For an exciting day of viewing bison and learning about Ice Age American Indians, travel in a group with knowledgeable guides on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. The educational outing, “Experience Soapstone Prairie Natural Area”, has been organized by the Global Village Museum of Arts and Cultures.
Soapstone Prairie Natural Area (SPNA) is located about 25 miles north of Fort Collins on the Wyoming border. The area encompasses more than 28 square miles and is renowned for its unique bison herd and cultural resources.
Experienced guides Daniel Owen and David Bayer will provide an overview of SPNA as well as the history of the bison onsite. Once dominant on the American landscape, bison were nearly eliminated in the late 1880s before their successful recovery. Attendees will be shaded under a picnic structure for this portion of the excursion.
Following lunch, participants will enjoy a quarter-mile walk up a gentle slope to the Lindenmeier Archaeological Site. The site gained cultural significance in the 1930s through excavations that conclusively dated human habitation in the Western Hemisphere to at least 10,000 years ago. By establishing an Ice Age American Indian in North America, it put to rest the theory that people had come to the Americas only a few thousand years prior to the Europeans’ arrival. The guides will recount this amazing story, and the short walk uphill is on a paved, ADA-accessible trail.
Daniel Owen and his wife, Alice, serve as hosts for the museum’s Global Adventures club, designed for those who love to travel, want to recount their travel experiences, delight in sharing stories of travel, and/or dream of traveling one day. Owen is a volunteer naturalist and master gardener who has led tours in Colorado and around the world.
David Bayer taught biology while serving as a trail guide at a local nature center in Wisconsin. He has worked as a horticulture agent, volunteered as a naturalist and guided interpretive hikes for the City of Fort Collins.
Participants will depart on a passenger van from the Global Village Museum at 9:30 a.m. and return no later than 5 p.m. Tickets are $50 per person and include a box lunch with water. Registration, which is limited to 15 people, and a signed waiver, are required at globalvillagemuseum.org. Once registered, registrants will receive an email to indicate their box lunch choices.
Registrants will also receive one free admission to the museum and its main gallery exhibit, “One World, One Family,” which portrays the beauty of indigenous civilizations. The museum’s hall gallery features photographs of Native American objects by David O. Marlow. Both exhibits run through Sept. 21.
The Global Village Museum is located at 200 W. Mountain Ave., and museum hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Regular admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors and students, $1 for ages 4-12 and free for children 3 and under. Adult tours receive discounted admission of $3 per person. For more information and closure dates during the change of exhibits, visit globalvillagemuseum.org or call 970.221.4600.