Agencies work to preserve Kofa's bighorn herd

[Source: James Gilbert, Yuma Sun] -- Wildlife officials now have a plan for restoring the historically low population of bighorn sheep to the area. According to a triennial survey of the Kofa bighorn sheep herd that was completed in November by two wildlife agencies, there has been a more than 50 percent decline in the sheep population estimate. Six years ago, the estimate was 812 of the animals; now the estimate is a historic low of 390. "This is the lowest herd estimate we have ever recorded and is well below that of what is considered a healthy herd," said Gary Hovatter, information and education program manager for the Yuma Arizona Game and Fish Department.

As part of an intensive and coordinated effort over the past several months by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agencies have jointly completed "The Investigative Report and Recommendations on the Kofa Bighorn Sheep Herd" to address the herd's recent decline. "The report is very important because it makes some very specific recommendations about what actions we are going to take to restore that herd," Hovatter said. "It allowed us the opportunity to put our biologists together to take a fresh look at the approaches we have been taking and make new decisions, based on the biological data, that are best for the herd." [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Archaeologists relate challenges of Border fence work

[Source: Joanna Dodder, Prescott Courier] -- Federal plans to build a two-layer fence across most of Arizona's border with Mexico would be hard to complete by the 2008 deadline, and the environmental and cultural damage would be severe, a top U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist said Thursday. Patience Patterson, a federal archaeologist who helps plan construction of new border fences, spoke at the Arizona Historic Preservation Partnership Conference in Prescott Friday about the challenges of saving cultural and environmental resources in the path of Mexican border fence construction. While Patterson discussed the planning-level challenges, archaeologist David Hart talked about the physical challenges of conducting archaeological surveys and digs in advance of the new fences. Hart works for a government contractor, Northland Research Inc.

While at first the Border Patrol viewed the fence-line archaeologists as an impediment, after about 1.5 years now they all get along, Hart said. Unfortunately, he still gets to deal with the 100-plus degree temperatures with little shade. Well-equipped drug-smuggler lookouts watch him from the hilltops, although it helps to have a Border Patrol officer nearby. Often-corrupt Mexican police drive right over his work area without care, since he's actually working 60 feet south of the livestock fencing on the vast, remote Tohono O'odham Reservation. The new border protection fence will be on the actual international border where he is working. Some of the newer border protection fencing tries to cut off vehicular traffic while still allowing wildlife and foot traffic to pass through. The fence builders avoid saguaros and other plants on the Tohono O'odham Reservation that are culturally important to the tribe, Patterson said. They try to avoid archaeological sites and ancient burials, but when necessary, they record them and move them. "We're trying to work this out in the best environmental fashion we can," Patterson said. However, some environmental degradation is beyond their control. They see the abandoned vehicles, trash and illegal roads that cut through the once-pristine Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge (pictured) that the federal government set aside in 1936, for example. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Steinfeld warehouse steeped in city history

[Source: Ernesto Portillo Jr., Daily Star] -- Look at the picture of the old brick building. Albert Steinfeld and Co. Warehouse, blares the large sign above the building facing east. His name faces the north and is stenciled in white, block letters on the water tank above. There was no question who the building belonged to in the 1920s when the photograph, now at the Arizona Historical Society library, was taken. It belonged to Albert Steinfeld — a German-born Tucsonan whose name and Downtown businesses once dominated Tucson, and whose mining and banking enterprises made this Jewish pioneer one of the most successful and important Territorial figures.

His Tucson realm occupied the four corners of Stone Avenue and Pennington Street where Tucsonans shopped for the latest fashions from New York City and Europe, and where upper-crust visitors stayed in the once majestic Pioneer Hotel. While the Steinfeld businesses anchored the four corners, it was the warehouse, a few blocks north, that held the businesses together. It was the warehouse where the goods arrived by train, were unloaded within its four walls and basement, and then distributed to the Steinfeld's stores. Other than the Steinfeld Mansion on North Main Avenue in Snob Hollow, only the warehouse holds out as a vestige of Steinfeld's presence. The Pioneer building at the northeast corner of North Stone and East Pennington Street was a Steinfeld building, but its facade has changed enough since the disastrous December 1970 Pioneer Hotel fire — which killed Steinfeld's son and daughter-in-law and 26 others — there is no resemblance of the hotel's regal past.

