RESTORATION OF VANDALIZED RED ROCK CANYON BEGINS

Kyle Hansen reports for the Las Vegas Sun that work to restore vandalized drawings by American Indians in the “Sistine Chapel” of Red Rock Canyon is beginning. The drawings were the target of graffiti vandals in November. Areas as large as nine feet wide were covered with maroon spray paint, police said.

The Bureau of Land Management has worked with two non-profit groups that support the park––the Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Association and the Friends of Red Rock Canyon––to hire an international expert to remove the graffiti and restore the art. Jannie Loubser has been working with rock art in four continents since 1989. After taking his first in-person look at the damage Thursday, Loubser said, “Spray paint is hard on rock, because the force of the application forces the paint into the rock.” The bright side, he said, is it appears none of the spray paint is actually on top of the ancient art. “This could have been worse,” he said.