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Do you know what is happening in the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area? Find event summaries, press releases, community partnerships and more news updates about the heritage area.

Dec 01
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CALA and its partners give Northern Colorado Economy $81.6 million boost

By News

The Poudre Heritage Alliance (PHA) commissioned a study in Spring 2017 that would analyze the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area’s (CALA) economic impact on Larimer and Weld Counties. The results were very impressive, with the Heritage Area accounting for an annual economic boost of $81.6 million, supporting 1,067 jobs, and generating $6.9 million in tax revenues.

Tripp Umbach, who did the 2017 assessment of CALA based on data from 2014-2016, has completed comprehensive economic impact studies for 15 NHA sites across the U.S. CALA’s four main economic drivers include tourism surrounding the river itself, operations of PHA and its partner organizations, grant-making efforts, and capital projects. The top economic impact sectors were hotels/motels, full-service restaurants, limited-service restaurants, and other amusement/recreation industries. Click here to view the full economic impact study.

While many people understand the importance of the Poudre River to the Northern Colorado region, it’s the Poudre Heritage Alliance’s job to stress the significance of why this natural and cultural resource is designated as one of only 49 National Heritage Areas in the United States. The Poudre Heritage Alliance as a 501(c)3 nonprofit accomplishes this goal by promoting a variety of historical and cultural opportunities, engaging people in their river corridor and inspiring continued learning, preservation, and stewardship

However, PHA and CALA are under threat from demands on water, insufficient federal appropriations, the need to raise awareness about water management, rising human health and safety concerns, a generation more connected to their technology than to the natural world, and the loss of history and heritage over time.

As the giving season approaches, please consider the Poudre Heritage Alliance and the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area as a worthy charitable cause. You can schedule your Colorado Gives donation here. Donations must be scheduled before Tuesday December 5th to qualify for the Community Foundation’s matching program.

More about CALA and PHA: The Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area is one of 49 National Heritage Areas (NHA) in the United States. NHAs are places where natural, cultural, historic, and scenic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally distinctive landscape arising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography. CALA stretches 45 miles along the curves and bends of the hard-working Poudre River from the eastern border of the rugged Roosevelt National Forest, down through the blossoming cities of Fort Collins, Windsor, and Greeley, until the vital water resource conjoins with the South Platte River in the Colorado eastern plains.

As the managing organization behind CALA, the Poudre Heritage Alliance serves the local communities of Larimer and Weld County by building a deeper understanding of the Poudre River’s national significance as it relates to water law and water management. PHA and CALA bring together residents, private organizations, and government entities behind this common goal, while also enticing tourists with the recreational, environmental, and historical points of interest throughout the Heritage Area. PHA programs and initiatives that support these efforts include volunteer trainings, grant-funded projects, and outreach events that help educate people about water history and the importance of the Poudre River corridor today.

For more information about PHA or CALA, please contact the Poudre Heritage Alliance Office at admin@poudreheritage.org or 970-295-4851.

Nov 21
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The Poudre Heritage Alliance Joins the Global #GivingTuesday Movement!

By News

The Poudre Heritage Alliance for the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area has joined #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Occurring this year on November 28, #GivingTuesday is held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (in the US) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday to kick off the holiday giving season and inspire people to collaborate in improving their local communities and to give back in impactful ways to the charities and causes they support.

On Giving Tuesday beginning at 6:00am MST, Facebook will be waiving all fees for donations made through Facebook , and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match up to $2M in donations.

The stakes for PHA and the CALA are high. The PHA and CALA are under threat from increasing demands on water, shrinking federal appropriations, the need to raise awareness about water management, rising human health and safety concerns, a generation more connected to their technology than to the natural world, and the loss of history and heritage over time.

Your gift will make a difference right now and well into the future. Together we can PROMOTE a variety of historical and cultural opportunities, ENGAGE people in their river corridor and INSPIRE learning, preservation, and stewardship

92Y − a cultural center in New York City that, since 1874, has been bringing people together around its core values of community service and giving back − conceptualized #GivingTuesday as a new way of linking individuals and causes to strengthen communities and encourage giving. In 2016, the fifth year of #GivingTuesday, millions of people in 98 countries came together to give back and support the causes they believe in. Over $177 million was raised online to benefit a tremendously broad range of organizations, and much more was given in volunteer hours, donations of food and clothing, and acts of kindness. “We have been incredibly inspired by the generosity in time, efforts and ideas that have brought our concept for a worldwide movement into reality,” said Henry Timms, founder of #GivingTuesday and executive director of 92Y. “As we embark on our sixth year of #GivingTuesday, we are encouraged by the early response from partners eager to continue making an impact in this global conversation.”

