Central Colorado Humanists Sunday Science program for Nov. 2
“Pre-Columbian Hunting in the Alpine Tundra: The Monarch Pass Game Drive System” is the topic of the Central Colorado Humanists Sunday Science program for November 2. Art Hutchinson’s talk will focus on the Monarch Pass area game drive
and the numerous stone walls and hunting blinds constructed and used, modified and reused over thousands of years.
Game Drives are found in many areas of the Arctic and northern Rocky Mountain crest with Monarch Pass area exhibiting the southernmost known evidence of pre-Columbian alpine tundra hunting in the Rockies. These are not the famed “buffalo jumps” of the Great Plains but strategic placement of rocks across favorable tundra landscapes to accomplish similar protein capture. Hutchinson’s talk will focus on this area as well as ongoing discussions of which “tribes” may have constructed these alpine tundra sites, why the Monarch area was such a favorable location, and why the use of the high country was so important for so many centuries.
Art Hutchinson grew up on the 1860’s family ranch in Chaffee County graduating from Salida High in 1970. He attended Colorado State, receiving an MA in 1990. He retired from the National Park Service after 29 years having served as a Park Ranger at Mesa Verde National Park, Park Superintendent of Hovenweep/Natural Bridges/Yucca House National Monuments (NM), Big Hole/Canyon Creek and Bears Paw NM, Big Thicket National Preserve, and Great Sand Dunes NP and Preserve. For three years he served as National Park Liaison to the Secretary of the Interior and completed his career as Chief of Planning for the NPS Intermountain Region.
Central Colorado Humanists sponsor Sunday Science on the first Sunday of each month at A Church, 419 D Street, Salida, CO. Each presentation is informative and features a science topic that is understandable by both scientists and non-scientists. The doors open at 9:30 a. m. and the talk begins promptly at 10 a. m. Admission is free, and the public is welcome.