Park Ranger Lara Lloyd will present a thought-provoking talk about the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and how it impacts Mesa Verde on Thursday, July 30.

The program, titled “Race, Science, and Burials: The Impacts of NAGPRA on Mesa Verde,” begins at 7 p.m. at the Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde National Park, and is free to the public.

The passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act served as a catalyst for a change in relations between the Native American nations, archaeologists, museums and federal agencies. Mesa Verde National Park illustrates those changes on a world stage in which visitors experience the results of more than two decades of consultation.

Lara Lloyd works summers as an interpretive ranger at Mesa Verde National Park. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and a master’s from Northern Arizona University, and has worked on archaeological projects in the Southwest and Belize. Her research interests include human-environmental relations, exchange, and archaeological law. In the winter, Lara teaches in the Cultural Science department at Mesa Community College in Arizona.

The Four Corners Lecture Series is sponsored by Anasazi Heritage Center; Aramark Parks and Destinations; Bureau of Land Management; Cortez Cultural Center; Crow Canyon Archaeological Center; Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum; Fort Lewis College Office of the President, Department of Anthropology and Center of Southwest Studies; Hisatsinom Chapter Colorado Archaeological Society; KSJD Dryland Community Radio; Mesa Verde Foundation; Mesa Verde Museum Association; and Mesa Verde National Park.

For a list of other programs in the series, go to www.mesaverde.org/four-corners-lecture-series.