The warehouse, at least 100 years old, dilapidated and owned by the state, remains as a visible and honest physical memory of an important part of Tucson's history. The City Council Tuesday will decide the fate of the Steinfeld warehouse at West Sixth Street and North Ninth Avenue. The state Department of Transportation owns the warehouse, which for more than 20 years has housed artists and anchored the arts district. The council will consider a financing plan to stabilize the building and rehabilitate it for possible use by artists. It's not just any only building. It's a territorial-era building, one of the first brick structures, and had Tucson's first indoor sprinkler system, relying on gravity to draw water from the large tank, said Lee Davis, the last executive of the Steinfeld company. He worked in the warehouse as a kid in the 1940s. [Note: To read the full article, click here. Photo source: Arizona Historical Society.]

2007 statewide historic preservation conference is here!

The Arizona Preservation Foundation, Arizona State Historic Preservation Office, Arizona Main Street Program, and City of Prescott invite you to make a greater impact on preserving Arizona heritage and history by attending our 2007 Historic Preservation Partnership Conference, "Distinctive Destinations," June 13-16. Your registration entitles you to participate in interesting sessions; hear outstanding national, state and local guest speakers; honor exemplary preservation achievements at the Governor’s Heritage Preservation Awards and Public Archaeology Awards, and network with fellow preservationists from around the state.

The 2007 Annual Statewide Historic Preservation Partnership Conference will be held in the beautiful mountain town of Prescott, which boasts the historic Courthouse Plaza and Whiskey Row. The Hassayampa Inn will be the headquarters for the conference. Hassayampa Inn is located at 122 E. Gurley Street, at the northwest corner of Gurley and Marina Streets.

Conference sessions will be held at the Hassayampa Inn, Hotel St. Michael, the Elks Opera House and the City of Prescott City Council Chambers--all within a convenient fresh air walk of only several minutes. Downtown Prescott is a festive environment with a unique past and many sights to see. Between sessions observe how a vibrant downtown functions with its historic centerpiece, the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza. Experience a higher state of mind in our mile-high city's cooler temperatures and clear, deep blue skies!

In addition to Saturday's sessions, Architect Bill Otwell and Nancy Burgess, Historic Preservation Specialist for the City of Prescott, will lead a walking tour along Prescott’s most famous street – Mt. Vernon. Both North and South Mt. Vernon Street are part of a National Register Historic District, and South Mt. Vernon is also within a historic preservation overlay district. The tour leaders will discuss the architecture and history of the downtown neighborhood as well as issues and opportunities that go along with having overlay districts vs. no overlay districts.

Also on Saturday, there will be a tour of Arcosanti—Italian architect Paolo Soleri’s experimental town (33 miles from Prescott). Within the buildings of Arcosanti the gospel of “arcology,” the fusion of architecture with ecology with minimum human impact on the environment, is taught. Arcosanti actually means"before things." Between tours of the premises Dr. Soleri himself will discuss his perspective of historic preservation. Dr. Soleri was born in Turin, Italy in 1921 and has devoted his life to researching urban planning.

Speakers at the conference will include Terry Goddard, Arizona Attorney General, and Alberto Rios, Regents Professor of English, Arizona State University. [Click here to download a full conference brochure. Registration payments not recieved on or before June 8 may be made on site.]

Tohono O'odham museum to open

[Source: Carmen Duarte, Daily Star] --The grand opening of the Tohono O'odham Nation Cultural Center & Museum kicks off with two days of festivities starting Friday in the community of Topawa. Priceless artifacts dating back 5,000 years up to modern-day pieces will be showcased in the nation's $15.2 million state-of-the-art complex. Arrowheads, pottery and agricultural tools that were unearthed in archaeological digs and now rest in Arizona museums are returning to the O'odham, or the "Desert People". "Not only will the legacy of our past be celebrated, but the future survival of our heritage will be practiced through the interactive programs and events planned by the staff," outgoing Tohono O'odham Nation Chairwoman Vivian Juan-Saunders said in a news release. "We embrace our past, honor our survival and prepare to meet tomorrow's challenges with the same spirit as our ancestors."

Last week, the museum staff was working to prepare artifacts and complete exhibits for Friday's opening (pictured). Among them were Allison Francisco, the museum's visiting curator, who was building an exhibit that included a roundhouse and a ramada. She made an adobe base and worked on the exhibit with mud, straw, mesquite and creosote. She worked within the 38,000-square-foot complex nestled in desert with the sacred Baboquivari Peak as a backdrop. The O'odham creator, I'itoi, is said to live in a cave on the 7,730-foot mountain where O'odham make pilgrimages and pray to their creator. The complex includes a community cultural and educational center with artist studios for a residency program, a special-collections cultural archive and two repositories for artifacts. Outside are an open amphitheater, a covered patio and a storytelling circle. At the entrance of the museum, guests will receive both O'odham and English greetings that will air on a rotating video display.

