More than a thousand rock art sites have been documented across Wyoming, with locations in every county in the state – but almost a quarter of them have been vandalized, by things like initials chiseled into stone or bullet marks.
That’s according to state archaeologist Spencer Pelton, who spoke to the Select Committee on Tribal Relations in Fort Washakie at the first of their two interim meetings. This year, the group of legislators had a new item on their agenda – how to best protect and preserve Indigenous rock art throughout the state.
Navajo Senator and committee co-chair Affie Ellis (R-Cheyenne) brought the issue up to the group. She said she personally loves seeing the sites, but also recognized how that visibility might increase instances of vandalism.
“I wish we better advertised them because people absolutely love to see them, but then the con of that is that then we’re making it more public – places where kids can go, not just kids but [people who] drink beer and shoot their firearms and make really horrible, stupid decisions,” she said.
Archaeologist Pelton said the types of sites with the highest rates of vandalism weren’t actually those that are most accessible to the public, like the Legend Rock State Petroglyph Site south of Mettettessee or the Medicine Rock Archaeological Site outside of Hyattville. Rather, they’re the places that Pelton referred to as “mid-range” – not in the backcountry, but also not in built-out interpretive displays.
“If we can pull some of those [mid-range] sites into publicly-interpreted sites, my suspicion is that they're not going to be vandalized as much as they are now,” he said.
According to a report from Pelton to the committee, federally-managed lands account for more than 60 percent of all documented rock art sites in the state, while state lands contain the least.
Brian Beadles, the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, said that likely has a lot to do with energy development on federal lands.
“Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act states that if there's a project that receives federal funding or a federal permit, there has to be a review of how it affects cultural resources. So, the majority of sites that are known throughout the state are a result of development on federal lands,” he said.
Committee members discussed the importance of doing more to educate the public about the cultural significance of the rock art and how to treat the sites with respect. Senator Cale Case (R-Lander) advocated for more funding to document the sites, in order to create a record that would preserve the images regardless of future vandalism and natural erosion.
“I don't think [the race] is to put fences up around it, I think the race is to document and try to understand the site and its context now,” he said. “It'll draw attention [to the fact] that we, the Wyoming Legislature and the people around Wind River, want to protect these areas. We want them to be around as long as they possibly can.”
Rock art is currently protected under three federal laws – the 1906 Antiquities Act, the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act and the 1979 Archaeological Resources Protection Act – and one Wyoming law, HB 93: Prehistoric Deposits – Permits for Excavation, which was passed in 1935. That act outlines that the State Board of Land Commissioners can make and force regulations to protect the sites, but current Board of Land Commissioner rules do not include any rules for enforcement of the Prehistoric Ruins Act.
Archaeologist Pelton said that, to his knowledge, the state act has never been used to prosecute anyone. Legislators discussed putting forward new language in the state law that would more clearly define the crime of vandalism and its punishments.
“It does seem to me like maybe there is a revision to the 1935 Act that we might want to consider as a recommendation from this committee, to specify how this crime can be committed and put some teeth into the law,” said Representative Ken Chestek (D-Laramie).
Northern Arapaho Business Councilwoman Teresa His Chase agreed that the state could do more to enforce harsher punishments for vandalism. She shared that the two tribes are currently working to re-write their Law and Order Codes and are also looking at implementing harsher punishments.
“Christianity says that our commandments are written in stone and we believe that so is our history. They're worth protecting,” she said.
Northern Arapaho Business Council member Kimberly Harjo also testified and said that the tribe does not want their sacred sites put on any sort of public-facing map.
“We’d like to just leave them alone. We can mark them, but for the public, we don’t really want that. There are sites to us where we do go and have ceremonies,” she said. “We're looking at a lot of defacement out here.”
Harjo also suggested that all the involved agencies – federal, state and tribal – should get together and talk about how to better protect Indigenous rock art on the lands they manage.
The committee members emphasized that they’d like to collaborate more with both the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Offices moving forward. They also made plans to have a small working group come up with a bill draft to address issues of vandalism before their next meeting at the start of October. After the discussion, the group took a trip up Sinks Canyon to look at rock art sites.
