Catch up on all that's been happening at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in our latest newsletter!
SPRING NEWSLETTER 2026
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Fostering Indigenous People’s Connection to Land......pages 1-2 Scholarships Provide Educational Opportunities for Underserved Schools........page 3 Cultural Explorations Promote Cross-Cultural Sharing in 2026...................................page 4 Between Worlds................page 5
Fostering Indigenous People’s Connection to Land “When we restore people’s connection to land, we restore their oral history; we restore their identity for future generations. We restore their cultural connection to the landscape that hadn’t seen their footprints in generations,” explains Theresa Pasqual, Crow Canyon Executive Vice President of Indigenous Affairs. For the past several years, Crow Canyon has been working to offer more opportunities for Indigenous community members to participate in our programs and connect with their ancestral homelands. This direction is inspired by years of conversations with long-time partners and new friends alike. Lyle Balenquah (Hopi), long-time collaborator and friend of Crow Canyon, explains “this is our history out here and many times we’re not given the opportunities to experience that landscape and history because of different barriers.” Continued. Lyle Balenquah and Autry Lomahongva, Bears Ears National Monument
Autry Lomahongva (Hopi and Diné) first started formally learning about ancestral sites through a Native perspective from Native mentors while training to become an Indigenous guide. One of his first visits was with Crow Canyon and Lyle. “I never knew there were that many ancestral sites near where I grew up on the reservation,” shares Autry . “My family didn’t have money for trips. It was definitely an eye-opener for me when I was able to see all these places and learn more about both the archaeology and ancestral history.” Creating space to hear and learn from more perspectives is another reason for encouraging greater Indigenous participation. “Crow Canyon takes that extra step of making sure to give Native community members a chance to tell their perspectives of the landscapes,” shares Autry. “They offer an opportunity to give back to the community in a way that keeps Native culture alive.” We are grateful for the leadership, guidance, and collaboration from our Indigenous partners and Native community members in pursuing work that supports and gives back to Native communities. Here are a few ways we are putting these goals into action: Funds for community members to participate in public programs. Private programs co-created with and for Tribal and Indigenous communities. Increased outreach to and scholarships for Tribal and Indigenous community schools to encourage participation in on-campus and Mobile Learning Lab programming. Greater opportunities for Indigenous people to create and lead programs and share their stories and lived experiences. Centering the priorities, knowledge, and leadership of living descendants rather than purely academic or institutional goals is becoming foundational in Crow Canyon’s work. Experiences like Autry’s confirm the importance of this direction. “I really like connecting back to these sites, because it’s who we originated from,” shares Autry. “I want to keep that going. It’s something so beautiful and I don’t want it to be lost.” Fostering Indigenous People’s Connection to Land (Cont’d)
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Scholarships Provide Educational Opportunities for Underserved Schools
“It means a lot for our school to receive scholarships to participate,” shares Cassie Panther, teacher at Children’s Kiva Montessori Charter School in Cortez, CO. “I don't think we would be able to come without scholarship support.” Schools and students travel to Crow Canyon from across the country for our accurate and inclusive experiential educational programming. We charge minimal fees for these experiences to help cover a portion of our costs like staffing, materials, and curriculum development. However, even minimal fees can be a barrier for many schools.
“Just busing is relatively expensive,” explains Cassie.
Crow Canyon makes it a priority to offer our educational opportunities to all schools and students, regardless of circumstances. We especially strive to welcome local schools and students from Tribal and Indigenous communities. To ensure no student or school is ever turned away, Crow Canyon is continually replenishing our scholarship funds so that schools like Kiva, which serves many Diné, Ute Mountain Ute, and Hispanic students, can participate. Thanks to scholarship funding, Kiva Montessori was able to bring three groups of students to Crow Canyon in 2025. Their fourth graders were among nearly 300 Montezuma County students to participate in our annual Outdoor Museum on the Ground program. Kiva’s 5th through 8th graders were also able to experience overnight programs. “The hands-on programming Crow Canyon offers our students is important because it teaches respect for the people who were here first,” explains Cassie. “Our students see how Ancestral Puebloans were thriving, not just surviving. They see how ingenious people were and how they were connected to the earth and environment.” While demand increases for Crow Canyon’s educational programming, schools are becoming less able to access resources. That, combined with our own funding cuts, inspired a special fundraising campaign in late 2025 to raise even more funds for scholarships. Thanks to the generosity of our amazing community, the new Educational Resilience Fund raised nearly $86k. Those funds will be used to ensure schools like Kiva and dozens of others can participate in 2026. “It's great that Crow Canyon values local schools,” shares Cassie. “Our students are excited and looking forward to coming every year now.” Want to help? You can still contribute to the Educational Resilience Fund.