Those who are interested in joining Poudre Heritage Alliance’s #GivingTuesday initiative can visit Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area’s Facebook page to donate or set up their own fundraiser for #GivingTuesday! Click here to donate today!

Nov 06
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Poudre Heritage Alliance and CSU Celebrate Native American History Month in November

By News

November is Native American Month, and there will be a variety of events taking place on CSU’s campus hosted by the Native American Cultural Center and many other organizations.

In the meantime, be sure to check out PHA’s video archive and Northern Arapaho Video series release. (Featured picture showcases representatives from the City of Fort Collins, the Poudre Heritage Alliance, and tribal elders for the Northern Arapaho at a sign unveiling in Arapaho Bend Natural Area.)

Events

Wednesday, Nov. 1

Indigenous Speaker Series Presents: Cherokee Nation v. Nash — A Case of Treaty Interpretation and Tribal Self-Determination

Guest Speaker: Ron Hall,  5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Morgan Library Great Hall. 

Ron Hall is the president of Bubar & Hall Consulting, LLC, a consulting firm that supports tribal self-determination and engagement. Hall will engage in a conversation around Native law and policy, specifically related to the recent federal court decision between the Cherokee Nation and the Cherokee Freedmen.

Thursday, Nov. 2

Pow Wow 101, 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Eddy Hall room 100.

Pow Wow is a wonderful way to remember and celebrate heritage, culture and traditions among Native Americans. Join local resident Jan Iron, who will explain the basics of Pow Wow, including an overview of the day’s events and celebration.

Friday, Nov. 3

Fry Bread Sale, Drum Group and Pow Wow Dance Expo, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the LSC Sutherland Garden, (west side of the Lory Student Center), Colorado State University.

To celebrate Native American Heritage Month and the 35th Annual AISES Pow Wow, drum groups and dancers will provide performances. Fry bread will also be sold at this event.

Saturday, Nov. 4

Colorado State University’s 35th Annual AISES Pow Wow.

Gourd Dance — 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

  • Pow Wow 1 p.m. to 10 p.m.
  • Grand Entry 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.
  • Pow Wow Feed 5 p.m.

Host Northern Drum: Young Bear; Host Southern Drum: Southern Style. Lory Student Center Grand Ballrooms at CSU.

In an effort to increase awareness of Native cultures at CSU, the Native American Cultural Center, American Indian Science and Engineering Society, Associated Students of Colorado State University and Colorado State University will sponsor the 35th Annual CSU Pow Wow. Community members and student alike are welcome and encouraged to attend this free event, which will feature Pow Wow dancers, drum groups, food, vendors, social events and more.

Tuesday, Nov. 7

Duhesa Art Gallery Reception, Aasgutú ádi (Forest Creatures). Featuring comments from the artists Crystal Worl and Jennifer Younger.

4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Lory Student Center Duhesa Gallery.

The title of this exhibit is in the Tlingit language. The exhibit encompasses the natural beings represented in the various artworks of this exhibition, but also refers to the Tlingit people. Utilizing their experience in various art materials, Crystal Worl, Jennifer Youner and Alison Marks encourage the viewer to look at traditional art forms through different lenses. The culmination of their artwork demonstrates the subsistence on Tlingit culture into the work of contemporary artists.

Gallery walkthrough at 5:15 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 8, Thursday, Nov. 9

Aspen Grille – Featured Traditional Native American Dishes.

Do you enjoy corn, sunflower seeds, potatoes, squash and pumpkins? How about tomatoes, strawberries and chile peppers? They are all native to the Americas and have been part of the diet of Native Americans since time immemorial. Make your reservations at the LSC Aspen Grille to enjoy lunch specials prepared by Chef Ken Sysmsack that recognize these gifts to today’s cuisine.

