00:00.00 archpodnet Welcome back to the cm archeology podcast episode two fifty eight and we're talking about the Utah Cultural site stewardship program and Heather has a great question that we almost. We're going to get to in the last segment but we saved it for this one. So go ahead. Heather. 00:16.59 Heather So I'm I'm curious about tribal involvement. Um I think I'll just throw out that question first and and then we can take it from there. 00:27.85 Ian Wright Yeah, so okay, if I take that one so we've we've had ah we have we have several federally recognized tribes here in the state of Utah. 00:29.10 archpodnet Go ahead. 00:29.34 Matthew Podolinsky Um, yeah. 00:30.90 Lexi Carson Well. 00:39.36 Ian Wright And 1 of our big goals within the program is to involve different descendant communities in different capacities and and that's all over the over the board. You know there's so many amazing descendant communities here within the state of Utah and one of the things that we've been trying really hard to do is to work with the the local tribes. To just open up relationships and develop friendships and and they haven't been. You know right? along the lines of stewardship. Traditionally how how we may think of it you know stewardship. There's so many different understandings and concepts and ideas around stewardship so where we try to. Work really hard is just to be open to the idea that there are so many different approaches to it and that there's no right 1 right? or wrong answer and that's ah and our first step here and within the the shippo office is building relationships building friendships being a resource. And being somebody that is available and and somebody that participates and reaches out and that also is easy to engage with so that has been kind of our first step with this program with all descendant communities here in the state. 01:53.24 Heather Great. Well I'm I'm glad to hear that there's you know some active partnering. Um I am curious though like in the beginning was that discussed um and shared you know the process I don't know. I don't think any of you probably were there in the beginning of this program. But um, what kind of involvement as far as setting up protocols. Um how how sites are going to be handled how they're going to be um, just even the you know traversing the site and ah. All the different types of strategies when it comes to stewarding. We do have a program in California that I was a part of early on in my career and it was great. Um I think at the time it probably could have used a little bit more of that tribal involvement. Um, so I'm I'm curious and I'm also curious. Um. Have you had any descending voices on it. Some tribal members that aren't all that thrilled about the general public being aware of where sites are and how do you handle that. 02:57.91 Ian Wright Yeah, yeah, you know we I was here when the programs kicked off and we've been really lucky because within our department we have the Utah division of indian affairs and so we've been able to get. Ah, you know to work with them very closely just to to get some ideas there to also participate in different tribal group meetings and make everyone aware of this program and to ask for feedback and 1 of the big goals that we have with the program too. You know a lot of times we'll talk about putting. People on archaeological sites you know and people will say what about what about these sensitive sites. Why are you putting people there and honestly a lot of times our goal is to get people on the the sites that are being impacted if if it's a sensitive site and it's not being impact. We don't want to put people there to make ah a bigger impact. So. 03:48.90 Heather Ah, right. 03:51.12 Ian Wright We're not actively. You know, seeking out sites that are in and themselves relatively safe just being being less known now when we do work on these sites. We work closely with the land managers to make sure that we're giving the appropriate people on them. That it is appropriate in the first place to put people on them and then they're working closely with their tribal connections and they know what is and what isn't okay on those sites and we take we take their point on that. 04:21.36 Heather But well, that's good. That's good to hear. Um, so this is are you folks more focused on the human impact to sites or do you also look at the natural impact to sites because that brings up you know that would be where. All sites probably depending on where they are geographically are impacted So Yeah with fire floods things like that. 04:48.40 Ian Wright All of the above. Yeah, any any impact to the sites that that the stewards notice they'll report and again we don't make a call on what ought to be done on that we simply go out monitor sites report back any damages or changes and then the land managers will determine the appropriate next step and that and that. 05:00.84 Heather M. 05:08.40 Ian Wright That next step may be nothing and or they may have a play you know and that might come from working with local tribes that hey in this area if something natural happens. Let it happen. 