Last week, the administration building at Fort Verde State Historic Park in Camp Verde underwent some renovations to repair the crumbling adobe exterior, which was under assault from gophers.
Late last month, Tuzigoot National Monument in Clarkdale celebrated its 75th anniversary as a national monument. As part of the nationwide network of monuments, Tuzigoot brings tourists to the Verde Valley and guides visitors to properly experience the 1,000-year-old Sinagua ruin that was inhabited for more than four centuries.
Both Fort Verde and Tuzigoot are important anchors for the history of the Verde Valley and maintaining them and celebrating their importance is a vital connection to our past as the present community that now calls the Verde Valley home. When partnered with Palatki and Honanki heritage sites northwest of Sedona amd Montezuma Castle National Monument near Camp Verde, residents and visitors alike can appreciate the centuries of human habitation in the Verde Valley by a variety of peoples and cultures.
As the current inhabitants, it is our obligation to preserve our past. One of the theories archaeologists debate is that Montezuma Castle, Honanki, Palatki and Tuzigoot were eventually abandoned around A.D. 1400 due to a long drought that threatened the survival of the inhabitants.
The whole Southwest is currently facing major droughts. Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas face drought conditions that threaten farming, ranching and residential communities. Fierce wildfires char dry forests and erode the terrain when monsoon storms dump rain on the landscape.
Lacking the technological advances of our age, the Sinagua had to move to survive, abandoning the homes their ancestors built for them four centuries earlier. Nowadays there are millions more humans living in the Southwest and simply moving away is not an viable option, so we must instead learn to conserve and share our water and reduce wasting it. Our numbers mean we use far more water faster, so shorter droughts are more devastating.
We must save our water to save ourselves. The consequences if we fail to do so are all around us. Even a 1,000 years later, the Sinagua are still teaching lessons. It is our duty to listen or not, at our own peril.
