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This year is flying by! Will you be around Moab, Utah on September 26th? Make sure to stop by the Moab Information Center for our annual National Public Lands Day Celebration! More information is below. We hope to see you there!


Otherwise, we have an art-packed newsletter this month! Read about the Moab Bureau of Land Management's Artist in Residence, along with a great article from the Monticello BLM's Artist in Residence, Leslie Ann Hauer. The National Park Service is also looking for a 2025 Community Artist in the Park. We have an update from the US Forest Service, along with another great interview with Sam Wainer, CNHA Executive Director, on KZMU Moab Community Radio!


We hope you have a great September!

Photo: Snow on the Abajos by Leslie Ann Hauer

CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION

National Public Lands Day Celebration Event

Stop by the Moab Information Center Thursday, September 26th from 5pm-8pm for our annual National Public Lands Day celebration event. Join us, along with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the US Forest Service for live music by The Butch Cassidies, free swag, and more! Our friends at Leave No Trace, Bears Ears Partnership, Grand County Active Transportation and Trails, Friends of Arches and Canyonlands, Moab Science Festival, and Utah State Parks will be there, too!

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT - MOAB FIELD OFFICE

2024 Artist in Residence Announcement

The Moab Field Office is excited to announce this year's Artist in Residence, Suzanne Jackson!


Jackson will be with us October 8 – 29, adventuring out in this glorious landscape to inspire her beautiful plein air paintings and sketches.


This is the 3rd year for the Canyon Country Artist-in-Residence program. Art is a unique way to promote appreciation of the variety of landscapes within the Canyon Country District and increase knowledge about the BLM’s mission. This year’s residency is being hosted by the Moab Field Office.

Jackson comes from a long background in landscape design and has held roles in private organizations and with public land management agencies, such as the National Forest Service. She is an avid hiker and backpacker and is enthusiastic about spending time on the river — having been on trips through Alaska and the Grand Canyon. She has been busy with plein air events and various art and landscape projects of late and is very excited to be joining us for the residency here in Moab! Jackson hopes to share her love of the outdoors and the “magical connection between people and nature.”


"Canyonlands Natural History Association is excited to partner with BLM for their Artist in Residence program,” said CNHA Operations Manager Joleen Thornsberry. “This program not only provides artists with a unique opportunity to engage deeply with the unique environment of SE Utah but also allows our visitors to experience art in new and transformative ways. We look forward to the inspiring work that will emerge from this collaboration." 


Read the full announcement here.

Photo: Watercolor painting of sage grouse by Suzanne Jackson

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT - CANYON COUNTRY

Spring 2024 Artist in Residence Experience

By Leslie Ann Hauer

I spent two weeks in the Bears Ears National Monument, Utah, between April 30 and May 13, 2024, as one of two artists selected for the Bureau of Land Management's Artist in Residence (AIR) program. I spent my time in the southern part, based in Bluff.


The Bears Ears National Monument was established by President Obama in 2016, with an area of 1,351,849 acres (more than 2,000 square miles). The NM includes the Bears Ears Buttes, Valley of the Gods, Cedar Mesa, and numerous sites of archeological, cultural and religious importance to Native American tribes who have lived in and around the Colorado Plateau for generations.

The Bears Ears was my third AIR. The first was in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, along the Columbia River north of Grand Coulee Dam, and the second was in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Southern Oregon, between Ashland and Klamath Falls. I found that each place has a different feeling, and my goal as an artist is to capture that unique essence in my paintings, using brush strokes and colors to represent the complexity of a landscape without painting every tree and pebble.

At home, earth colors are shades of basalt gray and sagebrush green. The Cascade-Siskiyou area is very green, and in fact, I thought of calling one of the paintings “50 Shades of Green!" Earth colors in the southern part of the Bears Ears in southeast Utah are vibrant orange, red, and gold sandstones, dotted with the occasional somber dark green piñon and juniper tree. I was lucky to be on site in the spring, because I was able to paint the cactus flowers, a bright and brilliant contrast to the landscape!


Some of the efforts are more successful than others, it’s part of the challenge. And sometimes the “place” strikes back, like the day I tried to paint an old tree the day after a rainstorm… and it turned out to be gnat heaven. The occasional breeze was nice because it would blow the little critters out of my ears… until the breeze blew over the easel and the painting in progress (obviously a masterwork) fell face down into the palette. When this happened a second time, I packed up for the day because it was clear someone was sending a message!


Would I do it again? Yes! The rewards may not be fame and glory, but it certainly is the satisfaction of making—or hoping that you are making—a contribution to the place. It’s always interesting and stimulating to confront the challenge of a new and different place, with different weather, different colors, different plants.

