Contact: Adam Springer, 520-377-5090
For over 20 years the NPS has teamed up with Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), the University of Arizona's Missions Initiative, and New Mexico's Cornerstones Community Partnerships to ensure that some of North America's most treasured adobe structures remain in place for the public to enjoy into the next century. At the center of this partnership is a series of workshops that bring together Mexican and American master crafts-persons, teachers, and participants to conduct hands-on workshops on adobe construction, building assessment, and preservation treatment. All sessions are communicated in English and Spanish and are for experts and novices alike. The workshop, called Taller Internacional de Conservación y Restauración de Arquitectura de Tierra, or TICRAT, is generally held in the United States and Mexico in alternating years. Tumacácori National Historical Park in southern Arizona will host the event from March 14-18. Since TICRAT became a bi-national effort, Tumacácori has hosted several of the annual workshops, and has played an integral role in helping coordinate TICRAT workshops, both north and south of the border. "We want to use the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the NPS to showcase the long history of the TICRAT as well as the diverse partners we work with to improve the stewardship of earthen architecture" said Bob Love, Superintendent at Tumacácori NHP. "To celebrate the NPS Centennial year and TICRAT workshop series, we have included a diversity of partners from both Mexico and the U.S. to recognize their valuable contributions to preservation." This year's workshop will feature activities held at Tumacácori (NPS), Empire Ranch (BLM), Tubac Presidio State Historic Park (Arizona State Parks), Canoa Ranch (Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation) and Mission San Xavier (Tohono O'odham Nation). The hands-on workshop format is designed to address preservation problems at particular sites, and enhance general adobe preservation skills. A variety of workshop locations were selected in order to expose participants to the many facets of adobe and plaster conservation. By the close of the workshop, the goal is for participants to come away with the ability to address adobe conservation problems in a proactive and informed way. "The TICRAT is a premier example of how partnerships can be used to erase borders, share preservation approaches and ethics, enhance resource preservation, and ensure the survival of traditional building skills and techniques," said NPS Vanishing Treasures Program Manager Lauren Meyer. "For the NPS, the benefits of connections made and skills learned at the TICRAT go far beyondTumacácori. Participants will take with them skills and knowledge that will greatly enhance resource preservation in their home parks, and throughout their agencies. They will also have the opportunity to see, first-hand, the strength and diversity of the far-reaching preservation community of which they are a part." During this year's TICRAT, R. Brooks Jeffery, Director of the Drachman Institute and Chair of the Heritage Conservation Program at the University of Arizona, is receiving the prestigious NPS Director's Award, recognizing his 14-year partnership with the NPS, the Desert Southwest Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit (DS-CESU), and facilitation support of the TICRAT workshops. "I am honored by this award and the recognition of such a unique partnership" said Jeffery. "Our students are the real winners by engaging with NPS, developing professional skills, and becoming the next generation stewards of our cultural resources." The NPS uses information from these workshops to enhance public education programs and highlight the shared heritage between the U.S. and Mexico. With standing adobe structures dating back to 1751, Tumacácori showcases the durability of this construction technique. The TICRAT workshop series has given preservation specialists skills to ensure these structures receive the best care so they may be enjoyed by future generations. For more information, call Tumacácori National Historical Park at 520-377-5060, or visit the park website, at nps.gov/tuma. |
Last updated: March 17, 2016