Deep in the Sespe Wilderness north of Ojai, archeologist Steve Galbraith knelt on the scorched earth and wiped clean a cutting stone he'd plucked from the bush.
As he examined the Chumash Indian artifact, several questions came to mind. Who fashioned this prehistoric cooking tool? Was it 2,000 or 3,000 years old? What other treasures lay hidden in the clay soil?
And perhaps most important: How could he keep such valuables out of the hands of thieves who prey on Native American archeological sites?
With predictions that Southern California's wildfire season could be among its worst ever, archeologists, park rangers and law enforcement officers are bracing for the expected return of looters who see opportunity and riches amid the ash.
"They are stealing from everyone," Galbraith said, as he stepped gingerly through waist-high chaparral searching for tools, arrowheads, bowls and other Chumash remnants that may have surfaced in the wake of the Wolf fire in Los Padres National Forest.
"It's part of our American heritage and part of our American culture," he said of the ancient burial grounds. "It's who we are."
Galbraith and fellow archeologist Janine McFarland will spend a few weeks combing through the forest to assess damage to the sites, rock paintings and artifacts that may have been in the path of the 23,000-acre wildfire, which was contained June 14. Across Southern California, nearly 74,000 acres of wilderness have burned this year, exposing canyons and hillsides that had been covered by trees and thick brush, some for hundreds of years. More than 22,000 federally protected sites within the region contain the remnants of Native American life going back 10,000 years or more, officials said.
Park rangers and law enforcement authorities are stepping up patrols and education programs directed at hikers and campers to warn them about the fines and penalties associated with pilfering. Theft of Native American relics and desecration of federally protected sites are both punishable by a maximum fine of $250,000 and up to two years in federal prison.
"Looters do take a forest fire as an opportunity to discover archeological areas because the brush that would hide them is gone," said Joseph Johns, an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles who specializes in investigating environmental crimes. "We want people to know we're going to be out looking for them."
