Dancing human image, graffiti removal at Painted Bluff (photos courtesy TVA)
The following year,TVA hired consultants to study the damage to the site.They recommended a multi-faceted approach to address the problem, including removal and camouflaging of the existing graffiti, along with public outreach and volunteer involvement.With the removal and camouflage plan in hand,TVA initiated a Section 106 review with the SHPO and 15 federally recognized tribes that have ties to Painted Bluff as part of a broader commitment to protect and provide stewardship for these important places.The tribes recommended that images impacted through natural weathering be left alone, and that the focus of any remediation work should be on human impacts to the site—in particular, those caused by rock climbing. In 2014,TVA worked with the consultants and community volunteers from northern Alabama and University of Alabama students to catalog, remove, and disguise the damage at Painted Bluff. Graffiti 50 years or older was left in place pending further research, while disturbances less than 50 years old were removed or camouflaged. Ultimately, graffiti was remediated at more than 120 different surfaces. Next,TVA collaborated with the Southeastern Climbers Coalition to close climbing routes located along the bluff, and to install signs alerting climbers of the closures. Finally,TVA used Painted Bluff as a proving ground for an archaeological site monitoring program called “A Thousand Eyes.” Volunteers went through the program training course, and then recorded data on the site that was submitted to TVA.The agency continues to work with the historical commission and student volunteers to protect and monitor the site.
Opposite: Painted Bluff from a distance, Marshall County, AL (photo courtesy Alan Cressler)
IN A SPIRIT OF STEWARDSHIP: A REPORT ON FEDERAL HISTORIC PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 2018 | 35
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