[Source: Joanna Dodder, The Bugle] -- If awards are a good indication, Yavapai County is making a noticeable contribution to the protection of archaeological resources. People and projects in the Prescott and Verde Valley regions received six awards Thursday at the 2007 Awards in Historic Preservation at the Elks Opera House in Prescott. The Grand Award Winner this year was the rehabilitation of the 1908 Karlson Machine Works Building/Southwest Cotton Company in Phoenix. The awards were part of the fifth annual Arizona Historic Preservation Partnership Conference, which takes place in different cities each year.
The Arizona Preservation Foundation is the main host of the annual conference, which ran Wednesday through Saturday and featured dozens of educational sessions, workshops, tours and speeches. Four of the 10 Governor's Archaeology Advisory Commission Awards in Public Archaeology went to Yavapai County residents and projects.
Verde Valley recipients of the Public Archaeology Awards were:
• Avocational Archaeologist: Jerome Ehrhardt, who as a leader in the Arizona Archaeological Society's Verde Valley Chapter has helped professional archaeologists learn more about prehistoric sites in the Sedona region and Agua Fria National Monument.
• Tribal Program: Chris Coder, the Yavapai-Apache Nation's archaeologist for 11 years who has led work on documenting sites important to the tribe.