[Note: To read the full article, click here. Photo source: Kelly Presnell, Daily Star.]

National Trust's Moe testifies before House subcommittee on conservation system permanence bill

[Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation] -- National Trust president Richard Moe (pictured) testified before the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands on June 7th on HR 2016, a bill to make permanent the National Landscape Conservation System under the Bureau of Land Management. The Conservation System is a collection of 26 million acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that contain some of the most significant national monuments, national conservation areas, national wild and scenic rivers, wilderness areas, wilderness study areas, and national historic and scenic trails located on public lands.

Moe’s testimony emphasized that HR 2016 would confer official statutory basis to and raise the recognition of the unique archeological and cultural resources of the Conservation System. However, he was quick to point out that the bill does not mean that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would have to abandon its traditional multiple-use mandate. In fact, Moe’s testimony advocated for people having wide access to BLM lands and to be able to enjoy them. In addition, he stated that “codification of the Conservation System would not impact private in-holdings or lands managed by other agencies; alter existing oil and gas or grazing leases or other grandfathered uses; limit public access or activities such as fishing and hunting; or in any way affect units that are co-managed with other federal agencies, as only BLM lands would be included in the System. Neither would it affect the underlying enabling legislation for individual units.”

National study shows high return for Mesa’s investment in arts, culture

[Source: EVliving] -- The City of Mesa announced results from one of the most comprehensive economic impact studies of the nonprofit arts and culture industry ever conducted in the United States. The report reveals the nonprofit arts industry in Mesa generates $47.57 million in economic activity every year, more than double the activity from as reported in the previous study conducted in 2000-01. In 2005, the arts and cultural organizations from Mesa, Arizona participated in the national Americans for the Arts, Arts & Economic Prosperity III study to examine the economic impact of the arts and culture industry. The regional data released June 6th, as well as the comparative numbers from 2000, show overwhelming evidence regarding the economic growth and benefits Mesa, Arizona has realized from its investment in arts and culture The City of Mesa voters approved a Quality of Life tax in May of 1998.

The measure is a half-cent sales tax designed to stimulate economic development through arts and cultural initiatives and provide important amenities, and construct facilities such as Mesa Arts Center. The study findings give substantial evidence the investment is generating significant economic benefits for the community. Findings from the released study include: Local economic impact due to Mesa’s arts and cultural activities more than doubled from $18.1 million in 2000 to over $47.57 million in 2005; Event related spending by visitors from outside Maricopa County grew tenfold in just in five years. In 2000, these visitors spent an estimated $1,354,495. By 2005, that amount grew to $11,426,325 million; Participation at cultural events in Mesa increased from 658,164 in 2000 to 822,177 in 2005. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Safford downtown vision plan created at workshop

[Source: Rick Schneider, Eastern Arizona Courier] -- Safford residents and community leaders worked with professional consultants to chart a course for creating a vibrant and exciting Downtown during an intensive three-day Vision Plan workshop. RBF Consulting of Irvine, Calif., will take the information gathered during this exercise to create a large, colored drawing of what Safford residents want their Downtown to look like. Safford’s assets and opportunities were identified during a community workshop Tuesday. Participants were asked to write down three values, treasures, challenges and visions they had concerning Downtown Safford. Some of the challenges included unsightly buildings and alleyways, not enough retail businesses, absentee landlords, building restoration, lack of a common development theme and a shortage of parking.

Treasures listed included the slow pace, a safe environment and friendly businesses. Values noted included friendliness and the ease of walking around Downtown. Visions listed included the need for more parking, a cultural museum, trees, art galleries, updated storefronts and unique retail. After identifying the top three priorities in each category, participants broke into groups and drafted vision statements for Downtown Safford. The group met Wednes-day morning in front of the City Hall and walked around Downtown Safford. Participants were asked to write down observations they had concerning pedestrian issues such as sidewalks, benches, crosswalks and shade, vacant sites or buildings with development opportunities, sites for additional parking and facade conditions. Pictures were taken of things they liked or disliked. On Wednesday evening, participants into broke four groups and did team design exercises on Downtown maps (pictured). The areas worked on included parking and circulation, ease of getting around Downtown and arts, public spaces and Downtown districts. Drawings were made and development solutions to problems were written down.

