The Indian Camp Ranch Homeowners Association announced in a written release from Crow Canyon Archaeological Center that the Indian Camp Ranch Archaeological District has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.
Indian Camp Ranch is a private residential community located two miles from Cortez. Developed by Archie and Mary Hanson and described by them as Americas first archaeological preserve, Indian Camp Ranch has covenants that protect the archaeological sites that are spread across its 1,200 acres so they may be studied and enjoyed for future generations. The Hansons vision when they set about developing Indian Camp Ranch in the late 1980s was to create a model for how archaeology and preservation can meet the interests of private landowners.
In 2011 the Indian Camp Ranch Homeowners Association and the nearby Crow Canyon Archaeological Center agreed on a multi-year project the Basketmaker Communities Project. The project focuses on the Dillard site, which is located in Indian Camp Ranch and is an ancestral Pueblo community center dating from the Basketmaker III period (A.D. 500750). The site and the settlements around it constitute the largest Basketmaker III community known in the central Mesa Verde region.
As part of the Basketmaker Communities Project, Indian Camp Ranch Homeowners Association officials worked with Crow Canyon staff to nominate the Indian Camp Ranch Archaeological District to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register is the official federal list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect historic and archaeological resources. The National Park Service provides overall program administration, and the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation in History Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society, administers the register in Colorado.