Celebrating Site Stewards at the 2025 Arizona Site Steward Program Conference

The Verde Valley Archaeology Center and Museum showed their ongoing support for the Arizona Site Steward Program and hosted the social networking event for the 2025 SSP Statewide Conference this April in Camp Verde. 

The Arizona Site Steward Program (SSP) is an organization of volunteers who monitor and protect cultural resources and heritage sites across Arizona. The 1980s saw an alarming increase in vandalism and theft at archaeological sites. In 1986, Governor Bruce Babbitt organized an advisory group to discuss the destruction of sites across the state, leading to the establishment of the Arizona SSP. The SSP is managed by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) under Arizona State Parks and Trails (ASPT) and is the largest Site Steward Program in the country. 

The state is broken up into twenty regions with over 2,400 sites monitored by stewards throughout the state. The program currently has approximately 525 site stewards. Site stewards visit sites based on what the land manager for each region has specified a need for and what is most at risk. These land manager partners include the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, counties, and non-profit organizations among others. The SSP is supported through grants from ASPT, the SSP Foundation, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Reclamation. 

Site stewards report to the regional coordinators who manage the site steward volunteers within their region. They handle the day-to-day operations, assign site stewards sites to monitor, and communicate with the land managers. There are also assistant regional coordinators in each region. 

“Between daylight and sunset somewhere in Arizona, there's a site steward out there monitoring a site just about every day of the year,” said Sean Hammond, Arizona Site Steward Program Coordinator. 

Sites could be anything from pueblo dwellings to a ball court, petroglyph panel or trash mound. When visiting a site, site stewards check for vandalism and destruction of sites caused by both people and weather events. Stewards may find graffiti, shovel marks by pothunters or damage to a site by rain and erosion over time. Most site visits result in finding no damage, but around 100 damage or vandalism cases are reported per year by stewards. The most common kind of vandalism is graffiti, followed by theft of artifacts. 

If site stewards come across a site that has been vandalized, that site is now an active crime scene. Stewards are trained in crime scene management and take detailed notes and photographs, collect the coordinates of the location, and submit a report. The land manager will set up cameras or increase law enforcement presence in the area if a site has been vandalized. In the past decade, over two dozen looters have been arrested or are under review for criminal charges. 

In addition to monitoring sites, site stewards serve as educators. This ranges from educating friends and family on visiting sites responsibly, giving presentations at schools, participating in community events, and developing partnerships with local businesses and agencies. 

Site stewards also assist in stabilization of sites to prevent further damage. 

“We’ve had over 4,000 site stewards since the program started,” said Hammond. “I look at that group, and that's 4,000 preservation advocates over many years. It's really extraordinary. It's been a program that's had quite an impact.” 

The Statewide SSP Conference was first held in 1991 and occurs in a different part of the state each year. The conference aims to bring volunteers together, to continue education, and to recognize volunteers for their hard work and achievements.  

The conference has two days of sessions and panel discussions, an evening social networking event, and one day of excursions. This year’s conference was held at Cliff Castle Casino and Hotel in Camp Verde and the networking mixer was held at VVAC on Friday evening, allowing site stewards from outside of the region to learn about the culture, archaeology, and Tribal history of the Verde Valley. There were Tribal vendors who had arts, crafts, and clothing on display and for sale. 

“A great conference needs to have really good people at the location where you're holding it, and we had that with Diana Marin, Events Coordinator, and Michael Sine, Facilities Manager, at the hotel,” said Hammond. 

This year had 14 presentations, including Yavapai and Apache and Hopi histories and stories, pottery identification, archaeoastronomy, wilderness safety training, and crime scene awareness. The sessions either teach site stewards a skill, such as crime scene training or collecting coordinates, or teach the archaeology, culture, and Tribal history of the area. The Verde Valley is the ancestral homeland of the Hopi and many Hopi Tribal members attended this year’s conference and were presenters.  

Hammond said that one of the most important sessions they had this year was a panel discussion on the issue of over visitation of heritage sites and how social media contributes to this. 

“We have a major problem happening to archaeological sites that was not really a problem ten to fifteen years ago, and that’s social media,” said Hammond. He said that one site in Sedona that typically only saw a handful of visitors five years ago is now seeing a couple thousand a week. The panel had three Tribal members, two archaeologists, a site steward from the Sedona area, and Hammond as moderator. They talked about the impact of social media on sites and OHV damage when people go off trail, but also discussed potential ways to mitigate these problems, such as utilizing State Park trail funds. 

There were six excursions, including a tour of The Crane Petroglyph Heritage Site, a cultural survey project, kayaking, and a ranger-led hike at Rockin’ River Ranch State Park. 

