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House approves park visitors center for Mesa Verde
The Cortez Journal
Photo by SAM GREEN/Cortez Journal
U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, left, discusses the new visitors center plans with Mesa Verde National Park Superintendent Larry Wiese, center, and Chief Ranger Jessie Farias on Wednesday morning near the park’s entrance.
Click image to enlarge
Courtesy of the Mesa Verde Foundation
An architectural model depicts the proposed visitors center and curatorial center at Mesa Verde National Park.
We hope this will energize tourism in this area.
- U.S. Rep. John Salazar
As a national park, we want to say, 'This can be done.' We can use this as an opportunity ... to educate the public (about green energy).
- Larry Wiese, superintendent, Mesa Verde National Park
The money was requested by U.S. Rep. John Salazar, who announced the funding Wednesday at Mesa Verde. The bill contains $11.6 million for the curatorial center and $10.5 million for the visitors center. Both centers will be housed in one building near the park's entrance.
"Thank you all for being a part of this and working so hard to make this a reality," Salazar told the 25 residents and local officials. "We hope this will energize tourism in this area."
The bill - part of the funding legislation for the Interior Department, Environment Protection Agency and related agencies - now moves to the Senate. Salazar said it should pass relatively quickly.
After architectural drawings are complete, ground should be broken for the new building in spring 2010, said park Superintendent Larry Wiese.
"Eighteen months from there, we hope for visitors to walk into the doors," Wiese said. "This has been a plan, a hope and a dream of the park superintendents since the 1920s."
Initial construction for the project has begun using $25 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Projects related to that funding include new road construction, water line repair and renewable-energy systems.
These systems will allow the new center to become a 100 percent "green" building. When the building is not tapping its own energy sources from photovoltaic systems, the park will work with Empire Electric Association to purchase green energy from Empire's power supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission.
The park hopes to attain the highest, or "platinum," status for the new building under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a green-building rating system.
"As a national park, we want to say, 'This can be done,'" Wiese said. "We can use this as an opportunity ... to educate the public (about green energy)."
The new center would allow park visitors to bypass the 30- to 40-minute drive to the park's current visitor's center. The Far View Visitor's Center will turn into a Tribal Cultures Center, said Tessy Shirakawa, chief of visitor services for the park.
The curatorial portion of the building will house archaeological artifacts to be studied or displayed. These artifacts are now held in a metal building known as the "Tin Shed," which is overcrowded and does not have adequate temperature controls.
Visitors will be able to view the curatorial portion of the new building in a common lobby area.
Before the federal funding, the Mesa Verde Foundation was instrumental in funding and completing the initial architectural design for the building. The foundation purchased the 37 acres where the center will be built, but that land will be transferred to the National Park Service before construction.
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