For Immediate Release: March 12, 2009 SFO-09-04
Contact: Diane Drobka, 928-348-4403, Diane_Drobka@blm.gov
Dave Arthun, 928-348-4428, David_Arthun@blm.gov
BLM Schedules “Brown Bag” Lunch Seminars
Safford, Ariz. - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Safford Field Office has scheduled its next two “Brown Bag” presentations and invites community members to bring their lunches and enjoy the talks. Due to ongoing renovations at the BLM/Forest Service office, these free noontime talks will be held at Discovery Park in collaboration with Eastern Arizona College.
Monday, March 16: Chiricahua National Park ranger Kathrine Neilsen will portray Mrs. Charles L. Cooper in a living history presentation. Mrs. Cooper’s husband was Captain of the 10th Cavalry of Buffalo Soldiers; they were stationed at Bonita Canyon in the Chiricahuas during the Geronimo Campaign. Neilson’s reenactment features Mrs. Cooper packing her last trunk as the family prepares to move to their next post. Those who attended Neilsen’s 2008 presentation on the Civilian Conservation Corps will remember what an excellent interpretive specialist she is!
Wednesday, April 8: BLM archaeologist Dan McGrew joins Dr. Harry Swanson, Dean of EAC’s Discovery Park Campus, to discuss the prehistory of southeastern Arizona. Lands managed by the BLM here provide a glimpse into the lives of several prehistoric cultures. Sites and artifacts from the Archaic, Hohokam, Mogollon, Anasazi, and Salado have all been recorded. In the Safford area, three cultural traditions – Hohokam, Mogollon, and Anasazi – overlap, a unique situation in the Southwest. Prehistoric cultures, and the sites and artifacts they left behind, will be discussed by McGrew and Swanson, two of our local experts on these cultures.
Both talks will take place in the Jupiter Room at Discovery Park, which is located at 1651 West Discovery Park Blvd. in Safford. For more information about these seminars, or if you would like to present a talk related to natural or cultural history, call Dave Arthun at 928-348-4428.
The BLM manages more land – 256 million acres – than any other Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western States, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
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