The Ute Ethnobotany Project
Learning Garden

Grand Junction, Colorado

Curtis E. Swift, Ph.D.
Colorado State University Extension

Raising a teepee

Members of the Northern Ute Nation raise the teepee - Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Native American History Month Program
Hampton Inn, 1980 N. Townsend Ave., Montrose, CO

Topics: Ute Cultural Rights and Protection, Ute Ethonobotany in the Great Basin States, Ute History in Colorado, The Ute are Back in Rocky Mountain National Park!, reating your own Ute Garden and The Colorado Wickiup Project.

The complete program is located HERE

Does your group or class want to learn about Ute indian history in Western Colorado, plants they used for food and fiber and how they lived?

Check out what you can learn by visiting.

Donate to this and other projects at The Gardens.

The Etnobotany Ute Learning Garden Is a joint project of the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Agriculture U.S. Forest Service, Mesa State College, Colorado State University Extension and its Colorado Master Gardener program and the Northern Ute Indian Nation, Uintah and Ouray Reservation.

“An ethnobotany garden is a demonstration and teaching garden that displays how native cultures used native plants in daily life.  Specifically for this area we would be talking about Native American tribes.  It can also be used as a method of teaching the public about native landscaping and low water-use planting in their own landscapes.” – Tom Fisher 5/15/08

The overall design of the Learning Garden was developed by Aline LaForge, Archaeologist, BLM. The site covers 2.5 acres of undeveloped Mesa County land located immediately west of the Mesa County CSU Extension office and adjacent to the existing demonstration gardens and Arboretum. Mesa County graciously provided us the opportunity to develop this site.

The Concept

  • The end product will be a Living Laboratory/Learning Garden available to local schools, clubs, senior groups, members of the Ute Nation and all area visitors.
  • The scope of the lesson plan is broad, from an adaptive vegetable gardening learning area for people with limited mobility and/or limited space, teaching strategies for living and eating from a xeric landscape, to traditional Native American gardening skills, traditional Ute structures and miniature plant communities with representative species from the life zones in and around the Grand Valley.
  • The entry to the Learning Gardens is either through the patio on the south side of the Extension office or through the gardens on the north end of the building.
  • The Adaptive gardening portion of this project will provide local agencies a facility accessible to people of all types of mobility.
  • Volunteers from our partners have worked on the garden and its development.
  • Members of the committee met with Betsy Chapoose, Director of Ute Tribe Cultural Rights and Protection, and Clifford Duncan, Traditional Elder for the Ute Tribe, to develop the project. The design of 05/22/08 takes their recommendations into consideration.
  • Many of the trees and shrubs were planted thanks to Jeff Ventlin's students and their helpers prior to the end of the 2008/2009 school year.
  • Shade structures modeled after Ute shade ramadas will be installed at a later date.
  • A teepee was raised on Wednesday, June 3rd by students from the Northern Ute Nation. The teepee is the focal point for this project. .
  • A docent program will be developed and tours scheduled at a later time.
  • Interpretive signs will be used at a later time to identify the various plants and their uses.
  • Grants and donations will be pursued to cover the cost of this project.
  • Donations for this project can be made through the Colorado State University Foundation Mesa County Arboretum Project #56453.

Major contributors to the Ute Ethnobotany Learning Garden project have included:

  • Chelsea Nursery - trees and shrubs
  • Wayne Hopper, ALCC CLT - placing boulders and soil to build planting mounds, development of walkways
  • Sorter Construction - soil used to build the planting mounds
  • The Colorado Department of Transportation - for boulders and loading of trucks hauling boulders
  • Grand Junction Pipe and Supply - for irrigation wire and truck and driver to haul boulders
  • RainBird Corporation - the ESP-LX Modular controller and ET Manager module for the controller.
  • All Season Rental - loan of trencher to install irrigation system
  • Master Gardeners - packing of walk ways, assistance on planting days teaching students proper planting techniques, watering, irrigation installation assistance and many other tasks.