who's been a steward for two years, points out that the work itself is enjoyable. "I'm not a city person, but I do live in the city. So my therapy is to go out into the desert. I find it very relaxing to be away from people out in the middle of nowhere. When a friend suggested I join the Site Stewards, I thought I could do something useful out there as well." Getting There If you're interested in becoming an Arizona Site Steward, call the program coordinator at (602) 542-7143; or write to Arizona Site Steward Program, State Historic Preservation Office, Arizona State Parks, 1300 W. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 85007.

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