A professional conservator recently restored two extensively graffitied sites in Mill Creek Canyon using restitution money from a 2021 vandalism court case.
The Bureau of Land Management Utah’s Moab Field Office contracted the restoration work conducted in a wilderness study area just east of Moab where some the graffiti was etched directly on top of historic petroglyphs and pictographs. Before restoring the areas the Bureau of Land Management consulted the Utah State Historic Preservation Office and local tribes.
Read the Bureau of Land Management Utah’s press release below.
Bureau of Land Management – Utah:
This spring, the Moab Field Office welcomed a professional conservator to treat two extensively graffitied sites in Mill Creek Canyon. In some cases, graffiti was placed directly on petroglyphs and pictographs (images carved into or drawn onto rock). The BLM requires that certain types of graffiti removal near pictographs, petroglyphs, and historic inscriptions must be conducted by a professional conservator.
In 2021, BLM law enforcement brought charges to a person who damaged an archaeological site in another part of the field office, which resulted in a successful Archaeological Resource Protection Act case — drawing in restitution money. This is one of many successful prosecutions of vandalism by Canyon Country law enforcement. Restitution money from the 2021 case was used to help contract a qualified, professional conservator to visit and improve these other two areas.
All professional conservation treatments go through a consultation process with the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, consulting tribes, and other consulting parties with a demonstrated interest, prior to treatments.
