Yesterday, November 16, David McKee and I met with Claudine, a reporter for KNAU who is doing a story on the restoration work at Picture Canyon. It gave us a chance to reminisce on the history of Picture Canyon clean up efforts and how David got NATRA involved in the project.
I first went to Picture Canyon in June 1986 when I was leading an afternoon hike with 4th and 5th graders from the Museum of Northern Arizona's Elden Pueblo archaeology camp. Working on an internship at the Museum I had heard about the petroglyphs and was intrigued with finding them. Once we did, I taught the students how to sketch the petroglyphs to scale on graph paper. The further up canyon we went, the more trash we encountered and the foul smelling sewage overwhelmed our nasal passages. I then decided I didn't want any kids having to go home needing tetanus shots, so we left the canyon.
I would not return until nearly 20 years later when my pal David McKee who worked at the City's Wildcat Waste Water Treatment plant hatched a plan to restore Picture Canyon. David told me he was seeking ways to remove the seven abandoned cars mired in the rocky twisted canyon bottom but the State Lands Department required the presence of an archaeologist to ensure that none of the archaeological features would be affected. I happily obliged to volunteer and on September 24, 2005 the challenging removal was a success thanks to Gary Lively's crane operations.
Well done and hats off to Dave McKee and the host of others who worked so hard for so long to make this a reality! -Deb Hill
ReplyDeleteP.S. I think it was a llama that hauled the engine block out, but that's a minor detail!