For reservations call 970-491-7006

Thursday, Nov. 9

Open House Hosted by NACC North Star Peer Mentors

5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Native American Cultural Center, Lory Student Center Room 327

Come meet the 2017-2018 North Star Peer Mentors while enjoying board games, a movie, and hot chocolate and apple cider. North Start Peer Mentor Program is a program of the Native American Cultural Center that matches incoming students with current students to guide the transitions to Colorado State University.

Monday, Nov. 13

Keynote Event: AWAKE: A Dream from Standing Rock documentary featuring Filmmakers: Floris White Bull & Doug Good Feather

Film begins at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Lory Student Center Theatre.

AWAKE follows the dramatic rise of the historic #NoDAPL Native-led peaceful resistance at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Thousands of activists converged from around the country to stand in solidarity with the water protectors protesting the construction of the $3.7 billion Dakota Access Pipeline. There will be a screening of the documentary, followed by a conversation with some filmmakers.

Tuesday, Nov. 14

Harvest Dinner, Community Event

6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Location: To be announced

Ron Hall and Roe Bubar, owners of Arikara Farm, worked the farm this year to engage students, family and the community to support our farm as we grew traditional food and heritage turkey to bring about the harvest for our Community Dinner. Come join in the “Indigenous Food Revolution” to learn how the earth is our teacher and food is our medicine. Arikara Farm and NACC are pleased to support this Indigenous Community Dinner.

For more information please visit www.nacc.colostate.edu or call 970-491-1332.

See the link to the original article here.

Oct 24
Love1

Mississippi Delta NHA wins National Park Service Award

By News

MDNHA Receives National Park Service Centennial Award for Oral History Program

CLEVELAND, MS. (October 11) – The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area recently received 2016 National Park Service Centennial Awards for creating the Delta Jewels Oral History Partnership.

The cultural heritage interpretation project honors the lives of unsung Mississippi Delta church mothers featured in Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom, a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalism professor Alysia Burton Steele. The MDNHA was the only National Heritage Area to receive a NPS Centennial Award this year.

“We are honored to receive this esteemed recognition from the National Park Service for this important cultural heritage development project,” said Dr. Rolando Herts, director of The Delta Center and executive director of the MDNHA. “The fact that Delta State and the MDNHA are acknowledged together truly demonstrates the power of partnerships and collaboration when telling the Delta’s story.”

For 18 months in 2015 and 2016, the Delta Jewels Oral History Partnership’s community gatherings engaged over 1,000 Mississippi Delta residents, visitors and supporters. The gatherings took place in diverse, welcoming venues throughout the state including universities, churches and tourism and cultural centers.

“We are thrilled with the results of the Delta Jewels partnership,” said Dr. Myrtis Tabb, chair of the MDNHA. “This program was one of our very first and was extremely successful right off the bat. We are eager to build upon that success with continued partnerships that will help share the diverse stories of the Mississippi Delta.”

The Delta Center continued to host presentations with Steele in 2017, which have focused on community impacts documented in the Delta Jewels Oral History Partnership 2015-2016 Report.

Most recently, these have taken place at the National Heritage Areas Southeast Region workshop in Atlanta, Georgia; the Smithsonian African American Interpretation Workshop in Charleston, South Carolina; the NPS Collaboration Clinic in Biloxi, Mississippi; and the Association for African American Museums conference in Washington, D.C. In addition, Herts and Steele have been invited to present at the upcoming Oral History Association conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“We have used the report as an interpretive and educational resource, which enhances the storytelling experience,” said Steele. “In addition to photos from the community events, the report includes survey results from participants. An overall program rating of 4.9 out of 5 clearly indicates that sharing the Delta Jewels’ oral histories have had positive impacts in the communities we engaged.”

The MDNHA and The Delta Center commemorated the 2016 NPS Centennial through other projects and events. Together, they organized an opening reception with Delta State University’s 2015 Winning the Race conference featuring former NPS director Bob Stanton.

In addition, the MDNHA Passport to Your National Parks program attracted NPS Centennial travelers, and a MDNHA promotional videowas screened at a NPS Centennial film festival in Atlanta. Since its release, the video has been viewed over 20,000 times on social media.

The Delta Jewel Oral History Partnership 2015-2016 report is available online at The Delta Center. View the MDNHA promotional video on their homepage.

