It was determined that the remains of the Caddo culture in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana were in great need of preservation due to the ravages of landleveling and looting. A Caddo project was launched in 1986 with the goal of acquiring as quickly as possible a good sampling of Caddo culture sites. Packaging a number of sites together in one project saves time and money. It is just as difficult to raise funds to save five sites as to save one and a lot less time consuming. Once a site has been acquired the Conservancy stabilizes it and prepares a 100-year management plan that governs research.
Volunteers play a large role in both stabilization and preparation of the management plan.
At a preserve in southeastern Colorado, more than 50 volunteers, some from as far away as Denver, spent a long weekend stabilizing ancient walls and filling in pot holes with sterile soil. Preventing looting is one of our biggest concerns. We fence most all of our preserves in order to visually and legally establish boundaries. No fence will keep a looter off a site, but if a looter knows that if he is caught inside our fence he will go to jail, he will think twice about it. We then set up a regular patrol system, mainly using volunteers.