Apply for Infant/toddler quality expansion grants
The Early Childhood Council of La Plata County, as a recipient of the Colorado Infant and Toddler Quality and Availability Grant (HB 13-1291) and a grant from the EL Pomar Foundation, in partnership with the Southwest Colorado Early Childhood Collaborative, is accepting applications from child care programs (homes and centers) in Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma and San Juan Counties.
Expansion Grants increase child care slots for infants and toddlers by offering a one-time expansion grant to licensed programs or programs pursuing licensing to accommodate a greater number of children ages 0-36 months in the five-county region of Southwest Colorado.
Maximum amount of award is $1,500 per an infant/toddler slot, and the application deadline is July 1.
Apply at: http://ecclaplata.org/quality-improvement/ or contact Jessica Edelbaum, regional collaboration coordinator, at (970) 247-0760 or jessicae@ecclaplata.org.
Distillery hosts The Lindells
The Mancos Valley Distillery presents The Lindells and their rock on Saturday, May 30.
Doors open 5 p.m., and music starts 8 p.m., with special guest Stan Davis. Cover charge is $3.
The Lindells have been playing their rock in the West since the early 1980s. Over the past three decades, the duo has released a half-dozen records and played stages from The Steaming Bean coffee house to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. JJ Cale gave his endorsement as he waltzed across the dance floor during their opening slot soundcheck.
Kim Lindell’s spellbinding vocals are reminiscent of Margo Timmins, Eliza Gilkyson, Natalie Merchant and Emmy Lou Harris. Chris Lindell’s honest vocal style conjures Bruce Cockburn and Richard Thompson. The twin guitars of the duo serve portions of The Sadies and Crazy Horse with a little New Riders for a taste of country twang. The drums and bass are handled by Ole Bye of Vera Chrome and Chuck Barry of The Beautiful Losers Society, respectively.
The two songwriters have a large original catalog of songs evoking desert dreams and high mountain heartache. Imagine Townes Van Zandt sharing a few shots with Kate Wolf backstage at a Cowboy Junkies concert.
Special guest will be longtime friend Stan Davis, of Napa, Calif. Davis has played with The Lindells, The Pond, and The Beautiful Loser Society. His songs sit right along side Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark.
Check out their web page at: http://lindellsmusic.com/index/.
Joe McMurrian performing in Sunflower
Joe McMurrian, a modern acoustic country blues and roots-based songwriter/musician who pushes the boundaries of traditional roots music and performance, will perform at the Sunflower Theatre in Cortez on Friday May 15.
The show opens with a performance by local Mancos band Sweetwater Station.
McMurrian is a powerful live performer and storyteller who can blow the roof off any stage while feeding the heart with honesty, warmth and truth. He has learned from the old masters, lived the music, survived the life and carries forward a valuable tradition. At the heart of his performance is the knack for storytelling, bringing characters- from the faceless to the legendary- to strikingly real life while freely transitioning between structure and improvisation.
McMurrian hails from the San Joaquin Delta in Northern California. He grew up in the small farming town of Brentwood next to the Antioch river and surrounding Delta region.
For more information go to www.sunflowertheatre.org
Durango Nature Center opens for season
The Durango Nature Center is now open on Saturdays through Oct. 31, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The center is free for members and children 12 and under, and $5 for nonmembers. It offers miles of hiking trails, river play, a picnic pavilion, a junior naturalist badge and an interpretive trail.
The upper 35 acres of the site is composed of public access and parking area, a welcome center, gift shop, and docent greeter. In addition, visitors will see prairie dog colonies, bird boxes, a children’s habitat play space, an ancient ponderosa pine cross-section with marked rings, xeriscaped landscaping, and a sage-rabbitbrush habitat. A footpath leads visitors down to 105 acres along the Florida River. There, trails wander through a wide variety of habitats – riparian, meadows, oak woodlands, piñon-juniper forests, and desert arroyos. Trails are marked with signs at ending points and junctions, as well as with interpretive markers and maps along the way.
Workshops on at least two Saturdays per month. Visit http://www.durangonaturestudies.org/center for details and directions.
Preschool program accepts applications
The Colorado Preschool Program (CPP) is accepting applications for the 2015/2016 school year.
This program offers free tuition at select preschool centers for qualifying 3- and 4-year-olds born before Aug. 31, 2015. Info: Brittany Conner at 970-739-5728 or brittanyconner@cortez.k12.co.us. The deadline for application is May 20.
Forest programs receive awards
The San Juan National Forest and its partners has received the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Regional Forester’s Honor Award this week for launching a program that offers college students experience in resource-management careers. The Four Corners Federal Lands Internship Program puts students to work alongside Forest Service and National Park Service staff.
“The program is extremely beneficial to students seeking a career in land management,” said Tana Verzuh, Fort Lewis College Career Services Coordinator. “They get great on-the-ground experience and exposure to the federal agencies and nonprofits.”
“I’m very appreciative of this recognition from the Forest Service,” said Cliff Spencer, Superintendent for Mesa Verde National Park. “The Southwest Conservation Corps and Mountain Studies Institute also deserve a lot of the credit for bringing the program to fruition.”
In addition, the San Juan National Forest, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Trout Unlimited 5 Rivers Chapter and Mountain Studies Institute were honored in April with the Forest Service’s national “Rise to the Future” award for Collaborative and Integrated Aquatic Stewardship. The agencies and their nonprofit partners are being recognized for restoring native Colorado River cutthroat trout to a portion of the species’ historic range in the Hermosa Creek watershed. The effort began in 1991 with habitat improvement, construction of instream barriers, removal of nonnative fish and restoration of native trout. More than 17 miles of Hermosa Creek have been isolated to allow genetically pure trout to reoccupy their former habitat. The restoration project is also used as a working stream laboratory for Fort Lewis College classes.
The Cortez Journal
