Larry Copenhaver
Thursday, May 6, 2004
Tucson Citizen
Priceless 1,500-year-old Hohokam sites have been destroyed by workers on the expansive La Osa Ranch development northwest of Tucson, state experts say.
When George Johnson International Inc. owned about 19,000 acres near Ironwood Forest National Monument, it did nearly $9 million of damage to prized archaeological sites on hundreds of acres of adjacent state land, state experts say.
Many of the sites are clustered around a platform mound, a monumental feature used as an elevated service for public and private functions. Such mounds, which would have required a group effort to build, are clues to Hohokam social organization.
The monetary toll Johnson International took on the land will rise after a study of vegetation damage is completed, said John R. Madsen, an archaeologist with Arizona State Museum.
Land graders destroyed potential keys to secrets of the early inhabitants of the Sonoran Desert - where they lived, loved, socialized, worked and died.
"The (area destroyed) has some 150 archeological sites, most of them villages around this platform mound," Madsen said. "The intent was to preserve the sites forever as an examples of such a community. There are not many of these left."
The areas are part of the Los Robles Platform Community, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Only two such communities are on the national registry, Madsen noted.
The company did not return phone calls from the Tucson Citizen seeking comment.
Madsen spent the past several weeks assessing the damage for the State Land Department.
"These are real figures," he said of the monetary damages. "We didn't make it up."
The damage is calculated by figuring the cost to pay qualified archaeologists to excavate an area of equivalent scope.
"I was very saddened by it," said Madsen, who declined to give locations of the sites to protect them from pilferers and vandals.
The destruction occurred near La Osa and King ranches just north of the Pima-Pinal county line. State officials say the damage occurred when the Scottsdale-based developer had the area graded.
Various state and federal agencies dismissed Johnson International's claims that the work was done for agricultural pursuits. In January, the firm was cited by state and federal entities and last month sold 16,000 acres of its property to a Mesa development trust of the Wolfswinkel family.
The Wolfswinkels have said they have not decided how they will develop the property, which Johnson International originally proposed as a community of 175,000, with five golf courses. In late April, an archaeologist hired by Johnson International explored the bladed area with officials from the museum, Madsen said. Johnson International has agreed to pay for all or part of the remediation, details of which have not been determined.
Besides the archaeological damage, considerable destruction was done to plants and natural drainages, said Richard Hubbard, deputy director of the State Land Department.
There are also unresolved citations from Arizona Department of Environmental Quality citations for polluting the water supply without a permit.
Andrea Esquer, spokeswoman for Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, would not say whether an investigation into the matter was under way, but confirmed it had received a copy of the damage assessment.
The new owners of the development paid $25 million for the land, said Brandon Wolfswinkel, who heads the investors group.
He said his group will develop the area and work out remedies to any objections.
The State Museum's Madsen said, "If there is development, we have to know how do we stop indirect impacts from occurring." A city built next to ancient treasures could devastate the archaeological sites, said Tony Herrell, manager of Ironwood Forest National Monument. That's why development needs careful planning.
Some 129,000 federal acres, 55,000 state acres and 6,000 private acres fall within the monument boundaries.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management oversees the monument, but has no jurisdiction over state and private lands within.
The monument designation, however, allows the federal government to acquire state land through trades or purchase. Otherwise, the State Land Department, which is mandated to sell land to raise money for public schools, cannot make trades.
Herrell conceded that development will come.
"That's why everyone needs to work together on these kinds of projects," he said.
After recent reports of thefts of antiquities, including rock art, volunteers have stepped up monitoring, said Stephen K. Ross, a State Land archaeologist.
The volunteers are trained by Arizona State Parks agents to watch areas using binoculars. They are to contact authorities if crimes occur.