ENDANGERED PETROGLYPHS COUNTY FAULTED FOR ROCK ART LOSS AT VASQUEZ PARK.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

Experts called for measures to protect American Indian rock art in Vasquez Rocks Park from vandalism and weather as early as 1974, but their recommendations went unheeded by Los Angeles County, records show.

For more than 20 years, local scholars have called for protective fencing, ``no trespassing'' signs and an interpretive museum to educate park visitors about the images created by American Indians who lived 9,000 years ago in Agua Dulce.

But the county Department of Parks and Recreation, while erecting some warning signs, has largely tried to protect the petroglyphs by keeping quiet about their location and hoping few people would find them.

``The `don't ask, don't tell' policy is fine as long as books don't exist, roads don't exist and people don't live near the park,'' said anthropologist Albert Knight, who wrote a 1991 report on the park's rock art.

``What they need to do is put up fencing and `no trespassing' signs, get some guards and put up some money to protect it,'' Knight said.

The county's low-key approach, coupled with periodic patrols by a park ranger, have deterred vandals successfully, said Rodney Cooper, director of the county Parks and Recreation Department.

``I think the rock art has been remarkably well-protected,'' Cooper said. ``There has been very little vandalism. We have done enormous amounts to protect it.''

However, the Daily News reported in April that park volunteers and docents say about 40 percent of the rock art has vanished through weather, vandalism and theft during the past seven years.

Responding to the report, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich called for a study of the artifacts and an inquiry into the disappearance of the rock art. The report is expected to go before the County Board of Supervisors later this month.

Past studies suggest a legacy of weathering and vandalism that has erased much of the rock art and the pictorial history of the various American Indians who lived in the area.

In his 1991 study, Knight describes one site where he found two shot-up Pepsi cans near a pictograph.

``The area is apparently being used for target practice, although no damage from this source was apparent at the panel itself,'' states Knight, who also attributed the panel's blurry condition to water vapor.

The report mentions another pictograph so badly damaged that it has nearly disappeared.

``The element above it has apparently been used for target shooting or has badly exfoliated. In either case, the center is entirely missing, and it is no longer possible to make out what the element once represented,'' the report states.

Studies in 1970 and 1974 called for an interpretive museum, self-guiding trails and fencing to seal off a cluster of archeological sites from the rest of the park.

But the recommendations were never implemented, said archeologist Chester King, who co-authored the 1974 report that was commissioned by the parks department.

``It just got lost in the bureaucracy,'' he said of the proposal. ``If something had happened back then, we would have greater appreciation of Native American art and fewer damaged panels.''

In his later study, Knight criticized the park for its hands-off policy and called for a series of preservation measures.

``While park personnel make every attempt to patrol the area, the size of the area and an almost total lack of protective fencing, as well as almost no `no trespassing' signs, leaves the area very open to trespass and tampering (at best), and-or outright vandalism (at worst),'' he stated. ``The thought of even one vandal spray-painting any of the many rock art panels . . . makes one shudder in fear.''

But county parks officials said they aren't obligated to implement the recommendations and contend that fencing would call unnecessary attention to the rock art.

``Those are opinions, and there have been other opinions,'' said parks operations manager Olene Ewell-White, who oversees Vasquez Rocks. ``Putting up fencing without having security is almost inviting vandals in.''

Ewell-White also said the county doesn't have the money to act on many of the suggestions and argued that even the most restrictive measures do not ensure preservation of the rock art.

``If there is a fence up, that isn't to say we wouldn't have graffiti,'' she said, citing other park facilities where chains, locks and fences have failed to deter vandals.

However, parks officials are completing a hiking trail featuring reproductions of the American Indian art in hopes of diverting park visitors from the real thing. And they are considering protecting the ancient artifacts with Plexiglas shields.

In the meantime, a group of park volunteers called the Vasquez Rocks Nature Center Associates is applying for a $486,000 state grant in hopes of building an interpretive center that would provide docent-led tours of the rock art.

Parks officials and rock art enthusiasts hope to learn more from the report being compiled by Oregon rock art conservator Claire Dean.

``Maybe there are some recommendations we can do that will be feasible,'' Ewell-White said. ``We all are concerned. We do want to preserve the rock art.''

``I worry every day about those darn things,'' said Linda B. King, an anthropology professor at West Valley College in Saratoga, Calif., who wrote a 1989 study on the park's rock art.

``Some of them that I studied are very, very fragile,'' she said. ``I think we need expert advice on a world class level.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Art Brewer is president of the Vasquez Rocks N ature Center Associates, which is applying for a state grant to build an interpretive center.

(2) Experts are seeking tighter security for Vasquez Rocks petroglyphs.

Terri Thuente/Daily News