Statement of Qualifications

The Nevada Rock Art Foundation (NRAF) is a volunteer-based, non-profit organization [501(c)(3)] with professional archaeological guidance that seeks to preserve and protect Nevada’s rock art sites through documentation, public education, and research. NRAF uses volunteers in the field and the office to aid its documentation, preservation, and research programs. NRAF is qualified for federal assistance agreements, is able to contract through an RFP process, and is currently registered on and familiar with the ASAP system. NRAF also has a current and complete listing on SAM (System for Award Management).

NRAF’s mission is to:  (1) Identify sites at risk; (2) Educate the public and provide training; (3) Consolidate existing archival records; (4) Create an active program of field recording and training; (5) Support monitoring of sites throughout the State; (6) Develop research to broaden knowledge of Nevada rock art; (7) Promote involvement in preservation and research by local Native American communities; (8) Establish and maintain a permanent archive of rock art documentation and literature; (9) Work cooperatively with land managers to assist them to record and protect rock art sites; (10) Engage the services of professionals to repair modern impacts on rock art; (11) Ensure our research is published and shared with the academic community and the public.

NRAF’s Board of Directors is chaired by Alice Baldrica, retired Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer for Nevada. Other board members include notable scientific and community leaders from both northern and southern Nevada.  Dr. Angus Quinlan serves as the full-time Executive Director and is a recognized Great Basin rock art expert. NRAF holds statewide California and Nevada BLM Cultural Resource Use permit on which both Dr. Quinlan and Dr. Barker are qualified as Principal Investigators.

Past Performance

NRAF has partnered with several Federal agencies to conduct rock art recording or interpretation projects throughout Nevada, as well as directing similar projects on non-federal lands in the state. NRAF projects for the Forest Service include recording the Yellow Yucca site in Clark County and a current challenge cost-share agreement with the Tahoe National Forest to record two major rock art sites in the Sierra Nevada range in 2011 and 2012. Projects on non-federal lands include: (1) recordation (2003-2008) and ongoing interpretation at the Lagomarsino Canyon site near Virginia City, supported by grants from the US Forest Service, National Endowment for the Arts, the Nevada SHPO, and Storey County; (2) recordation and management planning (2006-2008) at sites in the Little Red Rocks area near Las Vegas, in partnership with the Howard Hughes Corporation and Army Corps of Engineers; and (3) and recordation, environmental restoration, and public interpretation planning at the Court of Antiquity in Sparks, supported by a grant from Nevada SQ 1 Truckee River Corridor Funding (2010-2011) administered by Washoe County. NRAF has worked with the National Park Service recording rock art at Great Basin NP and at Lake Mead Recreation Area.

NRAF worked with the Nevada Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from 2003-2007 under a statewide Assistance Agreement (#FAA020042) for the inventory, evaluation, management, and protection of rock art on BLM managed lands throughout Nevada.  With this agreement as a framework for partnership NRAF has been, and continues to be, involved in rock at recordation projects in the Las Vegas Field Office (Arrow Canyon, Sloan Canyon, Gold Butte); in the Carson City Field Office (High Basins ACEC); the Tonopah FS (Cane Man, Palmetto Wash, Dancing Man, Willow Witch Well); and the Winnemucca Field Office (Star Canyon, Painted Cave, Emigrant Trail, Serendipity Shelter). Ely District Office projects include recording the four largest rock art sites site at the Mt. Irish Archaeological District (2005).  NRAF also accomplished several recordation and interpretation projects for the BLM Ely District Office and Caliente Field Office with funding through LCAI Rounds 1, 4, 5, and 7. Summaries of these projects can be found at:
Lincoln County rock art recordation and Delamar Flat
Interpretation of White River Narrows, Ash Springs, Crystal Wash, Mount Irish, and Shooting Gallery.

Last updated 1/11/2017.