Thursday, September 20, 2012

Obama Designates Chimney Rock a National Monument Sept. 21

Update 9-21-12: Here is the official proclamation.
President Barack Obama will officially designate Colorado's 4,700-acre Chimney Rock Archaeological Area as a national monument on Sept. 21. The designation is part of a two-year bipartisan effort to help preserve the site with assistance from the federal government and cooperation of the indigenous tribes that reside there.

The site possesses deep cultural significance to residents of the nearby Southern Ute Indian Reservation, whose ancestors watched lunar standstills occur between a pair of the stone pillars. MMN