Current Projects
Mirador, Guatemala
Many factors threaten the archaeology and the ecology of the Mirador Basin. Drug trafficking profits are fueling a massive ranching industry which requires large areas of jungle to be cleared and has virtually destroyed the Maya Biosphere within the past five years in northern Guatemala. Forest is also cleared for agricultural purposes, generally in a slash-and-burn practice that employs fire to clear the land. This practice has been so extensive, though, that the intensity of the fires and the resulting smoke has closed down schools as far north as Houston, Texas, in 2003 and 2004. Logging has also had a devastating effect on the Mirador Basin as clearcutting destroys the forest and the access roads needed to remove the cut trees allow access by poachers and looters. The looters, in fact, have targeted virtually every site in the Mirador Basin, with most sites damaged or destroyed by scores of looters’ trenches.
