Cultural Site Stewardship Programs: Why Public Involvement Is Critical to the Long-Term Preservation of Heritage

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community Archaeology" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Utah Cultural Site Stewardship Program (UCSS) will discuss the State of Utah’s effort to develop a united front when it comes to the safeguarding of cultural resources statewide. The UCSS Program was legislated into state code in 2020 and has rapidly become the largest public cultural site stewardship program in the nation, with over 400 volunteer site stewards and 145 individual land managing partners/stakeholders. The objectives of this program are public involvement in safeguarding Utah’s cultural heritage; correcting and preventing inappropriate behaviors on cultural sites; public education through training, events and projects; and land manager support. The UCSS program provides the public with a positive and effective way to take action. Individuals and groups can help safeguard their own heritage, through monitoring tangible archaeological and cultural sites as well as helping to steward the intangible history of Utah and its people through special heritage projects. In this session, UCSs will discuss the positive impacts that this program is having statewide, and why public involvement is critical to the long-term preservation of heritage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Collaborative and Community Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50236