Protecting ancient artwork a blessing of Sloan Canyon event

Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

Hiking the dry wash threading through Sloan Canyon on Monday, Bureau of Land Management spokesman Phil Guerrero noticed part of a petroglyph, the rock art that was carved up to 2,000 years ago, at the side of the trail.

"Two weeks ago that was up there," Guerrero said, pointing to a wall of steep rocks containing petroglyphs of bighorn sheep, men, reptiles and other items from ancient life. Someone, he said, probably had the rest of that broken picture in their living room without knowing it is sacred to Southwestern tribes.

For years people with four-wheel-drive vehicles went into the canyon southeast of Las Vegas and chiseled ancient art from the rocks to take home.

Officials hoped to change that with the dedication Monday of the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.

For Tim O'Brien, acting BLM manager for the area, protecting the 48,000 acres of cultural treasure has to be balanced with providing access for people who are interested in studying the mysterious artwork.

"That's a real balancing act," O'Brien said.

He noted that the bill that Nevada's congressional delegation sponsored and President Bush signed into law Nov. 6 creating the conservation area requires a management plan be ready by November 2006.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., crafted the protection bill, called Sloan Canyon "the crown jewel" of the 14 conservation areas managed by the BLM in the nation.

Protecting the area hinges on the BLM selling 500 acres of developable land nearby for a price tag of between $50 million and $75 million.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who was behind a similar House bill, said that protecting the canyon was long overdue.

"I listened to the sound of rock crushers today and realized progress and civilization are knocking at the door," Gibbons said. "We are protecting it not from civilization, but for civilization."

For Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., a visit to Sloan Canyon "was one of the most spiritual moments of my life." With the designation as a conservation area, the canyon will be preserved, protected, honored and restored, he said.

Ancient people who came to the canyon to capture bighorn sheep as the bighorns drank from natural basins filled with rainwater saw the canyon as a source of food.

For former Las Vegas Paiute tribal chief Afreda Mitre, Monday's ceremony was another kind of blessing.

"I think this is one of the few times when everybody wins," Mitre said. "This is one of the few areas that won't be paved over by cement."