Biography
Education/Professional Certifications
B.S. in Environmental Science, San Jose State University M.A. in American History, University of Colorado, Denver State and Federal Permits, Colorado
Eric Twitty, MA
Mining Historian & Archaeologist
Qualifications
For 20 years, Mr. Twitty has worked as a mining historian and archaeologist, with a variety of historic sites. His specialty is documenting and interpreting abandoned mines, and evaluating their historic significance. Mr. Twitty applies cultural resource regulation compliance, historic preservation, heritage tourism, and policy development to mine sites and related landscapes. Although he specializes in mines, Mr. Twitty is also experienced in other types of historic resources, such as townsites, powerplants, sawmills, and ranches.
As the proprietor of Mountain States Historical, Mr. Twitty has completed more than 130 cultural resource projects involving historic townsites and approximately one-thousand mines. As a testament to his expertise, Mr. Twitty has been invited to make presentations and lectures, and has also published three books on the subjects of mine sites and mining history. His second book, Riches to Rust: A Guide to Mining in the Old West, is the first of its kind, explaining mining surface facilities, their engineering, archaeological manifestations today, and interpretations.
Having worked in the cultural resource field since 1992, Mr. Twitty is conversant with the application of cultural resource regulations to mining resources, a common theme amid his projects. He began conducting most of the historical assessment work for the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety (formerly Division of Minerals and Geology) in 2005, and continues today, helping the agency comply with cultural resource regulations and coordinating mine closure plans with important historic attributes of target sites. Mr. Twitty has also documented and evaluated dozens of mining resources in advance of major environmental cleanup actions. Leveraging his experience and expertise, Mr. Twitty helped lead several agencies through the cultural resource process and has provided recommendations regarding the historic aspects of problem sites.
Mr. Twitty has also participated in policy development at State and Federal levels regarding mines as historic resources. In particular, Mr. Twitty co-authored statewide contexts that set standards for documenting, interpreting, and evaluating significance of historic mines for the Colorado Historical Society and the South Dakota Historical Society. He has also produced similar mining contexts for several regional Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offices and local governments in Colorado. In 2007, Mr. Twitty developed a training program for the BLM, initiated by Alaska and Arizona state offices. Currently, Mr. Twitty oversees the development of a master context for the I-70 mountain corridor in Colorado, working under CH2M Hill, for the Colorado Department of Transportation.