Public Engagement and Research Efforts within Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Digging Deeper: Pushing Ourselves to Engage the Public in Our Shared Heritage through Outreach and Education" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) is approximately 1.87 million acres, with a dense and diverse cultural history. The monument is located in southern Utah and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The extensive array of cultural resources is managed by one archaeologist, who relies greatly on the efforts of invaluable public stewards to monitor cultural resources. In partnership with the Utah Cultural Site Stewardship program, over 40 individuals volunteer their time to monitor historic properties on GSENM. The passion to help protect and preserve cultural resources within GSENM could not be possible without public outreach and education. Public outreach efforts to local communities are crucial to help spread awareness of the sensitivity and significance of historic properties within the monument. Efforts to educate the public are of utmost importance, as visitation to GSENM continues to increase. One mission of GSENM is to serve as an outdoor laboratory and promote and maintain partnerships with universities and organizations for research purposes. Part of the process includes partnering with historians who have gathered hundreds of oral histories from local residents and descendent communities with cultural ties to the Monument. Additionally, partnerships with Tribal Nations are important to the GSENM programs.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Digging Deeper: Pushing Ourselves to Engage the Public in Our Shared Heritage through Outreach and Education   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36773.0