Autumn colors and still-hot days!

The calendar says it is late September and early fall, and the emerging yellows, reds and oranges in many plants match the calendar. But the daytime thermometer still reads like it is a month earlier. We are getting much cooler evenings...we had a light frost a few days ago. So, summer and autumn seem to struggling as to who is in charge. In spite of the struggle, it is quite lovely out there...I took this photo a few minutes ago just outside the Horseshoe Lodge...the bright color up on the higher distant ridge is a patch of aspen in its glorious autumn garb.

Speaking of the Lodge...the east wing is having recycled cellulose insulation pumped in as I type these words. Sheet rock follows, so we are steadily moving along!

Meanwhile, the west wing is nearly full this week with a Seasons of Change women's retreat taking place. My office is right above the kitchen with the wonderful aroma of dinner-in-the- works wafting through my open window.

Lots going on at MPEC!

As we are around the mid-point of the summer, there is no lack of activity in Pueblo Mountain Park. Along with summer flowers like goldenrod, Kansas gayfeather, and golden aster blooming (thanks to some badly needed rain the last part of July and the first week of August) and the end of our busy summer camps last week (we served around 200 campers, ranging from kindergartners through high schoolers), we are now gearing up for the start of our Earth Studies program in a couple of weeks (all 1200+ 5th graders from Pueblo City Schools will come to the park 6 full days over the school year for outdoor-based education). And while several bears continue to be spotted in and around the park, construction on the East Wing of the Horseshoe Lodge is moving along right on schedule. Here are a couple of photos of the dormitories and restrooms, all framed with plumbing going in as I write. I project the East Wing (and the entire Horseshoe Lodge Renovation Project) will be complete around mid-fall!

A relatively quiet fall day at MPEC!

A delightfully cool mid-November Saturday in Pueblo Mountain Park saw the labyrinth be brought very close to completion. A small but dedicated group of volunteers completed, but for a few finishing touches, the final outer paths by laying the last few hundred stones while I cemented in four beautiful wildlife stones carved by Beulah artist John Clay. Meanwhile, the pond appears to be on its way to putting on its winter cover of ice...if the chilly nights persist, that is. Time will tell. The changing leaves are losing most of their color as fall grows older. A great day in the park. ~Ranger Dave

Busy day at MPEC!

Pictured here is Maya Avina taking advantage of the warmer days to set the beautiful tiles on the new benches around the lodge's fire circle. Maya and several local artists created lovely Nature-themed tiles to decorate the stone pillars...come up and see for yourself just how beautiful these are. And here are a few of the 70 or so Earth Studies students (from Corwin and South Park Schools in Pueblo) finishing up a day of basic ornithology lessons (birding) with the necessary assessments that we do to quantify the impact of our programs on academics. We are pleased that this school year, students are performing an average of 48 percentage points higher on post-tests than they did on the pre-tests they took a few weeks earlier. And, I am also pleased to say that it sure feels and looks much more like spring in the park today - that is, spring minus the wind. We have a wildflower hike scheduled for Sunday the 18th at 10am, and a Lodge Open House set for Sunday between 2 and 4pm. Please join us for one or both of these. Happy trails, Dave

Art meets Fire Circle at MPEC!

Maya Avina and several local artists and art students from CSU-Pueblo teamed up to make a beautiful series of Nature tiles. These tiles will soon adorn the rock work at MPEC's new fire circle benches in front of Horseshoe Lodge. This past Friday, Maya delivered the tiles...here are photos of some of them. As soon as we get a stretch of milder weather and schedules allow, we will get these added to the circle benches.

MPEC drums in the Winter Solstice!

About 30 of us acknowledged the "return of the light" drumming around a warm fire in front of MPEC's Horseshoe Lodge as daylight began to slip away on Sunday evening. Winter solstice, the day of the year with the least amount of daylight and the most amount of darkness, marks the lengthening of each day as the sun begins climbing in the southern sky.

Horseshoe Lodge hosts first overnight retreat!

