The proposal is modeled closely on the Chacoan Archeological Resources Protection Act, P.L. 96-550. Encourages the Secretary of Interior to continue to search for sites which Congress should add, and to recommend changes in boundaries of the protection sites. Encourages the Secretary to develop cooperative agreements with owners of the protection sites. Authorizes the Secretary to provide technical and financial support pursuant to cooperative agreements. Authorizes the Secretary to acquire lands and interests within the boundaries of the protection sites, and to acquire access easements to them.
Acquisitions can be by donation, purchase, or exchange.
Provides for preservation of the archeological sites, and for archeological research. These are some of the most important archeological sites in the nation. They include a number of large pueblos ranging up to 2000 rooms or more in size, as well as spectacular rock art and some of the earliest Spanish settlements in the United States. These sites contain the record of initial contact between Native Americans and Europeans, and many of them were occupied at the time of the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. Today many of these sites are threatened by natural causes, by urban development, and by outright looting.