The mission of The Delta Center is to promote greater understanding of Mississippi Delta culture and history and its significance to the world through education, partnerships and community engagement. The Delta Center serves as the management entity of the MDNHA and is the home of the International Delta Blues Project and the National Endowment for the Humanities “Most Southern Place on Earth” workshops.

press releases news Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area NPSsoutheast region NPS Service Centennial Award nps centennialhisto
Oct 17
Love1

Yuma’s Heritage Area Benefits Local Recreation and Fishing

By News

This article is a good shout-out to our Heritage Area partners over there in Yuma. Keep up the good work! For the full article, click here:

Excerpt from “An Underrated Bass Fishery United This Town on the Colorado River”:

“It was 107 degrees in the September sun in Yuma, Arizona, and yet people were out bass fishing. Twenty years ago, this would not have been the case. But Yuma’s renewed focus on its river, the mighty Colorado, is an extraordinary story of diplomacy and determination that has resulted in benefits for the local economy, outdoor recreation, and Yuma’s people. I was able to witness this firsthand on a recent canoe trip through the Yuma Heritage Area’s wetlands restoration sites, through the downtown park—now vibrant after struggling in the late 20th century —to below the Ocean to Ocean (“peace”) bridge—rebuilt quite literally to bring together residents of Yuma on the river’s east bank with members of the Quechan Reservation on its west bank, with whom relations had been poor.”

Photo courtesy of J. Jakobson.

Oct 10
Love1

Clean Water. Great Beer.

By News

Loving the shoutout from Odell Brewery. It’s great to have a community partner recognizing the importance of healthy forests and clean rivers. Check out the full article from the Nature Conservancy here.

Exerpt from the article:

COREY ODELL, ODELL BREWERY

“Odell Brewing is engaged in OktoberForest because we are passionate about our most valuable resource: water. As a brewery, water makes up approximately 95% of our finished product so without access to clean water, we have nothing to offer our consumers.  Fort Collins water comes directly from the Rocky Mountains through the Cache la Poudre River. Forest health and water quality were brought to focus in 2012, when the High Park Fire devoured a huge section of forest above our town followed by a 100-year flood event in 2013. This series of events inundated our City with ashy, muddy water for a long time after.  Ensuring the health of our forests is vital to both the quality of our beer as well as our mental well being. Add a beer to easy forest access and you’ve got yourself a great recipe for an adventure year round.”

Oct 03
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Colorado State University Spotlights Water Resources Archivisit, Patty Rettig

By News

Exerpt from full article: https://source.colostate.edu/provosts-council-engagement-spotlight-patty-rettig/

How have you, your program or students benefitted from what you have learned as an engaged faculty member? And, has there been any sort of reciprocity – or two-way learning – with the communities outside of CSU that you have been involved with?

An archival repository that collects historically important materials from outside its home institution is inherently dependent on engaging with the appropriate communities. The Water Resources Archive cannot be isolated and effective at the same time. From the beginning of the Archive in 2001, with the assistance of numerous university water folks along the way, I have been active in the Colorado water community, listening to issues, learning about organizations, and meeting individuals.

The outcome of my work, as far as saving and making available historically important water-related documents, benefits not only students who might be interested in using such materials for research, but also the whole state and anyone around the world who might want to learn about the important achievements related to Colorado water. The water community also benefits not only through having their heritage prioritized, preserved, and honored here, but also through events we have held, such as Water Tables, which allows them to both learn from us and teach us – and each other – more about our common history.

The best example of reciprocity that I have is a recent one, when I began working with the Land Rights Council in the San Luis Valley. They needed assistance with their historical documents and, though wary of outsiders, were open to discussions about the Water Resources Archive’s expertise. I in turn learned a great deal about their needs and concerns, and it has resulted in the start of a great partnership to preserve their history.

Sep 25
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Unheard Voices: People of the Poudre Presentation

By News

Heritage Culturalist Volunteers Denise Fisher and Robert Ward presented on the Northern Arapaho people along the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area on Friday September 22 at the Farr Regional Library in Greeley, CO. The event spurred interesting discussion and fostered intriguing questions. It also highlighted the Poudre Heritage Alliance’s Video Series on the Northern Arapaho, which can be found here. The speaker series continues with talks on September 29 and October 6. See above for more info.

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