There is much work to do simply to meet the demands of cleaning up and assessing the fire damage, along with their regular duties to preserve the park s archeological treasures. The park archeologists are also busy writing grant proposals. Because emergency rehabilitation funds cannot be used to work on new sites, said BAER team leader Anderson, outside funds must be raised to protect the newly identified sites. Mesa Verde is unusual in that its guided tours require a high fraction of the budget to go into interpretive and visitor services compared to other parks. Increasing visitor pressure leaves little for protection and study of the natural and cultural resources.
Money is the big, big stumbling block.
To cope with these demands, the park is slowly building its archeological staff. The permanent archeology staff has doubled from two to four in the last five years, and four additional full-time temporary archeologists have been hired. But even this increased staff faces a backlog of responsibilities. But this is a real change, to have an active backcountry program working on the sites. At present, Towle believes that post-fire assessment and other preservation activities must take precedence over writing up the research findings.