FLAMES AND FURY FAN THE WINDS OF CHANGE AT MESA VERDE

Mesa Verde. Co. Mesa Verde National Park is a survivor, especially when it comes to fires.

The years were 1934, 1959, 1972, 1989, 1996, and most recently two eruptions in the year 2000, July and August.

The month of July was no different than others. Hot and rain-starved, southwestern Colorado succumbed to nature's fury on the afternoon of the 20th at the privately owned Bircher farm, close to the entrance of the park.

A thousand acres disappeared on Thursday, the first day, by Friday 5,000 more burned and suddenly it was a raging inferno for the next two days. Shooting 300 feet into the air, the flames devoured Utah juniper, pinyon pine and gambel oak. Soon thunderstorms accelerated the progression into the cliffs and beyond, clouds of smoke rising some 30 miles west.

The area was secured by aerial and ground firefighting teams, but only after it had razed an area eight miles long and four miles wide - the most devastating fire at the 95-year-old park.

The park's re-opening on Friday, August 4th was shortlived when another lightning strike near Pony Canyon on the nearby Ute Mountain Reservation started a second fire. The result was a 3,000-acre burn area that threatened Wetherill Mesa, but the damage was minimal.

The Bircher Fire will yield both positive and negative results as the 1996 fire did when 372 sites were uncovered. Oak and serviceberry have started re-sprouting, but the fragile pinyon and juniper forests have disappeared, baring the area of evergreens for the next 300 years.

Aided by the Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) team, the park will be sustained in its efforts to preserve its valuable assets.

UPDATE

I had to visit the Wetherill Mesa to see the burn area and home to some 900 archeological sites that included pithouses (built from 450 A.D. to 750 A.D.) and the cliff dwellings of the Classic period (1200 A.D. to 1300 A.D.)

In 1891 the mesa yielded an artifact collection to Gustaf Nordenskiold, a visiting Swede and his host, Benjamin Wetherill of Mancos. In 1906 Congress passed the Antiquities Act and designated the area as Mesa Verde National Park, but it was only in 1959 that excavation and restoration began as collaboration between the National Park Service and the National Geographic Society.

Take the time to visit LONG HOUSE, the second largest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde. What sets this dwelling apart is not the 150 rooms and 21 kiva, but its large rectangular courtyard or plaza. Similar to a great kiva or dance plaza, it was probably a ceremonial gathering place, except there were no walls or roof.

Long House also contained 40 burials, 28 of which were located in the trash area, wrapped in rabbit and turkey feather blankets with offerings of pottery and jewelry.

In typical village fashion Long House activities would have the women preparing meals, making and repairing pottery and perhaps children playing around them. The men would be performing ceremonial rituals in the kivas (ceremonial rooms) or they would be out hunting wild game.

The Long House residents did not have to go far for water as there was a natural seep spring at the back of the cave that provided water for cooking and drinking.

With 19 kivas at this dwelling you'll see many "round rooms" with the same characteristics described in the Cliff Palace (see MESA VERDE, MYSTERIOUS AND MAGNIFICENT).

The STEP HOUSE ruins present two "designs" - the Modified Basketmaker site (dated 626 A.D.) and the Classic Pueblo (dated 1226 A.D.).

This is the period ( 550 A.D. to 750 A.D.) when they abandoned their nomadic lifestyle of hunting and gathering and settled into small villages as farmers (men) and basket weavers (women). Their simple dwellings were pithouses with a sunken living room (dug into the ground), a firepit with ventilator shaft for fresh air and an area set aside for storage. It's widely believed these dwellings pre-dated the kivas since they were built beside each other in long curving rows, with four wooden pillars supporting the roof.

By modern standards progress came slowly, nevertheless, by 1000 A.D. the masonry pueblo began to flourish, characterized by the same features seen in the cliff dwellings - rooms stacked two or three stories high and basketry gave way to pottery.

The Ancestral Puebloans' display of rock art is exhibited on a 'petroglyph rock' where walls still stand as silent witnesses to their building skills.

The sites are endless, the stories enduring - I just wish there was more time to linger. Mesa Verde is a mesmerizing rendezvous historically and culturally.

Mesa Verde deserves every accolade and as time goes by, I know the list will grow longer. But don't take my word for it - National Georgraphic Travel declared Mesa Verde "One of 50 Destinations of a Lifetime" and it was voted the top historic monument in the world for Conde Nast Traveler's Reader's Choice Award.