Effigy Mounds travesties discovered from 10-year period of 1999-2009 are finally being addressed

by Lissa Blake

It was arrogance not ignorance that led to more than a decade of failures now being addressed at Effigy Mounds National Park near McGregor, according to Tim Mason, a rural McGregor resident who worked for Effigy Mounds for 19 years.
“These people took oaths. Ignorance is no excuse. These people were college educated and they had training, training and more training,” said Mason.
Mason, a spokesman for Friends of Effigy Mounds, is being credited by many, including the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), for spurring the investigation that resulted in a 723-page National Park Service (NPS) report released earlier this month, which details numerous failures by former Effigy Mounds staff to comply with resource protection laws between 1999 and 2009.
The report details 78 structures which were built within the national monument without passing through necessary compliance procedures. The three staff members the report says were most responsible for the failures include former Superintendent Phyllis Ewing, former Facilities Manager Tom Sinclair and former Administrative Assistant Sharon Greener.
The structures include elevated boardwalks, decks and a machine storage shed, according to a story by Cedar Rapids Gazette reporter Orlan Love. The NPS internal investigation found that former Effigy Mounds Superintendent Phyllis Ewing approved more than $3 million in what has been termed illegal construction that damaged countless archaeological artifacts.

ABOUT EFFIGY MOUNDS
Established in 1949, Effigy Mounds National Monument was meant to protect Native American remains located in more than 200 burial mounds. Over the years, the National Park Service has worked closely with 12 affiliated tribes in an effort to preserve and respect the remains.

OUT OF CONTROL
Mason said it was a few “out-of-control employees” who lost site of the Park Service’s mission in preserving the sacred space. “This is not a recreational area. This is not a private city park. This is a national monument,” said Mason in an interview with The Standard. “What are they going to put in next? A tram and monkey island? This is not an amusement park.”

NOT INTENTIONAL
When Ewing was relieved of her Effigy Mounds duties in 2010, she was quoted as saying, “Nobody intentionally did anything wrong. No one would have intentionally hurt a blade of grass.”
According to the Gazette, Ewing “acknowledged that she and her staff had failed to maintain the proper balance between the Park Service’s dual missions to preserve natural and cultural resources and to make them available for the education and enjoyment of the public.”

HALF THE STORY
Jeff Ruch of PEER, a service organization for public employees struggling with environmental problems, said the recently released report doesn’t tell the whole story. “This report, while it is damning and revealing, doesn’t even cover the half of it,” said Ruch, adding Mason’s repeated complaints are the only reason this information has come to light.
In the report, the NPS said an investigation by NPS Special Agent David Barland-Liles documented “numerous failures” on the part of former staff. A second investigation, launched in 2012, came following the discovery of a box of bone fragments in a former employee’s garage. It is unknown how many other “missing human remains” might be unaccounted for, according to the report.
“The general public does not really know how serious a matter this is,” said Johnathan Buffalo, historic preservation director for the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, also known as the Meskwaki nation, shortly after the discovery was made. Since that time, a photo (accompanying this article) from an unidentified source has surfaced, showing a burial mound with a large, “repatriation” hole cut in the top.
Both Mason and Ruch have called the situation depicted in the photo “totally illegal.”
“That photo is jaw-dropping,” said Ruch. “These remains are prehistoric and they can’t be sure which tribe they came from. You can’t repatriate remains of one tribe with those of another. These could be the remains of two tribes who were lifelong enemies for all eternity.”

A SERIOUS MATTER
Jim Nepstad, current Superintendent of Effigy Mounds, said both the situation with the 78 structures paired with the fact there are missing human remains are “rather complex.”
“There were a lot of steps involved in researching this. It is a serious matter,” he said.
Nepstad said from the perspective of the NPS there are important laws in place so “development doesn’t take place in a haphazard form…We want to make sure we’re not making decisions in a vacuum… We want to do what makes the best sense in terms of the long-term resources the park is here to protect. In all honesty, had park staff not skipped those steps, some of these developments may not have been undertaken.”

FURTHER RACIAL CONCERNS
Mason said he feels the situation was caused by governmental racism. “If that was St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in McGregor and someone went up there and did something like this, we’d all be appalled,” said Mason. “These people were charged to preserve and protect this sacred place and they just seemed to run wild.”
During the investigation, one of the tribal leaders was quoted as saying the construction of the boardwalks indicates “ancient cemeteries should be treated as places to walk your dog.”

WHAT’S NEXT?
Although PEER and Friends of Effigy Mounds are happy the situation is being addressed, Ruch said, “It’s not over.” He said 77 of the 78 illegal structures are still in place.
“For the first time, the NPS is saying they’re evaluating what to do next,” said Ruch, adding he thinks the reluctance to change anything goes back to the $3 million spent on the “improvements.”
“Park management put itself between the visitor and the resource. They destroyed the park and violated its essence. Whenever they had a chance to screw up, they did,” said Ruch.
Nepstad said while he doesn’t want to diminish what happened, “the vast majority of the park’s 206 mounds were completely unaffected and remain in good condition. Effigy Mounds remains a wonderfully, very well-preserved site, and we want to make sure the public understands that.”
Mason added, while the public release of the NPS report is a start, it isn’t nearly enough. “I will not rest until the park is restored to the pre-crime-spree era of Ewing and Sinclair,” he said.