Features

By Kimberly Black ~ photography by Matt Lit. Colorado Gator Reptile Park is recovering, rebuilding, and open to the public after a devastating fire last year burned down a barn and killed as many as 180 animals. The educational reptile facility in Mosca has been open to the public since a week after the fire. A lot of people thought the facility was entirely closed but as family, owner-operator Jay Young said, “We’ve been open the whole time.  We shut down for a week because we had to regroup and figure things out. We got through last summer. It was difficult, but we had to be open or we’d...

By Jose Villa. More than a decade ago, in 2014, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) held a meeting at the Crestone Charter School (CCS). Officials were concerned that their allocated budgets at that time had no funds for maintenance of designated trails including those in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains with trailheads near Crestone and the Baca Grande subdivision. They asked the community for help during those low-budget times and local residents, Dave Miller and Cathy Amenta, stepped forward.  In their idealistic and community-minded action, they became the founders and co-administrators of a small volunteer organization which they named Crestone Wilderness...

Using fire as a tool in land stewardship By Hillary Renick. Fire as a tool Fire, powerful and often feared, has been a fundamental part of the life of healthy forests throughout history.  Fire helps seeds germinate, aids in keeping meadows and grasslands balanced, and attracts healthy habitat for animals, insects and pollinators. Utilizing skills acquired by living in place for millennia and learning the rhythm of the seasons through observation, experimentation, and practice, Indigenous cultures use fire as a land management tool. By developing low-risk land management practices, Indigenous communities achieve the same effect as wildfire, but minimize the length of disruption...

By Anya Kaats. Elena Miller-ter Kuile was studying International Agricultural Development (IAD) at Cornell when she had a life-altering realization: “I thought working in IAD was going to help save the world, but then I realized, wait a second, the United States isn’t great when it comes to agriculture. Why would I go to other countries to tell them how to live when my own country also needs help figuring out how to do things better?” After her realization, Kuile returned home, determined to continue her family’s legacy of sheep farming, which stretches back six generations. Kuile’s ancestors were some of...

By Wade Lockhart. Are e-bikes part of the new transportation revolution?  During the warmer months, and even year-round when the roads are not icy, one sees them. These bikes sometimes look like scooters with their smaller wheels and headlights, but many look just like a mountain bike. Most e-bikes are hybrids, meaning they are pedal powered, battery powered, and a combination of both called pedal assist. They usually weigh a bit more than a regular bicycle, maybe 30 pounds more depending on the battery, and their travel range before recharging depends on their use and battery capacity:  www.electrek.co/2020/06/12/how-far-can-an-electric-bicycle-really-go-on-a-charge Venues for purchasing  In The Crestone...

This year The Crestone Eagle will be taking notes from the all-Indigenous-led newsroom, IndigiNews. The Crestone Eagle is grateful to be mentoring under IndigiNews Publisher, Eden Fineday, who will offer DEI council to staff, provide cultural sensitivity readings of published content and deepen our capacity for meaningful, sensitive, and accurate coverage of Indigenous topics.  By Eden Fineday IndigiNews Publisher My name is Eden Fineday. I am a Cree woman (nehiyaw iskwew). I live above the imaginary line that was drawn across the continent back in 1846. I come from Treaty 6 Territory, which is an agreement made by my people and the...

By Anna Lee Vargas. Nestled between expansive mountain ranges and the Río Grande, the fertile lands of the San Luis Valley (SLV) have always been a point of contact between cultures and races.  The SLV represents a multicultural tapestry, including Native Americans, Hispanic, Mormon, Asian, and other rancher-settlers, while also encompassing the most extensive wetlands system in the Southern Rocky Mountains. This long and rich history dates back to the Paleo-Indians who lived here 13,000 years ago. Our people’s Indigenous, Spanish, and Mexican roots have played a major role in influencing our food, farming practices, religion, art, culture, and language.  For example,...

Chokurei Yak Ranch faces change after 16 years of stewardship By Zaylah Khundmiri  photographs by Matt Lit. When Kyle Grote, a video producer from Ohio, first came to the San Luis Valley (SLV) in 2006, he was looking for a quiet place where he and his wife Teanna could raise their family. He never would have expected that he would soon be the new steward of 2,400 acres of highly sought after land in the remote SLV. Bidding on water  It all began at an auction in 2007. Stretching between Moffat and Crestone, 2,400 acres of undeveloped land, previously the Weiss Ranch, was being sold...