THE BEGININGS OF FSRA
FSRA grew out of a few people's concern over vandalism at a petroglyph site on what was then private land over looking the American River Canyon in the northern Sierra Nevada of California. The catalyzing spark was provided by an article in the Sacramento Bee in August of 1989 which talked about parts of the panel at the site being stolen by being broken off the of outcrop and ongoing threats of damage from ORV's to the site. After a year of letter writing, phone calls Bill Drake gathered a group of nine people at the site to discuss protecting that site and creating a model program that could help in protecting other sites. This all happened with encouragement from Director of Cultural Resources for the Tahoe National Forest, Dick Markley who encouraged members of the public to get involved in protecting cultural resources and at the suggestion of Dan Foster, senior archeologist for California Dept. of Forestry Thus, on September 10, 1990 a group that was formed was tentatively named after the site.
After further discussions over the winter the group agreed to adopt a name suggested by archaeologist John Betts, "Friends of Sierra Rock Art," and to shift the focus from the original site to a larger regional focus. On June 10, 1991, the first official meeting of FSRA was held at a petroglyph site near Donner Lake. The first members consisted of archaeologists, land managers, Native Americans, educators and others who care about the rock art of the Sierra. At this meeting we agreed to "adopt the general role of documenting and protecting petroglyph sites in the Sierras. They also decided to educate the public about rock art and the Native Americans that created it, without endangering the sites in the process. FSRA agreed to work with State Parks, CDF and the Tahoe National Forest "in order to achieve common goals related to the group's purposes.".
That first summer FSRA began to advocate on behalf of rock art sites including actions urging then Governor Pete Wilson to sign a bill (SB 402) protecting the Rocky Hill rock art site in Tulare County. There was also a site recording training class held and a joint project between FSRA and the US Forest Service to record a cupule site. In May of 1 992 FSRA held the first of 10 consecutive years of exhibits and events as part of a public education effort, in honor of the state's first California Archeology Week. These May events included month long artwork and photographs exhibits of the work of several FSRA members as well as talks and slide shows. The Nevada County Arts Council (NCAC) became a Co-sponsor.
The advocacy work has continued over the years. Examples of the work include efforts to protect a foothills site in El Dorado County on private land from having a golf course built around it and successfully getting the ownership of the original site of concern transferred from the logging firm Sierra Pacific Industries to the Tahoe National Forest. In April of 1996 - the Society for California Archaeology presented FSRA with its annual Helen C. Smith Achievement Award for being the avocational society that contributed the most to California Archaeology in 1995. There are 41 avocational societies in the state. FSRA was chosen because of several endeavors, including, our May 1995 public events for CA. Arch. Week and the various advocacy endeavors in which it participated.
In 1996 FSRA began conducting an annual site monitoring program in conjunction with the Tahoe National Forest. This program is still active today and growing. In 1997 FSRA began a tradition of participating in other service projects. This started with what would become an annual project in the northern Sierra with the Tahoe National Forest. That first year FSRA also helped with site recording in the Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada. This type of work also continues and is a prime objective for the group.