CRIA invites community members to join us for the free annual Chimney Rock National Monument Volunteer Training Days on Friday and Saturday, April 21st and 22nd.  CRIA offers a great, in-depth training program in a fun environment to anyone interested in joining our amazing team of volunteers.  After the two-day training, new volunteers will receive extended training with veteran volunteers at the site until they are comfortable in their new positions. Another perk of becoming a volunteer at Chimney Rock National Monument includes outings to other archaeological sites. Later this spring, volunteers will have the opportunity to visit Salmon Ruins and Aztec Ruins.

Friday, April 21st is designed to orient new volunteers to CRIA and the Monument. We’ll meet at the PLPOA Clubhouse (230 Port Ave.) at 8:30 for instruction, and then carpool to the Monument after lunch, weather permitting, for a tour of both trails.  Volunteers will be split into two groups that will be led by an archaeologist and one of two Native American Puebloan guest speakers who will give their unique and personal perspectives of the site occupied by their ancestors over 1,000 years ago. (Jemez tribal member: “Brophy” Joseph Toldeo and Zuni tribe member: Octavius Seowtewa.)  Lunch will be provided. Anyone planning to attend must call the CRIA office at (970) 731-7133 to register by end of the day Friday, April 14th.

Saturday, April 22nd, is for all the CRIA volunteers. Please meet at the PLPOA Clubhouse at 8:30 AM to check in.  The program will begin at 9:00am and end around 4:30pm. Lunch and snacks will be provided.  In addition to special speaker Paul Reed, the day will include updates for 2017 from the CRIA office and the Forest Service as well as recognition of volunteers’ contributions in 2016.

Chimney Rock Interpretive Association (CRIA) is proud to have stimulating speaker, Paul Reed, on Saturday at this year’s Volunteer Training Days. His presentation on The Complexity of Chaco Canyon: A View from the North will go beneath the surface to explore the uniqueness and magic of the ancient Puebloan society headquartered at Chaco Canyon and extending across the Four Corners area. Reed has conducted fieldwork and research in the Southwest for more than 30 years, and is currently a Preservation Archaeologist with the Tucson, Arizona-based Archaeology Southwest; for 16 years he has been a Chaco Scholar at Salmon Ruins, New Mexico. Among his other interests, Reed leads tours to Salmon and Aztec Ruins, Chaco Canyon, the Chuska Valley, and the Navajo Country, and gives public presentations on different topics in southwestern archaeology and history. Together with a group of research partners, Reed has recently initiated a research project – the Edge of Cibola Project – supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will investigate the southern Chacoan area periphery and the Mogollon interface (from Grants, NM south to Quemado, NM) in the period from 1150-1450.

CRIA is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that runs the daily operations and interpretive program at Chimney Rock National Monument in partnership with the USDA Forest Service and the San Juan National Forest. For more information about the Chimney Rock 2017 Season of Events please visit www.chimneyrockco.org.