San Luis Valley
The San Luis Valley is an extensive alpine valley in the United States states of Colorado and New Mexico covering approximately 8,000 square miles (21,000 km2) and sitting at an average elevation of 7,500 feet (2,300 m) above sea level. The valley sits atop the Rio Grande Rift and is drained to the south by the Rio Grande River, which rises in the San Juan Mountains to the west of the valley and flows south into New Mexico. The valley is approximately 122 miles (196 km) long and 74 miles (119 km) wide, extending from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south.
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Geography
The San Luis Valley is generally considered to comprise six Colorado counties: Saguache, Alamosa, Rio Grande, Conejos, Costilla and Mineral. The principal towns are: Alamosa, Monte Vista, Del Norte, South Fork, Creede, Saguache, Center, Fort Garland, San Luis, Antonito, La Jara, Capulin, Manassa, Sanford, Crestone, Villa Grove, Hooper, Mosca, San Acacio and a number of smaller locations. A few other counties of Colorado have some land in the Rio Grande Basin including Archuleta County, Hinsdale County and San Juan County.
Typical greasewood "chico brush" in the Closed Basin of the northern San Luis Valley in Colorado. Taken just south of the bridge over La Garita Creek on Highway 17 between Hooper and Moffat, Colorado. View is to the southeast. The Great Sand Dunes are in the background as are the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. Mosca Pass is the low point, Mount Blanca the peak on the right.The Sangre de Cristo Mountains form the eastern border of the valley. Blanca Peak is prominent at the southern end of the northernmost section of the mountains, which is known as the Sangre de Cristo Range. There are several passes, with elevations between 9,000 and 10,000 feet (2,700 and 3,000 m), giving access to the valley. La Veta pass, through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, is used by US Highway 160 and by the San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad (formerly a branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Western) tracks. Other passes used historically were Medano, Mosca and Sangre de Cristo Passes. Otto Mears was the engineering genius behind the construction of a railroad link that ran from the Arkansas River, over Poncha Pass (at the north end of the valley), and into the San Luis Valley.
The Great Sand Dunes is a famous feature of the valley. It lies directly to the west of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The dunes can reach 750 feet (230 m) high. The Great Sands Dunes National Park and Preserve is now in place to protect both the dunes and the numerous archeological sites found in the area. The natural valley aquifer is close to the surface in this part of the valley, and helps with maintenance of water levels in the San Luis Lakes, just to the west of the sand dunes.
Elevation rises as you go north in the valley to Poncha Pass, used now by US Highway 285 and historically by the narrow gauge tracks of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.
History
Utes
Prior to 1968 the Capote (Kapota) band of Ute Indians lived in the valley.[1] The Utes made a treaty of peace with the United States in 1849 shortly after the Mexican War. Shortly thereafter settlers from New Mexico established several small settlements in what is now Colorado and in 1868 the Utes were removed to a reservation in western Colorado. They continued to play a role in Saguache in the northwestern corner of the valley from the Los Pinos Agency to the west of Saguache.[2]
Spanish and Mexican administration
The area was administered as part of the Spanish, later Mexican, province of Nuevo Mexico until the area was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican-American war in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
United States administration
Extensive settlement began in the Valley, again primarily by Hispanic farmers and ranchers from New Mexico in the 1850s after the construction of Fort Massachusetts by the U.S. Army for protection against the Utes, who previously barred settlers. The history of the post-war U.S. military presence in the Valley is preserved at Fort Garland and other sites in the Valley, which became part of the Territory of Colorado in 1861.[3] The lands in the valley were surveyed by the United States using the New Mexico Meridian and Baseline, unlike the rest of Colorado. Today, the Valley has the largest native Hispanic population in Colorado; many families are directly descended from the original New Mexican settlers. The original Ute population was confined to the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Indian reservations in the late 1800s.
Land ownership and management
About 50% of the 2,000,000 acres (8,000 km²) in the San Luis Valley is privately owned. Much of the land in the Valley floor itself was originally part of large Spanish and Mexican land grants.
500,000 acres (2,000 km²) on the borders of the valley (generally adjacent to National Forest Lands) are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, BLM, a division of the United States Department of the Interior. This land is usually leased to neighboring ranches for grazing for a nominal fee. Part of the value of a ranch is its continuing lease of BLM or National Forest lands.
Public lands in the mountains surrounding the San Luis Valley are generally part of the Rio Grande National Forest and are managed by the United States Forest Service.
Large areas of private lands have either been subdivided into subdivisions of small "ranch" lots or have been sold or donated to the Federal government and make up portions of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, other wildlife preserves, and various state wildlife sites.
