Chimney Rock Interpretive Association (CRIA) is proud to host a special presentation given by Larry Baker on the Ancient Astronomical Observatory at Salmon Pueblo on Thursday, March 9th. Focus will expand to include the development of the structure, details of the architecture, and Salmon’s relationship to Chaco Canyon on Thursday. The lecture is free of charge and will take place at 7:00pm, following CRIA’s potluck at 6:00pm at the Pagosa Springs Ross Aragon Community Center located at 451 Hot Springs Blvd.

From 1993 to the present, Larry L. Baker has served as the Executive Director of the San Juan County Archaeological Research Center and Library at Salmon Ruins. The Research Center and Library as well as the 11th-century pueblo, pioneer homestead, and Heritage Park are owned by San Juan County, New Mexico, and managed under a lease agreement by the San Juan County Museum Association (501

[c]3).  As a Southwestern archaeologist with over 37 years of professional experience, Mt. Baker has been involved in numerous archaeological endeavors including: research, cultural resource management, and ruins stabilization/historic preservation.  Research interests focus on prehistoric and historic architecture, archaeoastronomy, and the Ancestral Puebloan periods of northwestern New Mexico, having been involved in the Salmon Ruins and Rio Puerco Valley projects during the 1970s, under the direction of Cynthia Irwin-Williams.  His work in cultural resource management has allowed him to meet the needs of the oil, gas, mining, and public works projects.  He serves as the Principal Investigator of the Center’s archaeological consulting firm, Division of Conservation Archaeology, which has undertaken 3,357 individual projects from 1993 to 2010. Within this framework, he offers his skills in ruins stabilization and historic preservation to various agencies.  He has organized a team of Native American specialists, who have been preserving prehistoric and historic structures in the Four Corners Region, including not only Salmon Ruins, but numerous Ancestral Puebloan sites under multiple jurisdictions, National Register pueblitos on New Mexico State Trust Lands, and historic homesteads managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The public is invited to join CRIA for their potluck preceding the lecture at 6:00pm. Please bring your favorite dish to share and join our volunteers to learn more about this non-profit organization which operates the interpretive program at Chimney Rock National Monument in partnership with the USDA Forest Service and the San Juan National Forest.