Means of Site Preservation in East Texas

Although thousands of archeological sites are destroyed annually in Texas, there are effective ways to preserve them using existing State and Federal laws and regulations. These are not simply paperwork exercised, since the tangible results help to insure that prehistoric and historic sites are preservedas a special trust for the benefit of Texas' future generations. I encourage all persons interested in protecting and preserving the heritage of Texas to be an advocate to public and private landowners about site preservation. Rather than review in detail applicable State and Federal laws about site preservation, a summary paper has been distributed here at the Conference. I will focus on the key points of site preservation as a means to initiate discussion on these issues. Designating archeological sites as State Archeological Landmarks (SAL) or listing them on the National Register of Historic Places are two of the best known and effective means of preserving archeological sites in Texas.