“The conference is by far one of the most important things that the program does for our site stewards,” said Hammond. “It’s easy to feel isolated at times for site stewards, especially in the smaller, rural areas of the state. It’s hard to feel a connection to the entire program because of how big we are.” 

This past conference was a tiebreaker in attendance to the 2019 conference held at the Grand Canyon. Over the past few years, the conference averaged around 130 in attendance, but this year’s conference amassed 180 attendees. Camp Verde’s central location in the state allowed for easy travel from Phoenix, Flagstaff, Prescott, Tucson, and other areas. 

“There’s nothing better than seeing site stewards laughing together,” said Hammond, adding that the social network gathering at VVAC is his favorite part of the conference. “It was a fantastic evening. We had great food from a local restaurant, Astoria International Bistro, and stewards were able to go into the museum and look at all the exhibits. Bringing stewards together helps people remember we’re part of a big organization of people that really care about protecting and educating people about cultural resources.” 

Hammond stressed that whenever they host a conference, they like to work with the community that they are in, incorporating local Tribes, museums, and businesses. Many attendees had not been to Camp Verde before and were able to see local sights and contribute to the local economy. 

The other key aspect of the conference is the awards ceremony, which is a time to recognize site stewards, land managers, and non-stewards that impact the program. 

Hammond is the lead organizer of the conference, but a planning committee is formed each year early on in the planning process. 

“I had a fantastic committee,” said Hammond. “The more conferences we do, the more people return to help with the next one. They are incredibly important to help put on the conference. One person couldn't put on the conference.” Hammond also thanked his SHPO coworkers, his supervisor and his intern. 

Hammond met Monica Buckle, VVAC’s Executive Director, at the 2023 Pecos Conference and they both immediately shared an interest in hosting a conference in Camp Verde. 

“At any conference you have to have a champion in that community and that champion was Monica,” said Hammond. “She was a constant source of ideas.” 

“We can't do this conference without the work of the Arizona Site Steward Program Foundation,” added Hammond. They are the chief contributor of funds and run a silent auction that set a record this year, raising nearly $4,000, the most money they have ever raised. 

VVAC is a nonprofit partner of the SSP, and many of our staff, volunteers, members on the Board of Directors, and museum members are site stewards. 

“The SSP is a coalition of people who want to do good and who want to preserve,” said Monica Buckle, VVAC’s Executive Director. “Anyone can be a site steward regardless of your background, education or experience. It’s wonderful because there's a lot of diverse volunteers which makes it a really interesting program with people of varied skill sets.”  

“Considering the sheer scale of Arizona, law enforcement does not have the capacity to monitor these sites, and that's where the site steward volunteers step into action,” continued Buckle. “The existence of this program adds so much value to Arizona's rich history of the Native American cultures, as well as historic archaeology.” 

Buckle and Filmer Kewanyama presented a discussion about Hopi culture, reverence for the land, and Kewanyama’s art at the conference.

“It was an honor for VVAC to be included in this year's conference,” said Buckle. “This coalition of SSP volunteers is a huge asset for Arizona and for Tribal Nations, the volunteers assist in the maintenance of cultural sites and the preservation of their legacies. Whilst the general public can respectfully learn and enjoy from these incredible sites as well."

Joanie and Neal Hammel are site stewards, as well as VVAC volunteers, that attended the conference and assisted with the social networking event. The Hammels have been avid hikers their whole lives and enjoy continuing to learn, and the SSP perfectly blends education and being outdoors together.

“We like to hike, so it's a good excuse to get out there,” said Joanie. “We wanted to be part of the people that go out there and try and help prevent destruction. These sites are sacred to Indigenous people, and we have no right to go in there and destroy them.” 

“We want things to remain as untouched as much as possible,” said Neal. 

They described their experience going out to their allotted sites, looking for shovel marks, initial carvings, and structures being pushed over. Neal added that the sites they monitor are fairly desolate, so not much damage is done by people anymore. 

Neal and Joanie travel back and forth between Arizona and Oregon, and Neal shared that Oregon does not have an SSP program like Arizona despite having many petroglyphs and other sites, making Arizona’s SSP special. Only 13 states have some sort of a Site Steward Program. 

“We both enjoy working in the museum too, because it gives us more knowledge about what we're seeing out in the fields,” added Joanie. “The more we learn, the more we want to learn. It's been rewarding in both educating ourselves and feeling like we're giving something back to the state.” 

They took a pottery identification class offered at VVAC and now use that knowledge to identify sherds when they’re out in the field monitoring sites. 

The Arizona Site Steward Program will celebrate its 40th anniversary as a program in 2026. 

The SSP is always recruiting; however, there are wait lists for certain regions. For more information on how to become a Site Steward, please visit the Arizona State Parks link. azstateparks.com/arizona-site-stewards-volunteer-program