Like Rodney Dangerfield’s well-known cries for respect, Amy Wise’s personal and professional mission is to foster the kind of respect cultural and historical preservation deserves.

Wise heads up the San Juan Mountains Association’s Cultural Site Stewardship Program, the newest addition to the growing list of volunteer opportunities the group sponsors on public lands.

Funded by the Colorado State Historical Fund, the San Juan National Forest, BLM, and the Four Corners Heritage Council, the program aims to match up cultural sites with community site stewards across southwest Colorado.

Potential stewards’ training will begin with learning the history of the area and their matched site, and include a method for recording the site’s present condition by conducting monthly "check-ups." These records will in turn help land managers plan future management policies. Once stewards have been matched up with sites, Wise said, she will distribute packets targeted for each site to its steward.

Currently, Wise and land managers have identified 2,000 sites for stewards to monitor across the Southwest. Wise hopes the program will foster a sense of ownership of cultural and historical sites in local communities.

With a degree in anthropology from Fort Lewis College, and a couple of years’ experience working with BLM archaeologist Kristie Arrington, Wise was prepared to take on the significant challenge of jump-starting a large volunteer organization.

The first training for site stewards will be conducted on Nov. 4 and 5 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the San Juan Public Lands Center. Archaeologist and author Florence Lister from Mancos will speak, giving a brief overview of the history of Montezuma and La Plata County archaeology.

A second training will be held on Nov. 11-12 at the Anasazi Heritage Center. Each of the training sessions will include a field trip on the second day.

In the field, stewards will be taught the proper way to approach a site, how to spot vandalism, and common site features. But Wise said stewards will not be collecting artifacts nor functioning as citizen law enforcement.

"The requirements for joining the monitoring program are pretty simple; you just have to be interested," said Wise.

Some of the things she’ll be teaching site monitors is to try and stay out of the midden, or ancient trash area, of a cultural site.

"If you find something, pick it up and put it back down right where you found it," Wise advised. Some of the common-sense rules such as avoiding standing or sitting on the walls of ruins will be emphasized. In addition, building fires or camping in sites should be avoided, and keeping pets from digging into sites is also a good idea.

Wise said she plans to incorporate all types of recreationists into the program, from ATVers to mountain-bikers. In addition, groups and businesses can also decide to monitor sites and have individual members take turn visiting them.

B.J. Boucher, executive director of the San Juan Mountains Association, said the program fits in well with SJMA’s mission to connect members of the surrounding community with public-land service opportunities.

"Our hope is to really get the community and local people involved and create opportunity even for school groups to adopt sites," she said.

By January, Wise plans to get stewards out into the field to start visiting "reachable" sites. Because of weather restrictions, most of the initial sites matched with stewards will be in the Cortez area, such as Sand Canyon. "These are sites with high visibility, conditions, and impacts. We do know that with increased visitation, agencies don’t always have enough people on staff to monitor the effects," Wise explained.

But by May, Wise plans to incorporate training across Southwestern Colorado that includes a cross-section of historical mining sites.

Boucher said that if the program is successful it could be adopted across the state. "This is a premier program in Colorado, and we’re hoping that it becomes a model and something that will expand state wide," said Boucher.

The San Juan Mountains Association was founded in 1988 and operates out of the San Juan Public Lands Center in Durango. In addition to coordinating volunteer activities, the organization puts out publications on topics ranging from the spread of noxious weeds to tree and flower identification. They also help distribute visitor information services at the Public Lands Center.