05:08.37 Matthew Podolinsky Yeah. 05:18.24 Matthew Podolinsky Yeah I'm I'm also going to speak up to that I just brought up our app right now and just a couple of things just to let you know like what people might monitor and there's some other things out offside this list but ah increased foot traffic and visitation that way or vehicle traffic ah trash. Camping and campfires in the area wood cutting or vegetation removal collector piles or Museum piles. Um digging human remains exposed suspected attempted or known theft of cultural materials Vandalism graffiti or other intentional damage. Ah, structural damage natural deterioration and then you know ah other damage as well. So We got a host of things on the app that like let people go in and you know alert us if they see any of these or anything that might be impacting the site. 06:11.92 Andrew I have a quick question just to follow up on some of that. Um I'm curious about the app itself is that something that you have in house is that something that people can download off of Apple you know or in between how does that work precisely. 06:28.50 Ian Wright Matt you want to take that one. 06:32.41 Matthew Podolinsky Yeah, um, so ah, after folks, go through the training. It's a 3 hour training as we kind of mentioned ah and right before we're about to get them out. We kind of we sign them up for survey one 2 3 so survey one t 3 you can get it on any an app so app store you know. Um, Google ah Google play whatnot and um, they can get it. But however, you do need to get permission from us and so I go on the backend or the 3 of us will go on the backend and um, invite folks to join our monitoring. 06:51.75 Andrew Um, ah. 06:54.10 archpodnet That's an Ezra app. 07:06.30 Matthew Podolinsky Ah forms and that's how they can download it. So it's not something that like the general public can go into survey one 2 3 and just download a monitoring form and go out. Um, you have to get invited by us to to actually get the app or that the monitoring. 07:07.22 Andrew Yeah. Um, right. 07:17.00 Andrew Yeah, okay, yeah, that totally makes sense and then in terms of the forms and stuff is that where the monitoring forms are like they're all on the app and then they fill it out on their phone. 07:29.23 Matthew Podolinsky Yup, pretty much. Yeah, they and so they're able to go out and just turn on take the monitoring reports and then submit it when they're done and then on the back end the 3 of us will whoever like has placed the steward will take a look at the form make sure there's no errors. Um, and then. We do the the the process to upload it to the Marriott library after that. 07:49.57 Andrew Right? right? Very cool sounds great man. 07:50.75 Heather Are the yeah I'm I'm curious just along with that. So for the the forms that are open are they only allowed access to the sites that they are stewarding or they allowed access to all the sites. 08:07.59 Ian Wright So art the stewards The stewards are only allowed so when we we meet them on the site when they fill out those forms. 08:09.45 Matthew Podolinsky Um, yeah, ah. 08:18.66 Ian Wright They only only the steward who monitors that site can see those monitoring reports and then after a period of time they're pulled off of even their app and if you know and like Matt said if down the road they're like oh I'd like to see my report from a month two months ago we can get that to him. 08:22.21 Heather Got it. That's good. That's good. Yeah. 08:34.41 archpodnet So they don't have access I think this is might be where Heather was going. They don't have access to the original site forms just the monitoring reports. They're creating. 08:40.29 Heather Um, right. 08:40.94 Ian Wright If the if the land manager wants them to see the original site form or a component of the original site form then they do but with the with the you know they signed the form with the understanding that. 08:48.40 archpodnet Oh okay. 08:56.49 Ian Wright That remains a property of the land manager and then they can be askedpped for back at any time. 08:57.99 archpodnet Sure. Okay, awesome. 09:01.46 Heather Yeah I was I was also curious about just you know whether or not um, once you have access to the app I Know that for the we have a proprietary app with our company. Um, and yeah we can We can manage in all sorts of ways. So you. 09:18.30 archpodnet No. 09:20.56 Heather They're basically only given access to the sites that they are stewarding got it. Okay. 09:23.16 Ian Wright Correct and and they and so they on that app. All it is is just a form so some stewards you know depending on what site it may be they may just be going out and and monitoring it. Maybe they don't even have the site form and we'll meet them on the. Land with the land manager will talk about what it is. We want them to look at and why other sites sometimes the stewards may have the form but as far as being able to access all that information. No in the state of Utah we have everything in like Matt mentioned the Marriott library which is protected you have to have a plippco license to be able to access it. 09:54.36 Heather Right. 