For millenia this immediate mountain forest, 7500-9400 feet elevation in the mountains west of Boulder Colorado, is in direct continuous relationship with Ute people, knowing only a handful of settlers since 1858. To this day the land breathes this reality.
For centuries Bands of Utes belong to these mountains (see map on Our Circle page) and far beyond. Navajo (Diné) are in these mountains, and Apache, Arapaho and Cheyenne are in “the plains” in what is now called Boulder Valley, before European invasion.
Connota, Fred A. “A History of the Northern Ute People” 1982. Ned Blackhawk, The Rediscovery of America, Yale U. Press 2023.
The US passes the Homestead Act 1860 and forces the Utes off this land, promoting European miner and rancher settlement.
“The Civil War added fuel to the fiery trial consuming Native America.” Ned Blackhawk, The Rediscovery of America, pg. 300.
In this forest, mined areas are kept distinct from grazing and living; pristine continuous montane meadows-forests remain intact.
Fort Chambers, on a site donated by a local Presbyterian church founder, is the mustering site for Boulder/Gilpin County etc. volunteers who join Methodist Minister/Commander John Chivington in the Sand Creek Massacre, which Gov. Evans praises for opening the floodgate of settler expansion into Boulder County. Captain Silas Soule and Lieutenant Joseph Cramer prevent their men from participating in the massacre. 1864.
In 1876, Wesley Brainerd and partners Shed & Talcott establish Camp Talcott (later called Brainerd/Brainard Township) at the mouth of Tuscarora Gulch in Lefthand Canyon, and channel water from Lake Audobon to Tuscarora Placer via a series of manmade ditches, innovating the use of electricity to power local mines.
After 1993, settler-custodians, dreaming of a future Indigenous led- indigenous (as in Latin “sprung from the land”) research crucible on Tuscarora, quietly seek Ute and Local North American Indigenous people to guide custodianship of local mountain forests into the future.
Settler-custodians create W’E (Ward Cultivating Whole Environments) 501 (c) (3) in 1998, and ICP (Initiatives For Creativity and Peace) in 2000.
Settler-custodians in ICP continue ongoing wholistic relational care/learning with the local Tuscarora-Spring Gulch forest 8000-9400 feet elevation. 1993-2026
Bao-Bao Fest – inauguration of Adjei Abankwah’s annual African Dance, Music, Storytelling festival. CU Denver, Fox Theatre & Bantaba, Boulder. ICP: Program conception covering Middle Passage; infrastructure, funding. 2004.
ICP urges County to prioritize Local and Tribal Indigenous input in BERT talks. Research on impacts of trails on environment. 2019-2025.
Lefthand Fire blackens a south-easterly portion of this forest. October 2020.
Lefthand Fire mitigation intervention by USFS and TWC alerts mountain custodians to the fact that if this land is to remain the “sanctuary forest” it still is, they will have to become more public and vocal about relating with this land. ICP adopts the dba name Culture In Place (CIP) to affirm that one can enter a new place bearing a valid internal culture, respecting, listening, learning, honoring the culture of the new place. CIP informs government agencies that CIP will care for the forest from now on. Spring-summer 2021.
Elk Kill by strangers with no relationship with this land, drawn by the 2021 fire. First meeting with CPW (Colorado Parks & Wildlife) to protect our children and more-than-human relatives from hunter strangers in the context of current laws.
Treasures of the Boulder Creek Floodplain. Zoom webinar re. plans for BERT (Boulder to Erie Regional Trail) that passes thru valley lands protected in the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan. Stephen Jones artwork/photography/ creation/narration, Local NA Indigenous consultant-guests; host BCNA. CIP: ‘Commissioner’. May 2022
Re-membering 1864: From Fort Chambers to Sand Creek…the Future is NOW. Public memorial & truth telling of the founding history of Boulder, co-produced by Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribes of OK and Remembrance Planning Circle. Dairy Center for the Arts Boulder. CIP: Sponsor, rough-cut video production. October 2022
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CIP efforts to educate City & County officials/employees re. seminal cultural and historic importance of Valmont Butte and her environs in all directions in Boulder Valley, including sacred meadow and Fort Chambers; and re. restoration of Valmont Butte as a settler ethical obligation. 2019-2025.
CIP: Ongoing research in divergent scientific literature – water, forest, earth core, biology, biosphere, atmosphere, climate et al. 2020-2026.
Forestry and Lake custodianship in Boulder Valley including weed & invasives removal and lake care. 2024-26.
FORT CHAMBERS: Created/Distributed poster encouraging Boulder Valley and mountain folk to give input on City of Boulder’s community survey on City’s Fort Chambers “Heal the Land; Heal the People” project, Boulder’s first land-based attempt to address its illegal genocidal founding. And to press the City to prioritize land back according to Local and Tribal Arapaho & Cheyenne requests. 2024.
Boulder County Montane/Upper Montane Forest care continuing since 1993.
Calm Burn: planning a calm burn to restore threads of ‘historical continuity’ in this forest. With BVCD (vegetation inventory), NA Indigenous guardianship, Lefthand Fire Protection District. Projected for Fall 2026
First local forest-future meeting is held, with ancestors of original inhabitants and local forest dwellers present. 2026.
Participating in formation of mountain forest collaborative 2025-2026.
Study and attempts to mitigate unnecessary and destructive interventions of USFS “St. Vrain Forest Health” project in the Tuscarora-Peck-Spring Gulch & Gold Lake areas of the local forest. 2025 fall, 2026