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As most of y'all know, I spend quite a bit of time cruising around the wide open desert country here in Kali. I started stopping by some old mining camps and cabins with my buddy Calico Kid about 5 years ago and got hooked on trying to save some of these weathered old structures.
I think this partially has to do with the fact that when I started wheeling out in the desert almost 30 years ago, there were a lot more structures then there are today. Since then, many of them were wiped out by a governmental agency that had no 'place' for rustic cabins in their public lands policy.
I spent a couple of years as the vice president of a non-profit organization devoted to protecting a few of these cabins: Friends of Last Chance Canyon. From there I moved on to a larger organization, the Friends of Public Lands Cabins, which works as partners with the BLM in the Historic Site Stewardship Program.
Last weekend I attended a two day training session called the California Archaeological Site Stewardship Program California Archaeological Site Stewardship Program in order to learn the 'real' requirements for being a site steward, which go well beyond just wanting to help and knowing how to swing a hammer. Our instructors included spokespeople for local native American tribes, as well as cultural and archeological specialists, as many of the sites I'm used to visiting also have uses that predate the miners by a long shot!
So now I am an officially sanctioned Archeological Site Steward. What does this mean? It means all my desert trips are now tax deductible
This gives an extra 'edge' tp my interest in exploring the back country closer to home.
Here's a couple of shots from this morning:!
I think this partially has to do with the fact that when I started wheeling out in the desert almost 30 years ago, there were a lot more structures then there are today. Since then, many of them were wiped out by a governmental agency that had no 'place' for rustic cabins in their public lands policy.
I spent a couple of years as the vice president of a non-profit organization devoted to protecting a few of these cabins: Friends of Last Chance Canyon. From there I moved on to a larger organization, the Friends of Public Lands Cabins, which works as partners with the BLM in the Historic Site Stewardship Program.
Last weekend I attended a two day training session called the California Archaeological Site Stewardship Program California Archaeological Site Stewardship Program in order to learn the 'real' requirements for being a site steward, which go well beyond just wanting to help and knowing how to swing a hammer. Our instructors included spokespeople for local native American tribes, as well as cultural and archeological specialists, as many of the sites I'm used to visiting also have uses that predate the miners by a long shot!
So now I am an officially sanctioned Archeological Site Steward. What does this mean? It means all my desert trips are now tax deductible
This gives an extra 'edge' tp my interest in exploring the back country closer to home.Here's a couple of shots from this morning:!