Agriculture and wildlife
Agriculture in the San Luis Valley is generally concentrated around the Colorado towns of Alamosa, Monte Vista and Center. Principal crops include potatoes, head lettuce and barley. The barley grown here is the main supplier for Coors beer company. Less favored areas with a shorter growing season and less access to water rights tend to be devoted to alfalfa and grazing. Broad areas, especially in Saguache County, Colorado have a high water table or are even flooded part of the year. Uncultivated land is often covered with "chico", low brush such as rabbitbrush, greasewood and other woody species. Cropland is typically irrigated with large (1/4-mile diameter) center-pivot irrigation systems, and a common feature of the Rio Grande Delta area where the Rio Grande enters the valley are large piles of potato-sized rocks screened from the soil.
The area supports a wide variety of wildlife. Sandhill cranes migrate through the valley every spring and fall. The Monte Vista Crane Festival takes place in March, centering on the wildlife refuge located six miles (10 km) south of town. Occasionally, a whooping crane can be spotted among the thousands of grey sandhills. The valley is a flyway for many migrating birds including avocets, bald eagles, goldfinches, and a plethora of hawk varieties.
Artistic community
There are over 500 known artists living in the San Luis Valley as evidenced by an onging directory maintained by Monte Vista artists' group, The Art Thing,[4] The Art Thing's membership boasts several nationally recognized artists working in various media. Monte Vista is also home to the [5] Monte Arts Council as well as several festivals and an art tour that attracts artists from as far away as California and North Carolina.
The San Luis Valley is home to four active live theaters, two at Adams State College, The Creede Repertory Theater and Rocky Mountain Stage in Monte Vista. In August there are two major Music Festivals, the Crestone Music Festival and Spanish Trails Music Festival and Mexican Rodeo. Music in the valley has two well known sponsors in the South Fork Music Association and the Alamosa Live Music Association.
Economy
Predominantly agricultural in nature, the area is also one of the poorest rural areas of Colorado. Tourism has become a more important part of the economy in recent years, coupled with attempts to establish the area as a retirement community. Adams State College, a four-year state college at Alamosa, with approximately 2,500 resident students, is the major educational institution in the Valley.[6] It is supplemented by a campus of Trinidad State Junior College in Alamosa.[7] San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center, a full service Acute-Care hospital and specialty physician clinic is the largest employer in the Valley with over 600 employees. The arts are becoming an increasing force in developing the economy of the San Luis Valley.
Solar energy
The San Luis Valley is an alpine desert environment which is conducive to solar energy production. It has the highest per capita concentration of home-based solar energy systems in the United States. There are a number of proposed industrial-scale solar-electric generating facilities which have been built or are under consideration. Colorado law requires that 30% of the power used in the state be generated from renewable sources by 2020. It also requires that 3% of the power generated be used at or near where it is generated, distributed generation.[8] There is an active market in selling or leasing land to be used for solar facilities.[9] In 2007 when SunEdison, a 8.2 megawatt solar photovoltaic plant near the town of Mosca, Colorado, was built it was the largest solar electric facility in the United States.[10] On December 11, 2009, more than 125 people gathered to respond by a proposal by Tessera Solar (affiliated with Stirling Energy Systems to install 8,000 40-foot parabolic mirrors on 1,500 acres near Saguache, Colorado. At issue was the noise expected to be generated by the numerous stirling engines to be used to position the collectors and the wisdom of industrial solar facilities.[11] There has also been controversy regarding proposed transmission lines over both Poncha and La Veta passes, which would open the door to much more industrial solar development.[9] Opposition to a proposed transmission line has resulted in possible delay in development of solar facilities by Xcel Energy which together with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association serves the valley.[12]
Notes
- ^ What is a Ute?
- ^ Material from The Western San Juan Mountains: Their Geology, Ecology & Human History
- ^ 36th Congress, Session II, Chapter 59 (28 February 1861) 12 Statutes at Large 172
- ^ The Art.Net
- ^ montearts.com
- ^ Homepage Adams State College
- ^ Homepage Trinidad State Junior College
- ^ "Colorado Increases Renewables Requirements" blog by Kate Galbraith on NYTimes.Com March 22, 2010
- ^ a b "Going Solar Is Harder Than It Looks, a Valley Finds" article by Kirk Johnson in The New York Times June 3, 2010
- ^ "San Luis Valley Home to Most Productive Utility-Scale Solar Power Plant in the Nation" Colorado Energy News, December 24, 2008
- ^ "Public meeting on solar proposal jam-packed Citizens & County scrutinize industrial solar development" by Ceal Smith, Crestone Eagle, January 1, 2010 dead link as of June 4, 2010
- ^ "Xcel seeks eased solar requirement amid dispute over transmission line" article by David Migoya in The Denver Post 06/05/2010 accessed June 7, 2010
External links
- sanluisvalley.us San Luis Valley Information Center
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Categories: Regions of Colorado | San Luis Valley of Colorado
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