BLM NEWS RELEASE
Presentations offered on Native American Antelope Traps and Basque Contributions
ELKO — The California National Historic Trail Interpretive Center is hosting two free presentations during April. Both presentations are centered on historic life in the Great Basin and will begin at 7 p.m. and last approximately two hours.
On Wednesday, April 6, BLM archaeologist Jill Jensen will present “Hunting Pronghorn in the Great Basin: Lessons from the Past.” Jensen will focus on antelope traps used by native peoples and what they reveal on fire history, social organization and juniper expansion. Great Basin Native Americans used these large traps, constructed of juniper boughs and vegetation arranged to funnel antelope into a low-walled corral where the swift animals were easily hunted.
Kent McAdoo from the University of Nevada, Reno Extension Service will present, “Basque Herders: The End of an Era” on Wednesday, April 13. McAdoo will interpret Basque contributions to Elko, the marks they left on our landscape and why their number as workers in the sheep ranching industry declined in the last forty years.
Also available during this time is a temporary exhibit entitled, “Seeds of Change.” This exhibit focuses on the contributions of the native people of the Western Hemisphere, in terms of food, particularly corn and potatoes. This exhibit is on loan through September from the BLM’s Anasazi Heritage Center of Dolores, Colo.
Operated by the Bureau of Land Management, the California National Historic Trail Interpretive Center is eight miles west of Elko, at Hunter Exit 292. The Center will be open this summer starting with California Trail Days on Saturday and Sunday May 21 and 22, 2011. The Center will then be open Wednesday through Sunday, from May 21 until Labor Day. Please call (775) 738-1849 for more information.
