3/17/2023 0 Comments Hohokam national monumentA Hohokam farming community, including a system of canals along the Gila River, thrived at the site for nearly 1,000 years. There’s still something underneath there that came before us that needs to be explored.”Ĭasa Grande Ruins became the nation’s first federally protected archaeological site in 1892 and a national monument in 1918. “But in this case there’s still a story to be told. “I think the state and federal government have too much land in Arizona,” Shope said. “I like this legislation because it’s an example of my approach to job creation, which is federal action rather than federal spending,” she said.Ĭoolidge Mayor Tom Shope said the plan has universal support around here. However, Kirkpatrick said the expansion would create jobs by boosting cultural tourism. “There’s not a specific timetable at this time.” ![]() “We’re having conversations with the communities and the stakeholders,” she said. In a telephone interview, Kirkpatrick said she is reviewing the old legislation and looking at what she would need to do to get a bill passed. Gosar didn’t take up the issue during his two years representing this area. Paul Gosar, who now represents another district. Kirkpatrick then lost her 2010 re-election bid to Republican Rep. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of the expansion at $7 million. Kirkpatrick introduced a similar bill in 2008, but the House voted it down. Rick Renzi of Arizona first introduced a bill to modify the monument’s boundaries. Wal-Mart worked with monument officials to keep the building and parking lot off the most sensitive historical sites on the property. “So this really seems like an opportunity to set some of this area aside for long-term protection while the opportunity still fans.”Ĭommercial development including a supermarket and Wal-Mart Supercenter is already across the road from the park entrance. “Development is restarting apace in the Florence and Coolidge corridor,” Doelle said. That’s gonna be a big impact for the local community.”īill Doelle, president and CEO of Archaeology Southwest, said with the economy coming back it’s a good time to preserve the land. “So if you could increase that by 50 percent, let’s say you get to 120,000 people here. “There are on average roughly 80,000 people a year who come visit the Casa Grande Ruins,” Craig said. They say nearly doubling the protected land at the monument would preserve history and boost tourism.ĭoug Craig, an archaeologist who serves as president of Friends of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, said tourists would be more likely to stay overnight at hotels and eat at local restaurants if there were more to explore. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Flagstaff, who returned to the House of Representatives last month, to once again take up the issue. Among the other parcels is state trust land with an ancient mound that may have been used as a dwelling or for crop storage. The farmland is among more than 400 acres of public and private property at the center of a decade-old effort to expand this monument 50 miles southeast of Phoenix. ![]() “Farming is a good way to preserve resources on the land versus residential development,” Cordova said.īut the land is zoned for residential development, leaving archaeologists and others worried that homes may cover history and encroach on a site sacred to American Indian descendents and vital to the local economy. Bureau of Land Management that could be purchased or exchanged.ĬOOLIDGE – An ancient Hohokam farming community and burial sites lie beneath 146 acres of farmland just west of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.īecause only about 18 inches of earth are disturbed for farming, the archaeological history isn’t threatened, said Karl Cordova, superintendent at the monument.
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