The Animas La-Plata (ALP) project has been a longstanding and controversial project in the Four Corners region. This project involves construction of a dam, roads, and pipeline and is being built to fulfill water right settlements to two Colorado tribes – the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Southern Ute tribe -whose water rights date back to 1868. The ALP project will also provide non-Indian water users in southwest Colorado with a percentage of water rights.

Although the project area had been the site of archaeological investigations over the last 60 years, only a small portion of the sites had been seriously investigated. With today’s sophisticated methods of recording and excavation, SWCA’s archaeologists recovered a great deal of valuable information from the project sites, while allowing complex construction activities to proceed unhindered.

Student and job training programs were instituted for Native Americans to train in archaeological field, research and lab techniques.