09:57.66 Ian Wright And that's our monitoring reports by the way when they're uploaded. They go into that and you can only access that with those licenses. 10:03.93 Heather Great. Looks like you guys are putting a lot of protections on there. That's good. 10:08.85 Ian Wright Yeah, we're we're pretty hardcore about it. We we try really you know and and we'd rather we'd rather have have those checks in places in place than than not and it does require a lot of paperwork and a lot of. 10:09.70 archpodnet Oh. 10:24.66 Ian Wright You know, logins and whatnot. But we feel that it's worth it. 10:28.96 Heather I have another question ah not related to the monitoring forms. How many archaeologists have been born from this program or have there any? ah. 10:35.41 Ian Wright But I'm you know it's so it's so cool because we recently just spoke with the and an anthropology class down at Southern Utah university and we have a really neat regional coordinator position. And the idea is is to develop kind of like a site ambassador type program down the area for some of the sites that are really impacted where some of our stewards can go and hand out some educational material and we went and pitched it to students and we said hey we'd really like for you to apply for it. It's an Americorps position. And so we're hoping that some archaeologists will be born from this program and we have been also working a lot with different agencies will have part-time employees or they'll have people that are internships who are stewards and you know it's an amazing opportunity for them to be able to network and to engage with. Ah, different land managers from different agencies including the state shippo. 11:31.65 Heather How how young oh go ahead. Matthew. 11:33.34 Matthew Podolinsky I I also um I was also going to say like um and lexi can speak to this a little bit better as well. Um, you know we have this amazing system set up for stewards to go out and you know you know do a little bit of pseudo archeology and monitor. But. 1 of the benefits of being a steward is we have events and workshops to basically educate and bring the archeology field to so stewards who are in the pro in the program. So lexie do you want to? I think that be good for like you know, events to talk about workshops and stuff like that if you want to talk about that. 12:08.69 Lexi Carson Yeah, for sure. Um, want to like that's our big That's what we like to give back to our stewards because we do want to make sure that they're getting a lot out of this program and they have. Some opportunities that they probably wouldn't have had if they hadn't joined the program and so a good example is our annual stewardship get together. We do it once a year and we just bring everybody together so stewards from all over the state get to talk to each other. Um and they also get access to some awesome site visits. Um, these are usually very well-known. Sites with like a tour guide someone who specializes in that area that can really talk about the history and the cultural significance. Um and we do workshops along with that some hands-on stuff. Um, in our last get together. We were in cedar city we had. Someone from the bureau of land management teach people how to make prehistoric duck decoys which was something he taught himself how to do and so the storage were able to do that and I mean it was it was amazing to see. 13:23.73 archpodnet Ah, it's. 13:24.50 Heather Um, that's cool. 13:28.90 Lexi Carson We like Ian and I harvested the bull rush which is the plant used to make those so we cut all this stuff down. Um with the um with the land manager's permission. We got all this stuff and then got to watch all the stewards. Turn it into this little duck. It was really cool and then another archeologist from a state park taught people how to make pump drills. Um, yeah, so just the ability and it. 13:49.87 Matthew Podolinsky Point to. 13:51.47 Heather That's great. 13:57.89 Heather Really. 14:00.27 archpodnet Um. 14:05.40 Lexi Carson Everyone can do it every steward and everyone's interested in it whether or not they're an archeologist. Um, so it's really cool to see them get involved and engage that way and with a lot of those kinds of archeology-based workshops our stewards get um first. 14:07.85 Heather My hand. 14:21.97 Lexi Carson Like they get it gets advertised to them first as again is like a benefit to being a volunteer for the program. 14:22.29 Matthew Podolinsky Um, this. 14:29.43 archpodnet Nice. 14:31.73 Heather That sounds, Um, so my next question is what is your?? What's the youngest age for a site steward that you have involved and have you reached out to youth groups because I'm just thinking This is ah a great way to start education early On. Um, before you know they get other ideas of what can happen or what they can't do um at archaeological sites that are that are not positive. Um, you know, have you reached out to boy scout troops or other kind of youth organizations. 