COMMISSION

The park’s cultural resource staff are excited to have these newly trained site stewards to
provide much needed assistance in monitoring the sites and help protect them for future
generations. These stewards agree to visit one or two sites on three or four occasions each
year. During a site visit, the site steward fills out a site condition form, notes any changes
that have occurred since the previous visit, and photo-documents the site. Once completed,
they file the information with the CASSP coordinator at the park. There are over 700 sites
currently recorded in Ocotillo Wells SVRA, a number that constantly increases as new sites
are discovered. Site stewards are vital in assisting the Cultural Resources teams to keep track
of site conditions within this vast desert landscape.
In addition to the CASSP program, Ocotillo Wells SVRA expanded its public and institutional
partnerships through a cooperative research agreement between the SVRA and the
Department of Anthropology at CSU San Diego. Ocotillo Wells SVRA is developing a
MOU with the University to guide mutually beneficial research initiatives. For example, one
research effort will investigate recently recorded late prehistoric fish-traps that align with the
recessional shoreline of ancient Lake Cahuilla. This joint project provides the opportunity for
a graduate student to complete a thesis while providing valuable cultural resource information
for the SVRA. Other proposed research activities for the 2016/2017 fiscal year may include
supporting weekend projects by an archaeological field methods class that will incorporate
orienteering, field survey, and site evaluation methods. These joint efforts provide immediate
enhancements to the understanding of the park’s cultural resources while training future park
cultural resource managers.
Inspection of a prehistoric Lake Cahuilla fish trap by graduate students
2017 Program Report 77