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  Home Page » Opinion » Editorial » Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde

Funding approval will help park better serve visitors

Twenty-two million dollars for a curation facility and visitor center at the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park is included in an appropriations bill now sitting on the president's desk.

If President Obama adds his signature - and there is no indication that he will not - construction will begin next year, and by the autumn of 2011, visitors to Southwest Colorado will have another way to experience the park. Among other benefits the construction will provide, a new visitor center effectively will lengthen the visitor season for Mesa Verde. During the winter, the roads to many attractions are closed, and cold, windy weather doesn't lend itself to lengthy contemplation of the accomplishments of the ancestral Puebloans. Although the park is open year-round, when snow falls, the drive up the mesa ranges from nerve-wracking to life-threatening. Soon, winter travelers will be able to stop at the visitor center and learn what Mesa Verde is all about.

Even during the warmer months, some visitors won't make the time-consuming drive to the ruins. For those who do, parking can be tight and ruins can be crowded. A visitor center near the highway will offer opportunities and education for those who have limited time or are only mildly curious, and it will serve to lure the truly interested tourists to the attractions within the park. In short, it will add to the experience of all visitors.

Those who care about southwestern archaeology should be particularly pleased with the funding for the curation facility. For many years, millions of artifacts have been stored under substandard conditions. The new building will allow them to be more properly curated and made available for scholars.

The artifacts are both priceless and irreplaceable, but more to the point, responsibility for their stewardship falls to the Park Service. It will now be able to properly care for them, preserving an important legacy for future Americans. Park Service officials were sensible to divide their proposal into two halves, perhaps doubling the odds of at least one facility being funded. That was wise planning, considering the economic challenges confronting the federal government.

Funding and constructing both segments of the project at once is also wise and cost-effective, allowing the Park Service to benefit from the economies of scale available to them. Construction costs are not likely to decrease further; this is a good time to build.

Congratulations to Mesa Verde and its private supporters for pushing this project through. The park is an important economic driver in this corner of the state, and expanding visitor and research opportunities will benefit the local communities. It meshes perfectly with the mission of the park. It's a positive development all around, and it couldn't come at a better time.