It's up to volunteers to protect state's cultural resources

Nevada's population is growing every day, and the state's prehistoric and historic archaeological sites are paying the price.

The state's Department of Cultural Affairs reports there has been an increase in the damage to cultural resources on public lands, and that archaeologists and law enforcement officers are overwhelmed.

Among the crimes are the looting and vandalizing of prehistoric and historic archaeological sites.

Rock art sites are being defaced with spray paint.

Each artifact taken or destroyed is a page ripped from the state's history.

Unfortunately, there's no way federal and state agencies can adequately police the millions of acres of public lands in the state.

And even if they could, convictions are difficult to achieve.

Earlier this year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of two people accused of stealing three boulders with thousand-year-old etchings near Reno.

That ruling sent a bad message, but a new volunteer program can have the opposite effect.

The program, passed by the Legislature, has only one employee.

To be effective, it will need many volunteers.

Those volunteers will be trained and assigned to sites, which they'll be asked to visit four time a year.

The need is acute in heavily populated southern Nevada, but there are also sites around Carson City, including petroglyphs and other examples of prehistoric cultures.

For more information on the site stewardship program, call Sali Underwood at (702) 486-5011, or visit the department's Web site at www.NevadaCulture.org.