Photo 1: Comb Ridge, Morning Touch | Photo 2: Dancing Cactus | Photo 3: Rock Wall, Valley of the Gods

Photo 4: Butler Wash

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Call for 2025 Community Artist in the Park Applications

The Southeast Utah Group of parks will begin accepting applications for the 2025 Community Artist in the Parks (CAIP) program on September 1, 2024.


Created in 2009, the CAIP program highlights the connection between local artists and the surrounding landscape, particularly Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Hovenweep and Natural Bridges national monuments.


The selected artist spends a minimum of 24 hours each month, April through October, creating original works of art in the participating parks and sharing inspiration and the creative process with visitors from around the world. The artist’s work will also be sold at participating parks’ stores operated by Canyonlands Natural History Association and online at shop.cnha.org


Community artists must be residents of Grand or San Juan counties in Utah, or Montezuma County in Colorado. For more program details and application information, visit go.nps.gov/CAIP.


Interested artists may contact Karen Henker with questions at 435-719-2142 and send application materials via email to us. The deadline to submit applications is September 30, 2024.

US FOREST SERVICE

Manti-La Sal National Forest Updates

Forest Service trail crew, Youth Crews and Trail Volunteers have been busy this summer maintaining and building new trails on the Moab/Monticello Ranger District.

  • The crew rebuilt the bridge at the Hazard County trailhead and continued brushing out the Trans La Sal trail.
  • Grand County Active Trails and Transportation crew has been working on Burro Pass and Jimmy Keen Trails
  • Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance worked on fences and trails in Woodenshoe Canyon
  • The Colorado Outward Bound School assisted with the Beaver Basin Trail
  • Moab Cyclery and Trail Mix brushed out Shumanns Gulch Trail
  • The Zuni Ancestral Lands Crew worked on the Tuerto Trail and brushing the motorized Camp Jackson Trail in the Abajos
  • Canyonlands Field Institute worked on trails around Warner Lake
  • Grand County Motorized Trails Committee volunteers brushed out motorized trails and roads in the La Sals


Thanks to all of our crews for keeping trails open and maintained!


Check out September's Manti-La Sal Happenings.


For the most up-to-date information on the forest, check out the U.S. Forest Service Manti-La Sal National Forest Facebook page!


Photo: USDA Forest Service photo from USFS Manti-La Sal Facebook

CANYONLANDS NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION + KZMU

Interview with Sam Wainer, CNHA Executive Director

Sam Wainer, CNHA Executive Director, was interviewed on Moab's local radio station KZMU, during the show This Week in Moab.


"In 1967, the Canyonlands Natural History Association began operating out of the Rock House at Arches National Park, offering educational materials for park visitors. Nearly 60 years later, Sam Wainer, executive director describes the work of one of the oldest and yet most undersung non profits in Moab. in addition to the information they provide about our area, They give millions of dollars of support to a wide variety of scientific projects, including scholarships to high school students."


Listen here.

Upcoming Events

Canyonlands National Park 60th Birthday

Friends of Arches and Canyonlands Park is hosting a series of events September 10th through 13th for Canyonlands National Park's birthday!


Stop by the Moab Information Center on Friday, September 13 for a ice cream social hosted by FOAC and CNHA! Get an up-close look at Rescue One, the Search and Rescue truck. There will also be a special screening of "SAR Stories," followed by a Q&A session with members of the Search and Rescue team.


Visit their Facebook for the full event line-up!

Fall Membership Event

CNHA, together with Bears Ears Partnership, invite you to spend the day exploring, learning, and being inspired by Bears Ears National Monument on Saturday, October 5, 2024. This event is free for members and one guest!


We will be visiting Bears Ears Education Center, Sand Island, and Butler Wash. Transportation will be provided for travel inside the monument, along with lunch, snacks, and water.


RSVP to Denise by email (denise@cnha.org) or phone (435-259-6003 ext. 480) by September 16th.


Questions? Reply to this email or call Denise. We hope you will join us!

Become a Member

Community Artist in the Parks: Annie Dalton

See how Annie turns her inspiration into art, or join her (with your own art supplies) for a side-by-side creative endeavor. Bring water, sun protection, and your imagination.


Learn more and check out September dates here.


Can't make it but still want to support? Check out her artwork here!

MIC Free Lecture Series

Join us at 5pm for our free lecture series at the Moab Information Center!



  • September 12 | School to Science Program by Klayre Humphreys and Gema Arreola
  • October 3 | Geology Unfolded by Scott Ritter
  • October 17 | All in a Days Work: Archaeology of the Manti-La Sal National Forest by Allison Aakre



Check out full details and all lecture dates here.

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Canyonlands Natural History Association (CNHA) is a non-profit organization, which exists solely to assist the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management in their education and visitor efforts. Proceeds from sales support these agencies’ educational, interpretive, and scientific programs on the Colorado Plateau.


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