Gila River Indian Community’s Wildland Fire Archaeology Program

Summary

Wildland fires have the potential to impact a variety of resources, and cultural remains are among those most vulnerable. Unlike most natural resources, archaeological sites including structures, artifacts, and sacred places are irreplaceable once damaged or destroyed. Over the past three decades, archaeologists have increasingly served as technical specialists on wildland fire incidents. Cultural resource specialists are now included in strategic planning and implementation of fire suppression and post-fire recovery efforts. In order to adequately manage or avoid negative impacts to cultural resources during wildland fires as well as other emergency events, the Gila River Indian Community Cultural Resource Management Fire Archaeology Program was created in 2008 in collaboration with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Pima Agency. Through participation in the Fire Archaeology Program, staff archaeologists are trained in a variety of cultural resource management activities that are undertaken before, during, and after fires. These include Federal, State and Tribal regulations, fire safety training, fireline surveys, evaluation of potential impacts, and the incorporation of protection measures. The latter include a variety of strategies to protect archaeological sites from the effects of fire, fire suppression, and subsequent erosional threats within severely burned environments.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Tribal Heritage Management Programs in Action at the Gila River Indian Community, Arizona   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage