Smith Family Archaeological Preserve

  April 6, 2018, 11:32 pm

By JENNIFER MORRISON

The Smith Family Archaeological Preserve (SFAP) was created in 2013 through the generous donation of almost 200 acres of land from the Adelbirt Smith family in Utah County, Utah. The SFAP contains over 240 panels of Native American rock art in near pristine condition and is located on the western shore of Utah Lake about 14 miles south of the city of Saratoga Springs, UT.

The Native American rock art located on the preserve can be attributed to 4 different cultures dating back almost 5,000 years. Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Fremont, and Historic time periods are represented by the rock art found on the preserve.

By 2014, a basic management plan was established for the preserve as well as a volunteer steward program. Today there are only 14 volunteers who act as stewards of the property. More volunteers are needed in order to protect the preserve's resources and work towards implementing one or more planned programs at the preserve.

One of these programs involves utilizing the preserve as an outdoor classroom to teach children in grades 3 through 8 about our nation's cultural resources. The Conservancy has partnered with Project Archaeology, a national 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the development and implementation of curriculums in school districts nationwide teaching about cultural resources in order to reach this goal.

Another program being implemented by the preserve's volunteers will be to reach out to the general public to offer tours of the preserve under controlled conditions. Trained Docents will lead these tours and provide interpretive programs about the Native American rock art found on the preserve. The target date to begin these programs is the fall of 2018 for school children and June of 2019 for the tours by the general public.

The preserve desperately needs more volunteers. Recent trespass incidents at the preserve have threatened the preserve's sensitive cultural resources especially the Native American rock art.

The Archaeological Conservancy is actively seeking more volunteers to help in the effort to protect these valuable resources. A minimum commitment of 10 hours a year and attendance at one of four annual meetings is required to become and maintain volunteer status at the preserve. Volunteers can also get involved in any of the other programs/projects that are ongoing at the preserve that include interpretive planning, interpretive display development, web page development, fundraising, and project work as well as the preserve's school program(s) and guided interpretive tours.

Interested individuals can find out more about the preserve by visiting the preserve's Facebook account. Using Facebook's search function, this account can be found by typing in "Smith Family Preserve". Additional information on who to contact to become a volunteer is found on this site.

Come join us as a volunteer at the Smith Family Archaeological Preserve

and get involved in the exciting programs and projects being developed there!

Randy Griffin

Preserve Manager

Smith Family Arch. Preserve

385-237-6978