After months and months of so many details and so much work creating MPEC's new Retreat Center at Horseshoe Lodge, we got to do a hands-on test of the new facility. I am so pleased to say that it went really well...comments from 13 women who travelled from many places, including North Carolina, Florida, California, British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario were very positive and confirmed what we already believed...MPEC has built a beautiful facility that has taken the 1930s work of the New Deal Era workers who built the Lodge and made it into a lovely facility that will be a lovely place to retreat to Nature for many many years.

Upon returning home to Wisconsin, Lee Miller put at her blog, "What did I experience? No hub-bub. Beauty everywhere. Clean air. Brilliant stars at night. Pine trees that tower high into the sky. Animal tracks. Hiking trails. Ponds and bubbling brooks. Beautiful snow. Sunshine. And the lodge - full of cozy comfort. It was majestic, just majestic."

Jo Hatcher said, "Wow. What an honor to be the first person to sleep in the beautiful Hideaway Room. The bear decor in the room kept me company and I felt peaceful and relaxed. Seeing the snow right outside the windows was like magic, an elixir that I needed for my tired and weary self. It was simply a treasure to be in this cozy room. Knowing that it had been decorated by loving hands from a special community of people was sacred to me."

It's been a long time since I blogged...

...to say we've been busy is an understatement. The last couple of months have been so full at MPEC, dominated by gearing up for and starting the 2009/2010 Earth Studies program for all Pueblo City Schools 5th graders, and completing Phase 2 of the Horseshoe Lodge.

Painting, furniture, kitchen needs, and creating the many systems to support our new overnight facilities are why I haven't blogged. I am very happy to write that the west wing's 11 overnight rooms plus 8 restrooms plus a couple of breakout rooms plus the fully upgraded kitchen plus the beautiful dining area all look great. Many generous volunteers and donors stepped forward to bring this home stretch part of Phase 2 to completion. We just put it all to the test with a 5-day retreat rental this past weekend, when 13 women from around the US and Canada arrived for a retreat-coach training. All in all, the Lodge and our systems performed very well - the rooms were warm and the showers were hot (thanks to our biomass heating system), the food was great, and all had a great time. We still have a few kinks to work out, but Phase 2 of the Lodge is essentially complete, save for a few projects currently in the works.

Simultaneous with all of this has been a great start to our Earth Studies program...nearly every week day since the last week of August, 60 - 75 students are in the park for hands-on environmental education. New this year, all students from the Beulah School are participating in Earth Studies as well (we modified the curriculum to accommodate all K-8 students).

The park itself has seen October bring quite a bit of snow. This morning's 1.8" brought the total snowfall for the month to almost 19", and it's been snowing all day, with projections for snow through tonight and into tomorrow. October 2009 snowfall looks like it will top 24", which is more snow than October has seen in many years. This may be a great year or snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the park.

I hope to blog a bunch more in the coming weeks, sharing photos of the recent weeks of programs and lodge efforts...the rooms have turned out beautiful, and we'll soon be ready to take rentals. And blogs on the park's natural areas, as this fall morphs into winter (which seems to be happening early this year). Happy (snowy) trails, Dave

It's a Colorful Painting Festival at the Horseshoe Lodge

We've just completed 9 days of painting fun with volunteers coming from all over to help us paint the 21 rooms and 340 feet of hallway : one coat of primer and one and two coats in some rooms. YES..IT'S HUGE AND PAINT IS FLYING EVERYWHERE.

Plus on Saturday local artists came to create murals and others special art pieces to grace some of the rooms. This is going to make the Retreat Center at MPEC the place to come for rest, learning, and inspiration. Here are some of the views of the past few days.

The hallway was killer...and took primer plus paint by the 5 gallon bucket.
Here is our weekend Park Caretaker Beth Walsh donating time to help with the task.

It got fun when the Artists arrived to get creative. Pictured above is two of them in the Celestial Seasons room that will inspire it's guests to contemplate the night sky.

Butterflies are important ways to learn about Nature and are something we teach about at MPEC. What a better way to help people see some of the local species than to create a Butterfly Bath for moments of contemplation at the end of a long hiking day?

