Bear Ears National Monument, Utah

Bears Ears Partnership leads on the ground site conservation, education, stewardship and research programs to protect and build respect for the greater Bears Ears cultural landscape.

In partnership with Tribes, Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps and Woods Canyon Archaeology, Bears Ears Partnership will coordinate Tribal led cultural site conservation at Twin Kivas site within Bears Ears National Monument. Site survey and condition assessment was completed in 2019, resulting conservation treatments will include site stabilization, trail routing, graffiti removal and introduce fill to protect sensitive archaeological structures from increased visitor impacts and degradation.

Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah encompasses one of the most archaeologically rich landscapes in the U.S. and is a sacred landscape for multiple Tribes. As visitor use in the area increases, so too does the need for site conservation and stabilization at sensitive cultural sites. Twin Kivas is an important archaeological site in BENM that has suffered recent architectural collapse and is seeing increased impacts due to visitation.

Twin Kivas Site is an important research and public visitation resource comprising two kivas, nine habitation rooms, seventeen other storage or defensive structures, and five rock modification panels. Its location makes it an important site for understanding high altitude Ancestral Pueblo occupations and the prehistory of the Western Mesa verde region.