Notable State Historical Fund Grant Awarded to City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Program

Dated Press Release
NOTICE: This press release was released 1,419 days ago!
(Release Date: Jan-03-2006)

CONTACT: Daylan Figgs, Senior Environmental Planner
Community Planning and Environmental Services
Natural Resources Department
(970) 416-2814

NOTABLE STATE HISTORICAL FUND GRANT AWARDED TO
CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL AREAS PROGRAM
The City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Program, through a partnership with the Fort Collins Museum and Colorado State University, has been awarded a $25,000 grant by the Colorado State Historical Fund to conduct a cultural resource assessment at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area. While this grant will include revisiting the State and National Historically Registered Lindenmeier Archaeological Site, the focus of the work will be to assess the surrounding landscape for prehistoric, protohistoric, and historic cultural resources. This includes other archaeological sites, architectural resources consisting of above-ground structures related to the historic settlement and development of the property, and roads, trails, and other similar structures. Dr. Brenda Martin, City of Fort Collins, and Dr. Jason LaBelle, Colorado State University, will head up the investigation.

According to Dr. LaBelle, "I am very excited to begin an archaeological survey of the Soapstone Prairie, as it no doubt contains a rich record of archaeological sites spanning the last 12,000 years. Lindenmeier is so well known, but there are many other kinds of sites out there, from the entire human tenure of the area. Here we have the opportunity to document and preserve sites representing a variety of ways of making a living. As well, we hope to be able to reconstruct the local climatic record, which has shifted considerably from the time Folsom groups occupied the Lindenmeier site until homesteaders of the 19th century. Archaeologists from Colorado State University are committed to helping the City document the cultural resources so that future generations can appreciate the rich cultural history seen in this important corner of the Great Plains and Rockies."

Soapstone Prairie Natural Area is part of the larger Laramie Foothills: Mountains to Plains project, a partnership with the Nature Conservancy’s Phantom Canyon Preserve and Larimer County’s Red Mountain Ranch. Soapstone Prairie Natural Area is located 25 miles directly north of Fort Collins and approximately five miles west of I-25. It consists of over 18,000 acres and was purchased by the City in 2004 with sales tax revenues from the City's Building Community Choices and the City's portion of Larimer County's - Help Preserve Open Space initiatives. These revenue sources are dedicated to the City's Natural Areas Program. "This is an exciting, collaborative project and includes Larimer County Parks and Open Lands who we approached to also submit a grant to the State Historic Fund in order to conduct the same type of work at Red Mountain Ranch. Having received a grant themselves, we will be able to share the cultural resources information gathered in the spring and summer of 2006 to better understanding how the landscape was used throughout the centuries," says Daylan Figgs, senior environmental planner and project manager for the grant.

Furthermore, the Fort Collins Museum is excited about what the research will provide to them. "Information from these surveys will add to the understanding of our current collection of artifacts that came from the area, most all donated to the museum by the Coffin family beginning in the 1940s" says Linda Moore, Fort Collins Museum collections manager.

Along with the area’s rich archaeological and ranching heritages, Soapstone Prairie Natural Area is comprised of relatively undisturbed shortgrass and mixed-grass prairie, wetlands, riparian areas, and shrublands that provide prime wildlife habitat for migrating, as well as resident, wildlife. When the site is open to the public, visitors will also be rewarded with fantastic views of the high plains steppe to the east, Fort Collins to the south, and foothills and the Mummy Range to the west. Cliffs, unique rock formations, canyons, arroyos, intermittent streams, springs, and dry washes will offer many recreational opportunities such as hiking, biking, horseback riding and wildlife watching. For further information, contact Figgs at 416-2814.