[Note: To read the full article, click here. Photo source: Rick Schneider]

Phoenix ’40’s-era apartment complex to be demolished

[Source: Arizona Republic] -- The 1940s-era Palmcroft Apartments at the corner of 15th avenue and McDowell Road are scheduled to be demolished at 8:30 a.m. Monday. Developer Scott Haskins plans to build Encanto Parkside, a four-story, 87-unit upscale townhouse complex. The apartments, located in the Encanto-Palmcroft Historic District, were built in the mid-1940s as inexpensive housing for returning GIs. Some preservationists tried to keep the apartments from being torn down because they are part of Phoenix’s history. But the Haskins, who bought the 2.2-acre property in mid-2006, argued that in recent years, the apartments were a haven for drugs, robbery and prostitution, and some of that crime spilled over into the otherwise idyllic neighborhood to the north.

Construction on the Encanto Parkside development is expected to begin in early 2008, with completion slated for mid-2009. Sales prices are projected to be in the $400,000 to $900,000 range. Local architects Virginia Senior and Kim Kristoff of SRK Architects are designing the development. A news release about the development sent out on Friday included these comments from Haskins: “The Encanto-Palmcroft neighborhood is a treasure in the heart of Phoenix. With imagination and creativity, we are replacing tired, worn-out apartment buildings that had minimal historic value and destabilized the neighborhood with first-class, modern residences. I want this development to rejuvenate McDowell Road as a gateway to downtown, while enhancing property values of the surrounding neighborhood.” [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Fund lists climate change as threat to cultural sites

[Source: Jayne Clark, USA Today] -- For the first time, global climate change has joined political conflict and development pressures as an underlying threat to cultural heritage sites, as cataloged by the World Monuments Fund on its biennial list of the 100 most endangered places. The 2008 watch list, announced Wednesday, includes places in 58 countries on all seven continents. The WMF cites climate change as threatening spots from Canada's Herschel Island, an Inuit whaling town, to explorer Robert Falcon Scott's hut in Antarctica to the historic areas of New Orleans. "Cultural heritage is part of what we're at risk of losing, and that point hasn't been made when you talk about climate change," says WMF president Bonnie Burnham.

Political strife in Iraq landed the country's cultural heritage sites on the list for the second consecutive time. Economic development pressures were named as endangering Machu Picchu in Peru (pictured), Old Damascus in Syria and the skyline of St. Petersburg, Russia, among others. Besides New Orleans, five U.S. sites made the list: historic Route 66, the New York State Pavilion in Queens, Tutuveni petroglyph site on Arizona's Hopi reservation, the campus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla., and San Diego's Salk Institute. The public buildings in the Main Street Modern architectural style also are included. The watch list is meant to bring attention to endangered cultural heritage sites. It was culled from more than 200 nominations and chosen by an international panel of experts in architecture, archeology, art history and preservation.

Phoenix offers Hispanic survey celebration and museum projects

[Source: Barbara Stocklin] -- On June 4, Historic Preservation staff joined in the first meeting of the Hispanic Exhibit Advisory Committee at the Phoenix Museum of History. The museum is planning an exhibit based on the history compiled in the Hispanic Historic Property Survey, a project recently completed by the Phoenix Historic Preservation Office. The exhibit will be approximately 1,400 square feet in size and will open this fall, running for at least a year. Once completed, items from the exhibit will be incorporated into the museum's permanent collection. The advisory committee's next meeting will be June 18. Planning efforts are also in process to organize a city-sponsored celebration of Hispanic History and the Phoenix Hispanic Survey during Hispanic Heritage Month in early fall 2007. This event will celebrate the city’s Hispanic Survey Project, the Hispanic historic designations slated for City Council approval in early October 2007, a Channel 11 video on the study to be aired in fall 2007, and the Museum of History exhibit. The date and details of the event should be finalized in the next couple of weeks.

Phoenix weighs plans for cooler downtown

[Source: Jahna Berry, Arizona Republic] -- Phoenix is pitching a seductive idea to lure more people to downtown: shady, cooler sidewalks lined with canopies, mini parks, fountains and public art. And, city officials say, several crucial projects will bring those scenes from the drawing boards to the streets. Crews are working on a 2.7-acre, $30 million park that will bring trees and shade near Arizona State University's downtown campus. The loved-and-loathed red bricks of Patriots Square will be bulldozed in the fall to make way for CityScape, a development that promises green space for large events. And this fall, city leaders are expected to weigh a slew of proposals for shady building overhangs, open space and strategic landscaping. The stakes are high because foot traffic brings another kind of green to downtown.

