Historic Preservation Treatments to Gila Cliff Dwellings

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This project will employ youth crews from the nonprofit Conservation Legacy's Ancestral Lands Program (ALP) to tackle deferred maintenance treatments at two cliff dwelling sites in Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument (GICL). Both sites have significant architecture dating to late 13th through early 14th centuries and are attributed to ancestral Puebloans of the Mogollon archeological culture. The recommended preservation treatments for the two sites consists almost entirely (about 98 percent) of repointing combined with minimal repairs to masonry where rodent burrowing and visitor traffic threaten architectural integrity. The preservation crew will repoint and repair 43 walls, 1 bench, and the doorways of 24 rooms within 5 contiguous (known as Caves 1-5). They also will repoint a one-room structure consisting of 3 walls within a separate cave site known as Javalina House. The treatments will bring the walls and architectural features for the rooms at both sites up to good, maintainable condition. B. Project Objectives ¿ The objectives include repointing all 43 walls and other architectural features in caves 1-5 for a total of about 214 square feet of treatments; repoint 3 walls at Javalina House for a total of about 32 square feet; and improve the condition of the masonry walls and features at both sites through repairs and\or replacements in-kind. An NPS El Morro and El Malpais National Monuments (ELMAO) Vanishing Treasures (VT) crew will assist the ALP crew at the beginning of the project to provide training in the use of scaffolding and specialized historic preservation techniques. This supports ALP¿s training and education goals for historic preservation field crews. Following the completion of the fieldwork, a standard VT report will be produced from the ALP¿s work by ELMAO staff

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