Even some of the much neglected historic picnic tables cried out for sanding and paint renewal and our volunteers popped to it and responded with gusto.

AND NEXT? the 25 new doors arrived and Tuesday, August 18 the staining and polyurethaning of all of them will begin. stop in for an hour before your hike if you can...every hour could help make a huge difference with these doors

MPEC's Summer Busier Than Ever!

So much is happening at MPEC these days (except lots of blogging, apparently). A sampling: we are facilitating our final 2 camps this week; the overnight rooms in the west wing are nearly ready to paint; July's rain continues a nice wet summer; and our Yoga in Nature Hike went very well this past Saturday. And so many other programs have taken place, including Nature Toddlers, Sketching in Nature Workshop, and Family Nature Gathering. MPEC continues to be busy busy busy providing opportunities for people to learn about and connect with Nature.

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 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).

Busy times at MPEC!

The last month has been full of many projects and activities at MPEC. One thing we haven't been doing is shoveling or plowing snow - less than 3" of snow fell in the park in February. We are all hoping that March delivers lots of wet snow, although the first few days of March have been so warm with lots of wind. Our fingers are crossed. Here's a picture of the park's "ready-for-lots-of-snow" landscape!

Along with lots of Earth Studies sessions (we're teaching the basics of birding this session), Thursday evening yoga, guided hikes and other programs, we've been working on our Interpretive Center. We've been building display booths and getting displays put together. Here is our bird display coming together. There are feeders outside the windows for up close viewing, which the birds have happily found.

I am most pleased to report that we have successfully raised the funds for Phase 2 of the Lodge Project. So, as the biomass boiler project progresses towards completion (I cautiously project that we'll be heating the lodge with our new biomass boilers by the end of March), we will begin construction on the west wing in just a couple of weeks. By this fall, the west wing's overnight rooms should be up and running, along with our kitchen and dining area. We are beginning to look at planning some multi-day programs for the fall, and, if you have an event (e.g. family reunion, business or other retreat, etc.), please give us a call if you'd like to schedule a rental. This photo of the west wing is one of the "before" photos, and I look forward to sharing the "after" photos in the not-too-distant future.

Biomass boilers arrive at MPEC!

MPEC is one step closer to heating the Horseshoe Lodge not by burning a fossil fuel, but by burning biomass, in the form of wood collected through forest-thinning fire mitigation efforts in Pueblo Mountain Park. Ponderosa pine forests were significantly less dense in pre-settlement days, kept that way through frequent low-intensity fires, usually started by lightning. Decades of fire suppression have resulted in unnaturally dense conditions more prone to catastrophic wildfire. Carefully thinning the park's forests will result in a healthier ponderosa pine forest ecosystem, less chance of a destructive wildfire, and fuel to heat the Horseshoe Lodge. Here are photos of the delivery of our 2 GARN 2000 boilers. We hope to have these in operation soon. Many thanks to the Governor's Energy Office, the SEP grant program, the Stepp Foundation, the Frank Lamb Foundation, and all the individual donors for supporting this worthy "green" project. Keep visiting MPEC's blog for more updates on this and other MPEC projects and programs.

MPEC's Biomass Boiler Project!

A break in the weather allowed for the pouring of the foundation of our Biomass Boiler Building on this Christmas Eve. We project that before winter is over, we will be heating Horseshoe Lodge utilizing our new Biomass Heating System. We already have a hot water system installed in the Lodge, currently buring propane as fuel. The biomass system will utilize 2 GARN 2000 boilers that burn wood (which will initially come from fire mitigation and other forest cleanup efforts in the park) to heat the water that heats the lodge (as well as domestic hot water needs). We calculate that this will save us nearly 70% of the cost of burning propane for our heat. And, it is much more environmentally friendly, burning a renewal fuel instead of a fossil fuel. According to the forestry and energy scientists, "utilization of woody biomass for bioenergy can help mitigate greenhouse gases, contribute to the development of healthier forests, bolster rural economies, and reduce our nation’s dependency on foreign oil." A win-win for all of us!