Future downtown projects, tourism and the success of the ASU campus could hinge on making Phoenix's sometimes sweltering downtown more inviting, business and university leaders say. While residents say they would embrace more greenery, some worry the new push will eventually wilt like past plans. Residents have a right to be skeptical, said Phoenix Councilman Michael Johnson. But the recent flood of downtown projects brings added momentum that wasn't there before. "Before, we didn't have development. Before, we didn't have ASU. Before, we didn't have the (new) convention center," said Johnson, whose district includes downtown. "It's imperative that when we revitalize downtown, we have shade connectivity." [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Step up to Centennial (Republic editorial)

[Source: Arizona Republic] -- Arizona is in its 95th year as a state. And wow, what a splendid ride through time it has been. The dramatic evolution - from an agriculture-based economy through mining's boom and bust cycles to the high tech and the information age to the biosciences - has been fast, furious, profound and defining. In five short years Arizona will be awash in centennial activities that will look back to where we were, offering an historical perspective that will be educational and impressionable. We'll also have activities that will look into the crystal ball and chart a course down the myriad paths on which we might venture in the next 100 years. Our past. Our future. What made Arizona the great state that it is today. Its people, rural and urban. Its diversity of cultures. Its rich heritage. Its mountains and deserts, landscapes that are drop-dead gorgeous. Its industry. Its phenomenal growth. Our ability to sustain what we have. Our ability to grow smartly.

It is not too early to get excited about the Arizona Centennial in 2012. Not by a long shot. This week, Goodyear took an important step. The City Council authorized the earmarking of $47,548 to be deposited in a special state account. It is the first city to have done so. Over time, the hope is that other communities will make similar contributions. The aim is to raise $5 million from non-state sources - cities, towns, counties and Indian tribes - a threshold that will activate the release of $2.5 million in state-appropriated funds to assist in the financing of individual "legacy projects" for the Arizona Centennial celebration. As part of the Goodyear resolution, a centennial committee will be named in September to identify and develop Goodyear centennial projects. Project criteria formulated by the Arizona Historical Advisory Commission is specific, and include such things as portraying a significant aspect of Arizona history to including an education component to live on after 2012. Goodyear Mayor Jim Cavanaugh sees his city's contribution as a "jump start," and says, "It's something we need to get moving on because 2012 isn't that far off," he says. Goodyear just happened to be the first out of the box. Surely, other West Valley cities and towns can emulate Goodyear and give the Arizona Centennial a boost. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Phoenix plans Historic Streetscape study

[Source: Barbara Stocklin] -- On May 23, 2007 HP staff met with the Metro environmental manager and consultants from Arizona Historical Research, LLC to discuss the citywide historic streetscape study. Metro is required to complete a citywide streetscape study and to develop a plan for conserving historically significant streetscapes pursuant to a Memorandum of Agreement executed with State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) as mitigation for the light rail project. Metro’s consulting team includes a landscape architect and historian who will conduct the study. HP staff as well as staff from Parks and Streets will provide input on the study throughout the process. A design charette with community professionals will be hosted in July to assist in identifying significant streetscapes in Phoenix and the characteristics that define them.

Church's plans cause concern among Yuma's downtown merchants

[Source: Joyce Lobeck, Yuma Sun] -- A church that may be settling into a new home on Main Street has merchants worried that it might infringe on one key commodity to revitalizing downtown: liquor. Centro Familiar Cristiano Buenas Nuevas purchased the vacant, old J.C. Penney building at 354 S. Main St. and "just wants to be a part of the community." Arizona law says that a liquor retailer's license will not be issued for any premises which at the time of application is within 300 feet of a church or school. Debbie Mansheim, owner of Basket Creations and More, 245 S. Main St., said she is concerned the law may hamper new businesses' ability to obtain liquor licenses.

"We're just right at the turning point," Mansheim said of the downtown efforts. "One of the ways you revitalize an area is to have retail, entertainment, nightlife and people living here. If you take away nightlife, revitalization won't happen. There's lots of places along Main Street where businesses could have outdoor dining. To make the area unique, you need that possibility." However, Arizona law goes on to say that the 300-foot restriction "does not apply to premises granted a restaurant, hotel-motel, special event, club or government license. Nor does it apply to the transfer of premises which had been operating under a previously issued valid license," according to the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control Web site. Laurie Lineberry, community development director for the city of Yuma, said the 300-foot restriction only applies to bars and liquor stores. She confirmed that restaurants with food service, hotels and special events are exempt from the restriction.

[Note: To read the full article, click here. Photo source: Benjamin Hager.]