In 2025: 18 schools received nearly $51k in scholarships to participate in Crow Canyon’s on-campus programming 11 of those schools were from the local Four Corners region The funds benefited 652 students 344 of those students were local
Contribute to the Educational Resilience Fund today
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This Fall, two Indigenous women, Rev. Dr. Jackie Cope (Washoe) and Alicia Benally (Cahuilla), together with Crow Canyon program manager David Boyle, will lead an intimate group of valued participants deep into the desert and mountain landscapes of their homelands in southern California. Alicia (Ali), a Crow Canyon educator, designed the program to help bring awareness to present-day Indigenous cultures in California. Resilience is an important concept for her to convey. “Indigenous people are not just a thing of the past,” explains Ali. “We are still here today; still living, breathing cultures.” Many may have never heard of Ali’s or Jackie’s Tribes before, nor are they aware of the significant number of Tribes that call California home. “I want to show the plethora of Indigenous Tribes in the area,” shares Ali. “California has 110 federally recognized Tribes and 60 more trying to gain federal recognition.” Ali and Jackie also want to show people that California isn’t all surfing and shopping. “There’s more to California. People assume we just live by the beach, but there’s other parts of California and other cultures, especially in these little communities like where Jackie and I grew up,” says Ali. One of the most important aspects of this program is that it involves and benefits the small communities that Ali references. The program is employing members from the Cahuilla community and several of the meals will be prepared by her own family. This type of community impact is something Crow Canyon’s Cultural Explorations programs endeavor to achieve more of going forward. Cultural Explorations Promote Cross-Cultural Sharing in 2026 “We really wanted to involve the community,” says Ali. “This was our chance to give back to our people. We’re giving people from our communities a voice and the chance to speak on what they know.” Two people from the Cahuilla community will also attend the program as participants, considering the importance of culturally lived experiences and accessibility. “For me and for those who will join us, this is an opportunity to visit and learn about places that were important for a lot of Tribes; places like Joshua Tree,” shares Ali. “It’s an opportunity to connect to the landscapes where our people have been. Our connection to that transcends present-day borders.”
Crow Canyon participants can expect to see more programs develop like this one in California as we strive to create more opportunities for cross-cultural sharing and connection. Learn more about Cultural Explorations and the 2026 programs at CrowCanyon.org/cultur al-explorations/
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Between Worlds
By Michael DeMarco, Crow Canyon Cultural Explorations program participant
for Glen Canyon, the waters, the lessons
The travel group of fourteen and associated gear were on Lake Powell, a human- caused body formed by damming the Colorado River at a point in Glen Canyon. We were about 20 miles up lake from the Bullfrog Marina, close to the Escalante Canyon, a feeder into the Colorado River. We set camp on a sand and rock shelf of an unnamed inlet. After a day of travel by road and boat everyone relaxed in the evening. The night sky was not static. Two meteors burned across the heaven. The first lighting a route along the backdrop of the very visible-this-night Milky Way, the second crossing it at a sharp angle. It seemed close to those of us who sat around an unlit fire pit in camp chairs all looking upwards. Most had never seen as many stars before as populated the dark now. The cosmic show of a river of stars and dust appeared through the almost black sky dome. More stars steadily came into view as eyes adjusted. We listened to Navajo stories of First Man [Orion] a guardian and First Woman [Cassiopeia] and learned of stars placed in the heaven by animals in the beginning of time to light the night. Coyote threw the unset stars [those not forming constellations] from a blanket into the night. We listened to how he claimed the brightest one as his own. It is Venus the Coyote Star, the Morning Star. I am trying to find the words to express a place in transitional equilibrium: desert but a lake, canyons and valleys near mountains, mesas, large plateaus; hot, bright cloudless days that surrender to cool, cloudless nights; standing cliffs and sandy banks; sites where water and dirt blend; barren tracts that are suddenly hosts to pioneer plants - datura, mountain nettle, cattails, lichens, soft mosses, and new ferns. Changing scenes from what was to what will be, but not all the way there yet. I am trying to find the words for the yawning earth, a great silence, the vast stillness. I look again and realize it is not still—wind kicks up, blows fine dust, sand, silt, dirt over everything. Grit gets on closed eyes, lips of water bottles, floors of the tents, the boats. An arid air wicks moisture from all things – the surface of the lake, the bodies of travelers, the clothes and towels. Slow waves bob the tied boats. The wind and water are not quiet, but there is a calming effect of the elements of earth, air, and water beneath the fires in the sky. My watch is useless away from the marina. Time is not measured by numbers. Water days begin with a predawn light at the east horizon, well before there is a sun to see. Water days end with a dimming once the sun has slipped below the western edge of earth. Light lingers for a bit, night is drawn across the sky, darkest in the east growing darker west. The darkness reveals the Milky Way.
Crow Canyon recently completed a whirlwind series of film screenings throughout the Four Corners region. The series was in partnership with the Glen Canyon Institute and featured films about Glen Canyon from each of our organizations. Many of you hopefully were able to catch a screening near you. If you missed the events, you can watch Crow Canyon’s film on our YouTube channel, @CrowCanyonConnects Glen Canyon Film Series
Who would know that it is always there unless there are nights like these?
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Crow Canyon Archaeological Center is a nonprofit organization located near Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado. Our Mission: To empower present and future generations by making the human past accessible and relevant through archaeological research, experiential education, and American Indian knowledge. Our Vision: To expand the sphere in which we operate, both geographically and intellectually, and show how the knowledge gained through archaeology can help build a healthier society. 23390 Road K, Cortez, CO 81321 800-422-8975 | info@crowcanyon.org CrowCanyon.org
On the Calendar
Marmot Cam!
April 14-17: U.S. Indigenous Data Sovereignty Summit, Tucson, AZ April 27-May 1: Tribal GIS Conference, Albuquerque, NM April 29-May 3: Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA May 17-23: Cultural Explorations travel program, Mesa Verde & Beyond: Cycling the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park May 20-23: Society for Ethnobiology Conference, Sewanee, TN June 14-20: Cultural Explorations travel program, Homelands: Jicarilla Apache June 21-July 4: Cultural Resource Management (CRM) Field School August 6-9: Pecos Conference, Mancos, CO August 24-28: National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATHPO) conference, Albuquerque, NM September 13-19: Cultural Explorations travel program, Monumental Decisions: Antiquities Act of 1906 September 21-24: Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums Conference, Spokane, WA November 8-14: Cultural Explorations travel program, Indigenous California: Then, Now, Always
Connect with the wildlife on Crow Canyon’s campus with our live feed Marmot Cam at CrowCanyon.org/marmot-cam
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