Partnerships-CDA, etc

Following is a correspondence prepared by Alan "Mac" Watson, Chairman, New Mexico Cultural Properties Review Committee, giving notice of the 2009 Heritage Preservation Award in the category of Heritage Organization. Congratulations to Salmon Ruins and the Center for Desert Archaeology of Tucson for a job well done!

April 6, 2009

It is my pleasure to inform your that the Salmon Ruins Museum and the Center for Desert Archaeology have been chosen to receive 2009 Heritage Preservation Awards from the State Cultural Properties Review Committee in the category of Heritage Organization.

The committee voted at our April 3 meeting to accept the nomination of the Museum and Center, made by Paul F. Reed. The success of your six-year partnership, which has led to publications, additional research, curation, and a successful Save America's Treasures grant application that made it possible for the Museum to become a state-of-the-art curation facility, are achievements entirely worthy of an award.

It is our pleasure to honor the Center and the Museum, and we ask you to consider this letter an invitation to attend our ceremony, with guests, on May 2; accept the award on behalf of the Museum; and enjoy refreshments afterward at a reception in the Georgia O'Keefe Room of the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, 201 West Marcy Street. The ceremony is a t 2 p.m. in Sweeney C/D and is being held in conjunction with the Historical Society of New Mexico's 150th Anniversary and the New Mexico History Conference, April 28- May 3.

The CPRC and the Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Cultural Affairs look forward to seeing you in May. Should you have any questions, please contact HPD at 505-827-6320, and RSVP by April 17. Again, our warmest congratulations.

Sincerely,
Alan "Mac" Watson
Chairman, Cultural Properties Review Committee

The goal was simple when Salmon Ruins Museum and the Center for Desert Archaeology entered into collaboration in 2000: to reevaluate the work done by Dr. Cynthia Irwin-Williams during the decade-long excavations at Salmon Ruins and to prepare a publication about the site, as no text on Salmon Ruins was published before her death. A multi-volume publication is pending, plus a great deal of other work has developed out of this initial partnership: reanalysis of parts of the collection have set the stage for new interpretations of the site and opened the way for new research to be conducted, bringing Salmon Ruin back into the mainstream of academic investigation.

Additionally, in 2002, Salmon became the recipient of the prestigious Save America's Treasures Grant, awarded by the National Park Service and National Endowment for the Arts. Because of this grant, Salmon Ruins Museum was able to invest $350,000 in grant funds, matching funds, and expenditures into re-housing 1.5 million artifacts, retaining a Curator for the project, and upgrading an existing facility to contemporary museum standard. This preservation project is ongoing, so won't you help us keep the momentum?

During the 1990s, then Education Coordinator Karen Redmond and Volunteer Librarian Jim Snyder worked tirelessly to organize and inventory the literary holdings of Salmon Ruins. The result was a quality Research Library specializing in Southwest Archaeology. Later, in 1997, Salmon Ruins entered into partnership with San Juan College Library, resulting in student access to Salmon and the online availability of the Salmon Research Library holdings to a worldwide audience. Our collections continue to grow!

Please use link at left for additional information about our Library holdings. You can visit the San Juan College Library website at www.sanjuancollege.edu

The New Mexico Site Steward Program is a volunteer organization supported by members of local communities. Site Stewards are committed to cultural resource preservation activities that reduce site destruction and vandalism of archaeological and historic sites while increasing awareness of the significance of our non-renewable cultural resources.

The program is sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management, is administered by the Executive Director of Salmon Ruins Museum, and coordinated by Project Director Clay Johnston. If you are interested in becoming a Site Steward or would like additional information, please visit www.nmstewards.org or contact the Museum.

The function of the New Mexico State Land Office is, through the administration of public trust lands, to generate revenue in support of educational and medical institutions throughout the state. This must be accomplished while protecting these lands from waste or decline, to include the protection or our non-renewable resources. Salmon Ruins serves as a permitted agency of the Land Office, conducting tours of pueblito or rock art sites and conducting stabilization projects on state lands.

For more information on the New Mexico State Land Office, visit www.nmstatelands.org

Salmon Ruins Museum joined Landmark Volunteers in 2004 as a host agency for the Landmark Summer Volunteer Program. In this program, teens from around the United States gather in groups of thirteen to travel, with a team leader and assistant, to various state and national parks or monuments to provide volunteer labor. We were pleased to have the team work for us in the Summers of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. It has always been a pleasure to have the Landmark crew and we look forward to our next Summer session!

We are also pleased to maintain an association with the following civic organizations. The employees and Boards of these groups work hard to promote our community image, develop tourism, and support our efforts at Salmon Ruins. Hats off to each and every one of you!