The following is an article

written by one of our own members

which captures the spirit behind Rock Art preservation!
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     Over the past 8 years I have been photographing Native American rock art throughout Oregon as a hobby with a vague idea of somehow trying to preserve it. When I gaze upon these ancient works of art, I feel a pull to the past history of Oregon and North America. Some "experts" say they know what they mean; some Native American tribal elders say they have no idea what most of the drawings mean, but they are their people’s history and therefore sacred to them. Other tribal elders are able to give us a window into the past based on what they have been told by their grandparents and great grandparents. Some of the rock art is only 300-500 years old, but even that is older than the founding of the country we call the United States of America. Recently I have had the privilege of viewing significant sites 300 – 7,000-plus years old. The antiquity gives me pause. I reflect on the artist, so long ago, putting down his or her vision on the rock surface. When I view them in good condition, my heart expands with happiness to be able to connect with the ancient ones. Art always speaks differently to different people, but to have such an ancient art still here through the ages to speak to those presently living is an incomparable treasure. When I come upon vandalism and destruction of the art work, my heart crumples, and sadness takes over at the ignorance, selfishness and greed of the vandal. I feel it is important to protect these sites as our legacy from those who lived here before us, speaking to us as much as our hearts and minds are open to let it. I recently visited a site of rock art on the Columbia River where vandalism got to the point where the government had to lock up the site to protect the priceless art from chainsaws, paint, bullets, and chisels. How sad! Now the public must make an appointment to have a ranger guide them in. Do we have to lock up all the sites to protect them from our own people? Will we only have photographs left of the art for future generations?

Written by Mary Webster