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Minutes: UPAC Spring Business Meeting, April 26, 2002
Mystic Hot Springs, Monroe, Utah

Presiding: Matt Seddon
Meeting called to order at 2:30 pm, 21 people in attendance

1. New Officers:
Garth Portillo: New UPAC officers are: Matt Seddon, President; Jim O’Connell, VP Membership and Ethics; Charmaine Thompson, Treasurer.

2. Review & Approve Minutes of Spring Meeting
Rachel Quist: The minutes of the fall business meeting were included in the last newsletter and copies made available to membership. Minutes of the fall meeting reviewed and approved by majority.

3. Utah Statewide Archaeological Society Convention 2002
Rachel Quist: The 2002 USAS Convention will be June 7-9 on Antelope Island State Park. The Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Donald K. Grayson of the University of Washington; he will be speaking on the “Extinction of Ice Age Mammals.” Other participants and activities include- Ron Rood will be conducting an excavation of the Mushroom Springs site and will speak about the prehistory of Antelope Island. Kevin Jones will speak about the History of the Antelope Island. Genevieve Atwood will speak and lead tours regarding the geology of the Island. David Madsen will speak on Great Basin Foragers, An Asian Example. Ella Sorenson will lead a naturalist tour. Steve Simms will speak about Recent Excavations at Anasazi Sites. Four workshops will be offered, including: Intro to GPS by Matt Peters, Intro to technical writing by Dave Jabusch, Lara Peterson, and Steve Simms, Lithics by Peter Ainsworth and Betsy Skinner, and Promontory Cave Moccasins by Kathy Kankainen. Thanks to all of the professional community who have helped with this convention.

4. Membership and Financial Report
Due to vehicle problems, Kristen Jensen was not able to attend the business meeting. It was suggested that she post the reports to the UPAC yahoo groups site.

5. Utah Archaeology Update
Steve Simms: The 2001 issue is available and will be distributed ASAP. The 2001 issue cost about $5/issue, less than the 2000 issue. We are still working on marketing issues. Dave Jabusch is making a flyer to send out to libraries or gift shops that may become interested in taking some. Most libraries are not interested in subscribing to a technical journal, so with the avocational corner we may be able to get more outside/public interest in the journal. We are also working on a database of libraries. We may need future assistance in this area.

6. Council of Council Meeting at the SAA
Garth Portillo and Matt Seddon: Garth and Matt attended this meeting on the behalf of UPAC. The Council of Council Meeting is the 5th annual national meeting of professional archaeological councils. It used to be a part of SAA regularly but then participated faded. Approximately 25 people were in attendance. Dave Phillips has a professional archaeological council list serve that Matt has subscribed to and he can provide information to those who wish to subscribe. One question raised at the meeting was if a professional council serve as a consulting party in the Section 106 process (one Midwest state has done this). Would it work? Is it a good idea? What are the potential conflicts of interest? If UPAC was concerned about a federal action and it requested to be a consulting party, UPAC would need to speak as one voice and quickly. UPAC could review inventory reports, suggest alternatives, express concern, etc. This idea is something to consider.

Discussion by the membership: UPAC has been an interested party before and written letters (Kevin Jones). UPAC would need to come up with a procedure to do this (Matt Seddon). The Executive Committee is set up to make quick decisions (David Madsen). The UPAC membership participates when there are issues to discuss and actions (Steve Simms). Agencies are beginning to post federal actions on web sites and mailing lists; this is how UPAC could become aware of issues (Garth Portillo). The membership could elect a single representative who would have a passion for this (Ricky Ralls). That would be quite a bit of work for one individual (Garth Portillo). We can start with one issue and the Executive Committee can decide what to do and if they choose they can consult with the membership (Steve Simms). UPAC will pursue this idea and decide if one individual or the Executive Committee should take the responsibility (Matt Seddon).

Matt Seddon: Another issue raised in the Council of Councils meeting is the curation problem. Linda Cordell, the Director of the Colorado Museum of Natural History, will no longer be accepting any collections from Colorado projects. Ramifications of this action include loss of permits due to a lack of a curational facility. We will see this issue and possibly this type of action all over the county and there will need to be some creative solutions. Solutions may include establishing trust funds for curation money, new facilities, creating non-museum repositories (i.e., warehouses). UPAC should be proactive about this issue before the consequences become too dire. The board of State History has set up a special board to examine this issue (Kevin Jones).

7. State Representative to SAA Government Affairs
Matt Seddon: SAA wants to encourage coordination with the Government Affairs Committee. Lynne Sebastian, the President Elect of SAA, asked Garth to be the liaison between SAA Government Affairs and UPAC.

Discussion by the membership: Steve was also asked to be on this committee (Steve Simms). The VP of Government Affairs should be the liaison (David Madsen). Steve will contact Kristine Curry, the UPAC VP of Government Affairs, to this regard (Steve Simms).

Garth Portillo: Motion to have the VP of Government Affairs be the liaison to the SAA Government Affairs Committee. Second offered by Jason Bright. All in favor, motion passed unopposed.

8. CEU-Blanding Academy
Kevin Jones: Ron and Kevin attending the first site stabilization workshop at CEU Blanding. About a dozen students attended the three-day course. Four more courses are planned next year, and possibly more. The National Park Service is supportive of this program.

