Desiring to protect the city's historic resources, St. Augustine City Commission this week passed a resolution reminding its residents that local archeological artifacts require protection from exploitation.

Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline became alarmed after a Los Angeles film company recently requested to film a reality show of city residents digging artifacts from their yards and talking about them on camera.

That project was never developed, though just weeks before, a local resident armed with an expensive metal detector boasted about finding "secret" sites and shipwrecks where he locates and removes thousands of artifacts, including gold and silver from the 16th century.

"It was a double-whammy," Sikes-Kline said Tuesday. "So it was important to get our message out."

She also heard that the film company planned digging on the site where Seminole Chief Osceola was captured.

In a prepared statement released Tuesday morning by the city, Sikes-Kline said, "We can all be the best stewards of our property and be sure that when it's excavated it is not done wilfully but with professional oversight."

Both those cases sparked an angry outcry from residents and protests from archeologists who said removal of historical artifacts from their locations removes any chance of determining their age and much of the historic value they may hold.

Artifact restoration expert John Powell of St. Augustine said Tuesday that the city's "archeological integrity" must be maintained.

"St. Augustine has already lost innumerable archeological resources to construction and development," he said. "Any information we can save about the city's past we should save. (The city's) archeological ordinance mandates that any major disruption of soil must be excavated by the city. It's the only thing that stands between archeological information and the total destruction of those resources."

Powell praised City Archeologist Carl Halbirt and renowned University of Florida archeologist Kathleen Deagan as world-class "treasures" who have influenced and educated thousands of local residents with their work.

Halbirt said that, by having the archeological ordinance, 600 city properties have been excavated.

"Without the ordinance and investigation, this information would have been permanently lost," he said. "We're helping to preserve St. Augustine's heritage through documentation."

Sikes-Kline admitted that the new resolution has no enforcement teeth but said it serves to remind residents they should recognize the importance of preserving the archeological significance of what they find on their land.

This can be done by contacting the city prior to any excavation, she said.

There is no telling what Halbirt will find.

For example, while excavating a wooded lot off Magnolia Street for a proposed house construction, he found post holes that led to the conclusion that this site once held a prehistoric Native American occupation that dates prior to Don Pedro Menendez.

Also on that site he found more post holes and archeological items that post-date the 1565 Menendez encampment.

Sikes-Kline said that public property in the county and city is already protected.

"But private property is private property. We can't tell people what they can or cannot do on their property," she said. "We just want them to call before digging. This (resolution) is an opportunity to educate people."