Living on the Earth

By Kaitlyn Fletcher, SLVEC Nestled between the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan mountain ranges, the San Luis Valley is the largest alpine basin in the world, extending 125 miles from Poncha Pass to the Taos Plateau. This 8,000-square-mile area is home to an abundance of fragile ecosystems. With over 3.1 million acres of public lands, the valley needed an organization dedicated to advocating for these landscapes. This sparked the creation of the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council. In June 2000, Christine Canaly signed on as the director of the new nonprofit. “I had the opportunity to represent equity on the landscape,”...

From Sacred Contract As of June 7, 2025, an iconic local landmark became the first mountain in the United States to own itself. Following a transfer of title from a private foundation to the mountain itself, Pyramid Mountain now holds its own deed. This revolutionary act not only protects the near 30-acre parcel of land from future development or extraction, but also invites humankind to reimagine the relationship between humans and nature. The title transfer was part of the “Land That Owns Itself” program of Sacred Contract, a coalition of several different organizations which has worked over the past two years...

By Kaitlyn Fletcher Spanning 2,700 miles of harsh landscape, the Old Spanish National Historic Trail snakes through six western states: New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California.  At the height of its prevalence, this expansive trade network ran through the San Luis Valley, cementing its role in the western expansion of the Southwest from 1829 to 1848.  A Corridor of Movement  Sourced from Native American footpaths, the Northern Branch forks north of Santa Fe and follows the Rio Grande to the east along the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. This route skirted the once vast wetlands in the region. Travelers...

By Kaitlyn Fletcher  Tucked into the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, an abandoned iron mine hosts the largest known roost of Brazilian Free-tailed Bats in North America. June marks the annual return of these 250,000 summertime residents.  “Brazilian free-tailed bats form some of the largest aggregations of mammals anywhere in the world,” said Daniel Neubaum, the Conservation Species Program Manager at Colorado Parks and Wildlife, who was ‘tagged’ by the agency for bats. While most male bats prefer to live alone, this species is an “exception to the rule.”  Other large seasonal roosts are located in Grand Junction and...

By Anya Kaats The Crestone Energy Fair’s recent Natural Plasters & Earthbag Greenhouse workshops were a huge success, drawing participants from across Colorado and New Mexico—and as far as California—for two distinct weekends of immersive, hands-on learning. The Natural Plaster workshop was led by world-renowned natural plaster expert Athena Steen of the Canelo Project, whose decades of experience brought depth, artistry, and inspiration to the process of mixing and applying clay-based finishes. The Earthbag Greenhouse workshop was guided by local builder and CEF crew member Dana Oglesby, who taught participants how to construct strong, sustainable walls using scoria-filled earthbags—a DIY...

The Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) board awarded a $75,000 grant to Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust (CCALT) through Keep It Colorado to permanently protect Rito Alto Ranch with a conservation easement.  The grant is part of Keep It Colorado’s Transaction Cost Assistance Program (TCAP) that re-grants GOCO funds to nonprofit land trusts to help cover the costs associated with conservation easement transactions. It helps landowners who have urgent opportunities to conserve their properties, but face financial barriers to completing the transaction, to conserve land more quickly. The 5,154-acre Rito Alto Ranch is nestled within a highly scenic landscape at the base...

By Robert Davis For Colorado Sun Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday granted pardons to four Coloradans convicted of state charges of possessing psilocybin and psilocybin. The pardons were in response to voters legalizing natural medicines in 2022. The executive order announcing the pardons says it applies to a handful of people who were age 21 or older when they were convicted of possessing the psychoactive ingredients found in certain kinds of mushrooms.  The order does not say anything about people who were convicted of manufacturing or distributing natural medicines when their possession was illegal.  The governor acknowledged that his team “worked hard” to identify...

Produce new wilderness working group to expand protections By SLVEC On a June evening, Crestone/Baca citizens gathered at POA Hall to discuss the public lands issues that threaten their wild backyards.  Mediated by Christine Canaly, on June 20, the local attendees learned about the potential sale of up to 3.3 million acres of public lands across 11 western states, including Colorado, in the recent Senate Reconciliation Bill. Canaly is a self-proclaimed “public policy nut,” backed by decades of experience as the director of the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council. SLVEC shared this June 18 post on X by Senator R-Utah Mike Lee, who...