9. BLM Land Use Planning
Garth Portillo for Julie Howard-McGee: This issue was posed to the UPAC yahoo groups site. The BLM is in the process of revising its Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Vernal, Price, Richfield, and Monticello Field Offices. These RMPs will be used to guide a variety of land and resource use decisions and are the basis for every action the BLM takes. The Price and Vernal field office are on the fast track and are scheduled to be approved/implemented by the end of 2003; Richfield is on a 3-year plan. Eventually, all of the plans in Utah will be revised. Individuals, USAS, and UPAC can enter into this processed to focus more on cultural resources. Archaeologists should be as vocal as wilderness and recreational folks. Contact information is listed on the handout.

From Handout: Please send your UPAC comments to:
Vernal Field Office, 170 South 500 East, Vernal, Utah 84078, Attn: Dave Moore
Price Field Office, 125 South 600 West, Price, Utah 84501, Attn Floyd Johnson
Richfield Field Office, 150 East 900 North, Richfield, Utah 84701, Attn Frank Erickson
Monticello Field Office, 435 North Main Street, Monticello, Utah 84535, Attn: Nick Sandberg

Discussion by the membership: This is a good opportunity for people to have input to the process. Useful management suggestions and practical alternatives are more useful than just expressing concern (Matt Seddon). Individuals who are concerned about a particular site can bring that issue forward at this time. The BLM is committed to getting the UDSH and Tribal input involved in land use planning (Garth Portillo). UPAC can think about writing a letter (Matt Seddon). One of the UPAC officers should be involved and post information on the group site (Steve Simms). The VP of Government Affairs should probably be the point of contact on this issue (Evie Seelinger). UPAC will continue to ponder this issue (Matt Seddon). If UPAC is going to act, then the sooner the better. These are large documents and quite comprehensive. It will be a big job. UPAC may consider soliciting one individual per plan (Garth Portillo). Perhaps Kristine Curry should coordinate with those individuals (Steve Simms). Is speaking against oil and gas in the current presidential administration worthwhile (Evie Seelinger)? The law is still the law and now is the time to make an opinion known. These plans are based on current information regarding cultural resources; planners are also encouraged to use predictive modeling but this may be constrained by time and budget issues (Garth Portillo).

10. UPAC role in nominating individuals to serve BLM Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) positions
Garth Portillo for Jim Allison: Today is the last day of the nomination period for RAC positions. RAC committee members are from various backgrounds and the Secretary of the Interior makes the final decisions about who will be on the committee. UPAC should have some role in representing cultural recourses. Jim Allison should bring this issue to the forefront when UPAC has more time to act.

Kevin Jones: Henry Crellin, the incoming president of SL/Davis USAS, will be a cultural resources representative on the committee. Jim Allison should send out some information on the UPAC email to see if anyone wants to nominate himself or herself or someone else.

11. Other Business
A. Creation of an Annual Award System
Steve Simms: UPAC should give two awards each year, one to a USAS member and one to a UPAC member, in order to recognize excellence, appreciation, and a way of making new links with the community. The awards should be included in the by-laws and UPAC needs to be continuous in information. This award will be separate and different from the Doc Doorman Award for Lifetime Achievement. Once nominees are in the selection pool they can be considered for future years until they are selected thereby allowing a continuous pool of applicants. This award should be published in newspapers, radio, etc. It should include a certificate or a plaque and have some publicity photographs taken.

Ron Rood: We could award the first USAS award at the USAS 2002 Convention in June.

Steve Simms: Motion for the UPAC Executive Committee to assign one of its members to design and implement an annual award system- one to be given to a UPAC member and one to be given to a USAS member. Second offered by Kevin Jones. All in favor, motion passed unopposed.

B. Doc Doorman Award for Lifetime Achievement
Kevin Jones: Motion to nominate George Tripp as the recipient of the 2nd Doorman Award. George Tripp, along with Jennings, founded USAS and helped establish many of the laws. He is published in American Antiquity and an advocate for the archaeology of Utah. Kevin Jones will be responsible for getting the plaque. Second offered by Steve Simms. All in favor, motion passed unopposed.

C. GIS Database Update
Barbara Perry: As of 1 January 2002, Antiquities Section is no longer plotting sites on paper maps; we are digitizing them directly into GIS. Thus the backlog is shrinking. Marty and Sonja are also trained to do digitizing. When you come into State History to do a records check, we can check the GIS database to see if the newer projects in your area.

D. Interagency Data Committee
Matt Seddon: At the suggestion of Betsy Skinner, Matt attended the previous meeting of the Interagency Data Committee. This committee is setting data standards and is a pseudo IMACS Committee. This committee will be having a visioning meeting in a couple of months to see what the authority of the committee is and what its goals are. UPAC may be a good vehicle to have some folks attended and input suggestions.

Kevin Jones: The visioning meeting will be in June 2002. A UPAC representative is welcome to attended. The Data Committee is a sub committee of the Interagency Task Force and to some degree replaces the old IMACS Committee. At one time the Data Committee had a formal membership, now it is virtually open to anyone. UPAC should choose a representative. The IMACS form and the general cooperation in Utah makes Utah’s data easier to manage compared to other states.

David Madsen: The UPAC representative should be a contractor or other non-agency archaeologist.

Garth Portillo: Motion to solicit a body of interested volunteers that the Executive Committee will then select one or more representatives from in order to represent UPAC to the Interagency Data Committee. Second offered by Peter Ainsworth. All in favor, motion passed unopposed.

12. Motion to Adjourn
Matt Seddon: Offered motion to adjourn. Second offered by Jason Porter. All in favor, motion passed unopposed.

Meeting adjourned, 4:00 pm.
Submitted by Rachel Quist

List of Attendees:

UPAC Minutes Additional
29 Monday 2002

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