Volunteer Archaeology Program

The Kaibab Vermilion Cliffs Heritage Alliance's mission is to help protect and preserve the cultural resources of the eastern Arizona Strip, an area of nearly 2 million acres. This immense landscape contains evidence of almost 10,000 years of human habitation, from Navajo and Paiute structures, to Spanish and Mormon trails, to 19th century ranch buildings. Nearly all of the land is under federal management as part of the Kaibab National Forest, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, and Grand Canyon National Park. However, because of limited resources, the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service have been unable to fully inventory and protect the cultural resources of this remote region.

The Alliance's Volunteer Archaeology Program provides critically needed assistance. Alliance volunteers work in the field on survey projects with professional archaeologists, identifying, recording, and mapping sites, and some monitor sites as site stewards. In the first three years of the Alliance's existence –2007 to 2009 – six volunteer surveys have been completed, documenting close to 370 archaeological sites on nearly 6,600 acres. This growing body of data has also given momentum to a long anticipated goal – launch of a research plan that will guide management of cultural resources on the eastern Arizona Strip well into the future.

The Alliance represents a partnership between the three federal land management agencies, Coconino County, the Museum of Northern Arizona, Northern Arizona University, the Grand Canyon Trust, and other interested parties.

In 2008, the Kaibab Vermilion Cliffs Heritage Alliance won the U.S. Forest Service Southwest Region's Windows on the Past Award and in 2009 received the Arizona Governor's Private/Non-Profit Entity Award in Public Archaeology.

Designated a Preserve America Steward in February 2010.