In early May, Laureen Perry was one among a group of Nevada archaeologists to receive a Cultural Site Stewardship Congressional Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior. Additionally, she and the other Nevada recipients received special congressional recognition from Nevada Sen. Harry Reid. 

The team members received their awards during an Interior covocation ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, May 9.

“We're all very excited about this award,” Perry said. “We started this program because we saw a need to protect cultural resources, especially with the impacts from tremendous growth in southern Nevada and dwindling federal resources.”

On June 8, Perry, along with the other Nevada award winners, was again recognized for her efforts, when she was presented with two additional certificates of special congressional recognition during a Southern Nevada Agency Partnership Cultural Stewardship Team board meeting.

Perry and her eight fellow recipients received their certificates from Outreach Coordinator Andres Moses, representing Nevada Congressman Dean Heller, and Regional Representative Arcadio Belanos, representing Nevada Congressman Jon C. Porter.

The team members were selected as award recipients based on their effective development and management of a model program working with volunteers, four government agencies, the state of Nevada and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas to monitor cultural sites in southern Nevada’s Clark County.

The Cultural Site Stewardship team established and promotes a private citizen volunteer program for southern Nevada by obtaining grants and overseeing recruitment, training, assignments and quality control of the volunteer program.

“The team started informally about five years ago,” Perry said, “then, became formally organized when Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act funding became available to hire a site steward program manager.”

The team consists of representatives from Reclamation, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; USDA Forest Service; and Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as a site steward volunteer and the program manager.

Of the volunteers who participate in the program, some monitor important cultural sites on Reclamation-managed lands.

“The success of the program has gone beyond our expectations and really is rewarding in itself. National recognition is an added bonus,” Perry said.

“This combination of federal and non-federal folks strengthens the program and helps us reach out to a broader base of potential volunteers,” she said. “This program is being used as a model for a Nevada statewide site stewardship program.”

“I am very proud of the work this team does and the difference this program makes,” Jennifer Haley, SNAP executive director, said.