California and Mongolia “Sister Parks” Have Common Goals: How Did that Happen?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Public Lands, Public Sites: Research, Engagement, and Collaboration" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

A partnership between Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (California) and Ikh Nart Nature Reserve (Mongolia) began in 2010 and continues through the present. Annually, a team of American archaeologists, cultural resource management specialists, and volunteers visit Ikh Nart to demonstrate and implement cultural heritage management strategies based on the California State Parks model. Working closely with our Mongolian colleagues, great progress has been made toward promoting an ethos of recognition, recordation, protection, and preservation of cultural heritage sites within what was originally a “paper park.” Starting in 2010 with a data void, now site types, frequencies, distribution, and conditions are known. We used judgmental and random-sample pedestrian survey, installed border signage, developed bilingual interpretive signs, developed programs for local schools, and facilitated cultural tourism while encouraging cultural heritage preservation. Local herder families and townsfolk have supported these efforts through school curricula, a small museum, and law enforcement. Not a one-way effort, our Mongolian colleagues have traveled from Mongolia to California to experience how cultural preservation works in both California State Parks and National Parks systems. A robust research-focused program has recently emerged—both American and Mongolian graduate archaeologists have pursued master’s and PhDs focused on Ikh Nart.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Public Lands, Public Sites: Research, Engagement, and Collaboration   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35916.0