More than two dozen leaders of the cultural resource management industry will visit Washington May 10-11 to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill.  As government relations consultant to the American Cultural Resources Association, we are excited to welcome ACRA members as they meet with their legislators to discuss the transportation bill negotiations, funding for state historic preservation offices, and support for the Veterans Curation Program.  This year's program will also include visits with federal agency officials and preservation partners.

Our attorneys are headed to Memphis, Tennessee for the 77th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Don't miss Donald Craib at the SAA Forum "Digital Data Standards and Best Practices" on Thursday evening from 6:00pm-8:00pm.  We look forward to seeing you there!

On April 24, the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) will meet to consider renewal requests by Mali and Guatemala for Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) which will continue America's import controls over cultural property originating from these countries. CPAC also intends to continue its discussion about Bulgaria's earlier request for a bilateral agreement. Consideration of Bulgaria’s request will be a confidential meeting authorized by 19 U.S.C. § 2605(h).

The United States enacted emergency import controls in 1993 over archaeological material from Mali's Niger River Valley and its Tellem burial caves at Bandiagara. This action led to the 1997 adoption of an MOU between the Mali and the US. The bilateral agreement was then extended in 2002 and 2007. The United States also took emergency action in 1991 to cover Mayan archaeological artifacts from Guatemala's Petén region, extending the protections in 1994. In 1997, the U.S. and Guatemala entered into a bilateral agreement covering pre-Columbian archaeological material. Similar to Mali, the US and Guatemala extended the MOU in 2002 and 2007.

The new television series American Digger, set to premiere on Spike TV on March 20, and the series Diggers on the National Geographic Channel, are stirring up concern among the archaeological community. Archaeologists allege these shows encourage unsupervised excavation of sites. The premise of American Digger is to "scour target-rich areas such as battlefields and historic sites in hopes of unearthing and selling rare pieces of American history." The American Savage team, a private artifact recovery company based in Mechanicsville, Virginia and led by former professional wrestler Ric Savage, uncover a 17th century naval cannon, a 19th century Kentucky long rifle and a 5 million year old shark tooth, among other historical and cultural treasures. Online petitions, blogs and even a Facebook page have been created in protest of the show’s premiere.

Professional organizations such as the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA), the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), the National Association for State Archaeologists (NASA) and the Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA) have all sent letters to the National Geographic Society in an effort to get the network to highlight the ethical shortcomings of haphazard "treasure hunting." National Geographic has since indicated they will place a disclaimer in the show's opening to affirm that there are laws in place protecting archaeological and historic sites.

Cultural Heritage Partners, LLC is hiring up to three summer associates for 2012. Summer associates will work directly with partners in the firm on a variety of client matters including government affairs advocacy, domestic and international law, and strategic advising. Summer associates will not be required to relocate to the D.C. area. Interested students should submit a resume, cover letter and writing sample to Marion Werkheiser at marion@culturalheritagepartners.com.