Flagstaff's Picture Canyon now a state historic site

[Source: Cyndy Cole, Daily Sun] -- Those attempting to keep east Flagstaff archaeology site Picture Canyon off-limits to developers say they made gains on Friday when a state committee dubbed the canyon a state historic site. It will now be up to the feds to decide whether to dub the petroglyph-filled canyon a National Historic Site. It could also be named a national landmark. "It was really good news," Coconino County Supervisor Deb Hill said of Friday's decision by the state's Arizona Historic Sites Review Committee in Phoenix. The titles don't create instant legal protections, Hill said. But they help in the ultimate goal: Getting the canyon set aside from developers and reserved for public use. "It makes preservation a priority of the state," Northern Arizona University archeologist Kelley Hays-Gilpin said. Hays-Gilpin has been seeking such protections for five years. Hill would like 300 acres of the area, rather than 30, covered under some sort of protection against development. Picture Canyon is located in a bit of Arizona State Land downstream from a municipal wastewater treatment center. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]