What’s New in the Four Corners

What’s New

in the Four Corners

by Zach Hively

Dolores River receives proposal to become a National Conservation Area

U.S. Senator Michael Bennett and Colorado’s Dolores and San Miguel counties have drafted special land designations for a stretch of the Dolores River: a 45,455acre conservation area and a special management area of 10,828 acres. The NCA covers approximately 61 miles of the Lower Dolores.

Farmington Public Library receives NASA @ My Library grant

A $1,600 grant is intended to help the library improve its STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) offerings to the local community, including the surrounding Native populations.

Even more beneficial than the grant itself is the access the library now has to NASA events, information, and technology – including the James Webb Space Telescope launching in December.

Under the terms of the grant, the library will partner with the San Juan College Planetarium and other local organizations to create additional new programming.

Anthony D'Amato

New superintendent takes the helm at Mesa Verde National Park

Thirty-five-year National Park Service veteran Kayci Cook Collins now oversees Yucca House National Monument and Mesa Verde National Park, both in Colorado. She will also supervise the superintendent of Chaco Culture National Historical Park and Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico.

Collins has held NPS roles from Alaska to D.C. but most recently served as the superintendent of the Flagstaff Area National Monuments in Arizona.

Working at Mesa Verde runs in the family: Her grandparents lived and worked in the park when she was a child.

Miss Navajo Nation 2021-22 earns her crown

Courtesy of the Office of Miss Navajo Nation

Niagara Rockbridge won four different categories in the Naabeehó Bich’eekį’ competition: best essay, best traditional food, best butcher, and Miss Photogenic.

Rockbridge is from Piñon, Arizona, and her clans are Kinyaa’áanii, born for Hashk’ąa Hadzohi.

She ran for Miss Navajo Nation because of all the issues in the Nation that she believes need attention, and she hopes to build relationships between the Office of Miss Navajo and other departments and divisions in the Nation.

Upper Pine River Fire Protection District training 100 new EMTs

Emergency medical technicians in rural areas often must travel for training. The fire district received a $200,000 federal grant to expand learning opportunities for new EMTs and intends to train 100 people by the fall of 2022.

The fire district has previously needed to recruit EMTs and other responders from outside the area and hopes the grant will improve its ability to respond quickly to emergencies.

The grant also funds training, equipment, and supplies for firefighters and other emergency medical responders to counter alcohol and substance use disorders, such as opiate overdoses.