Chimney Rock Celebrates 10 Years as National Monument

Chimney Rock will celebrate its 10th anniversary as a national monument this month. Purgatory sets an opening date and the La Plata County clerk’s office will be closed on Fridays. You’re watching the Local News Roundup brought to you by ServiceMaster Restore and TBK Bank. I’m Wendy Graham Settle. Chimney Rock National Monument will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a free day of activities on Saturday, September 24th. The monument was designated by Presidential Decree on September 21st, 2012, making it the seventh national monument managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The monument encompasses seven square miles containing 200 ancestral Pueblo and residential and ceremonial structures including a Chacoan great kiva beneath the twin towers of the Chimney Rock edifice. At 7,000 feet elevation, it’s the highest of the Chacoan Outliers associated with the Chaco Canyon settlement in New Mexico, occupied in the 11th and early 12th centuries. The monument will be closed to the public for a tribal exclusive use and dignitary day on Friday, September 23rd. Public celebrations follow on Saturday starting at 9:00 AM with free entry and shuttles to the upper mesa throughout the day. Cultural and natural resource demonstrations and activities are scheduled along with a special appearance from 10:00 AM to noon by Dooley, a peregrine falcon, and his handler from the St. Francis Sanctuary and Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. One of seven Pueblo Indian dancing groups will perform on hour starting at 9:00 AM. Food and tribal artisan vendors will be on site and water will be for sale. The monument does not have potable water source, so prepare accordingly. The Chimney Rock entrance is located off of Colorado highway 151, south of U.S. highway 160. To learn more about the 10th Anniversary Celebration and the schedule of events, visit fs.usda.gov/sanjuan. To learn more about Chimney Rock and the activities available throughout its open season, go to chimneyrockco.org. The monument closes for the winter on September 30th. Purgatory resort has announced that it will open for the 2022/23 season on Saturday, November 19th. Thanks to a $1.25 million in upgrades to its snowmaking equipment and operations. Purgatory will expand snowmaking coverage for the 2022/23 ski season to include the lower paradise to the midway loading station on the Needles Triple Lift also known as Lift 6. The upgrades also will improve snow production capacity throughout a rebuild of the water pumping and air compression plant with automated low-energy and cutting-edge snowmaking equipment. Snowmaking operations are expected to begin in mid-October as conditions allow. To learn more, visit skipurg.com. It’s a four-day work week in La Plata County government’s future. The La Plata County clerk and recorder’s office has launched a four-day work week pilot program to test the feasibility of closing additional county offices on Fridays. The clerk and recorder’s office located in Boulder Industrial Park will now be open from 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM, Monday through Thursday. And on Wednesdays, the office opens at 8:00 AM to accommodate staff meetings. The office is closed on Fridays. The pilot schedule will continue throughout the end of the year. The four-day work week has been adopted by Jefferson, Boulder, Park, Fremont and Chaffee Counties in Colorado. According to County News Release, the four-day work week reduces employee drive time, fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Saves on utility bills by closing offices one day a week improves employee morale and allows parents whose children attend four-day school weeks to be with their kids on Fridays. Residents may comment on the four-day work week by emailing public and govermental affairs manager, Ted Holteen, at ted.holteen@co.laplata.co.us or go to the county’s website at co.laplata.co.us. Thanks for watching this edition of the Local News Roundup. I’m Wendy Graham Settle.

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