MPEC Drums in the Summer!

A cool wet day turned into a gorgeous solstice evening at Pueblo Mountain Park. The fair skies brought many folks, youngsters through not-so-youngsters to our summer solstice drum circle. Rhythms, dancing, singing, and hoola-hooping were some of the ways 50 or so folks welcomed summer.

Volunteers Transform Devil's Canyon Trail!!!

On May 30 and 31, over 100 volunteers came to Pueblo Mountain Park to work...and work they did. Guided by the terrific Denver-based group, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC), these volunteers transformed the tired and badly-eroded first few hundred yards of the Devil's Canyon Trail into a beautiful, welcoming trail. After improving the muddy first couple of hundred feet, crews closed off the old trail and constructed a few hundred yards of brand new trail, built right into the steep slope of Douglas and white fir. The result is a trail we all are very proud of. Pictured here are crews getting ready on Saturday morning in front of the Lodge; getting down and dirty on the trail; MPEC's Ranger John Oates teaching a game to the project's Young Stewards (lots of families came out for the weekend - parents worked on the trails while the youngsters learned about Nature and did their own service project in the park); and the finished trail! Please come up and hike the new trail for yourself!!!

Spring Arrives!

If you love spring, it's hard not to love these splendid May days in Pueblo Mountain Park. Wildflowers are kicking in a bit later than usual, but the last half of May looks like it should be terrific for seeing lots of different species in bloom. Pictured here is Larkspur Violet, fairly widespread in sunny grassy areas among ponderosa pines, but actually quite rare outside of the park. The snag (standing dead tree) sports several cavities (created by woodpeckers over the last few years) and a violet-green swallow on one of the branches. As I was taking this photo, several swallows were swooping around the tree, and a couple of pygmy nuthatches were noisily checking out one of the cavities as a nest site. The green landscape, wildflowers, birds in breeding mode all say spring - what a joy is spring!

MPEC's Biomass Boilers are burning!

Our new biomass boilers are being put into operation this week. Here are some photos of MPEC Maintenance Supervisor Rick Langdon and Director Dave Van Manen firing up one of the two GARN 2000 boilers that we installed this winter. Each boiler is surrounded by 2000 gallons of water that is heated by burning wood. The heat is transferred into the Lodge's hot water heating system as well as into the domestic hot water tanks. The wood comes from thinning our very overgrown forests. Ponderosa pine forests, prior to being managed to eliminate all fires, used to burn every 10 - 15 years (usually started by lightning). These fires kept the forest much less dense than it is today; less fuel usually kept the "cool" fire on the ground (ponderosa pine trees have thick bark and can handle being scorched and still survive), resulting in an open forest with a grassy understory. A century of fire suppression has created dense overcrowded forests that are much more prone to catastrophic wildfires. By removing some of the trees, we are creating a healthier and safer forest, plus fuel for heating the Lodge (reducing our propane consumption to almost nothing). A win win for all!

Spring Wildflowers!

I took a hike on yesterday's lovely afternoon and was happy to find several blooming wildflowers along the trail. Since February's first spring beauties, the dryness had kept many other species from blooming. But the recent moisture has brought many plants to bloom. Here are three species I saw along the Tower and Mace Trails: mountain bladderpod (the yellow flower), kinnikinnick (white and pink), and Pasque flower (lavender). Bladderpod is a mustard that can bloom as early as mid March. Kinnikinnick flowers become red berries that are a favorite food of bears (it is also called bearberry). And "Pasque" means Easter in Latin - true to its name, it is in bloom as Easter approaches. Happy Spring!

Spring snow at Horseshoe Lodge!

Here's a couple of photos taken Thursday morning, April 2, on my morning walk to the office (after 3" of now fell the evening before...a lovely early spring morning - early spring in this part of the world usually means snow), including the morning sun over a snowy Horseshoe Lodge. When I think of my many years of commuting to Pueblo, or getting to various places around the country for work as a musician, or my subway or bus commutes to Brooklyn Tech High School, Hunter College, and A & R Recording Studio in New York, I must say, my five minute walking commute to the office is a real treat!

As March Becomes April at MPEC!

It has been quite a week here at MPEC...along with our Earth Studies program getting back in gear with CSAC testing and spring break behind us, Phase 2 of the Lodge Project has begun. And, Phase 1B (Biomass Boiler Project) is about complete...we still have to pour some cement around the new building, but the boilers are in and this coming Monday (April 6), we plan do do the first firing of the boilers. Here are photos taken around MPEC and Pueblo Mountain Park this past week (spring snow, west wing framing, biomass boilers).