15:05.80 Ian Wright Matt what's her what's her oh sorry I was gonna say which what's the youngest 1 y'all is it is it 8 15:07.33 Lexi Carson I'm oh sorry. 15:12.76 Lexi Carson I would guess 6 or 8 15:13.20 Matthew Podolinsky Um, oh gosh um, eight Evan. 15:15.70 Ian Wright That being said, they do have to you know if they're under 18 they have to steward with with a guardian they have to yeah and we yep, yep and it's been really neat to see those numbers increase and we've been able to engage with more. 15:15.80 Heather Awesome, Yeah sure oh of course yeah that makes sense. 15:23.70 Matthew Podolinsky Yeah. 15:34.50 Ian Wright Ah, classes. In fact, Lexi was just down teaching the class the other day and then also some of these rides that we've done or different activities. We've involved. We've ah opened it up to family and friends and the get togethers. They can bring their families. But yes to answer your question. We do engage with classrooms. We do engage with clubs. And we would like to do more and more of that and we really welcome people to steward with their families and we do ask those kids to go through the training as well. 16:00.70 Heather Great. 16:01.30 archpodnet Awesome Well we are just about out of time here. But I just want to ask 1 last question and I'll direct this first to you Ian what is in the future for the sites Georgia program. What's on the roadmap for you guys too are you are you. Gaining more volunteers every year than you're losing because I'm sure some people you know, get into this and realize oh yeah, this isn't for me but then other people probably try to recruit their friends and bring them in so you know where what's in the future for you guys in the near term. 16:32.61 Ian Wright Yeah, you know one of the things we don't want to do is just to grow for growth sake. So we are really focusing on the stewards that we have um we have limited the the trainings that we do a little bit more so that when we get those stewards trained we can make sure to get them out in the field. 16:35.37 archpodnet Sure. 16:49.31 Ian Wright Like Lexi talked about earlier matched them to sites that really are within their abilities and interests also this year we're really focusing on working within some of our rural communities and making sure that we are engaging the people that live there and getting them out on the ground in and around their areas. Then also with different de descendant communities and cultural groups within the state of Utah trying to work with them to to get stewards on sites that they have identified as culturally or archeologically significant and building partnerships. So those are those are some of the things that we're working on going into this year and let Matt Lexie feel free to jump in there if I miss anything. 17:31.21 Matthew Podolinsky Ah I think you mostly covered it. Yeah, like continuing to do service projects and you know really make sure that the stewards feel appreciated and that it's you know you can do this and just go out to your sites and monitor like 3 or 4 or you can. Potentially meet somebody in the program and get engaged in. You know the archeology of Utah. So. 17:53.87 Lexi Carson Yeah, The only thing I would have to add to all of that is just um, really strengthening our data points and really measuring that impact. Um, that stewards are making. And seeing the work that does get done because they're out there. 18:16.26 archpodnet Awesome! All right? Well with that. Thank you guys so much for coming on and telling everybody about this program as archeologists you know some people may be in some areas they maybe were working for some companies like ah like you guys mentioned and and I think like Heather mentioned even. You know, giving people time off to maybe do this and they and they can become aware of it and we always get asked as archaeologists. You know? Oh how can I do something or I always wanted to be an archeologist. Well if you happen to be in Utah or any other state or area with a program maybe look up that program and you could get your toe in the archeology world by you know, becoming a steward of 1 of these. Cultural and cultural and historic resources. So with that. Thank you guys so much for coming on and we will save everybody else in two weeks 19:00.69 Ian Wright A thank you. We appreciate it. 19:02.83 Lexi Carson Thanks so much. 19:03.16 Heather Thank you for everything that you do yeah. 19:06.48 Matthew Podolinsky Um, thank you appreciate it. 19:06.49 Andrew That was great. 19:09.32 archpodnet Ok outro thanks to everyone for joining me this week thanks also to the listeners for tuning in and we'll see you in the field goodbye. 19:19.46 Bill White Take it easy goodbye. 19:20.75 Andrew See you guys next time. 19:22.56 Heather Thank thank you for listening. 19:23.84 Ian Wright Um, have a good one july 19:24.14 Matthew Podolinsky See ah night. 19:24.30 Lexi Carson Bye guys.