The mission of the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area is to promote, preserve, protect,and interpret its profound historical, religious, environmental, geographic, geologic, cultural, and linguistic resources. These efforts will contribute to the overall national story, engender a spirit of pride and self-reliance, and create a legacy in the Colorado counties of Alamosa, Conejos and Costilla.
With 11,000 years of documented human habitation, the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area is a crossroads of the centuries. Here a unique blend of Native American, Hispano and Anglo settlement is reflected in the diversity of the people, art and traditions. The geographic isolation of our high desert valley and the peoples’ enduring ties to the land have given rise to a rich cultural heritage and ensured its preservation. The area’s fertile cultural landscape is complemented by remarkable natural resources, including the mighty Rio Grande, majestic Rocky Mountain peaks, Great Sand Dunes National Park, National Wildlife Refuges, and the high mountain desert, all of which lend the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area an unparalleled beauty that offers a sense of retreat and a powerful source of inspiration for visitors.
Three Primary Goals:
- Support development of a vibrant heritage tourism sector that stimulates preservation, economic development, and community revitalization.
- Tell the stories of the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area in ways that build community pride and support preservation, living traditions, economic development, and community revitalization.
- Cultivate excellent management that provides regional leadership, reflects community values, and achieves sustainability.
Primary Interpretive Themes
The delicate interplay of wind, water, and sand have shaped the San Luis Valley’s unique landforms and contributed to its biological diversity. Though receiving little rainfall, the Valley’s hidden aquifers support extensive wetlands that are home to globally unique plant and animal species and are a migration stopover for many birds.
Interwoven with the Valley’s natural history is a very long and rich human history. The San Luis Valley served prehistoric and Native American cultures as a seasonal hunting ground where fowl, game, and edible and medicinal plants were bountiful. Select landscape features within the Valley have long been revered as sacred.
The San Luis Valley is a place where different peoples have converged for thousands of years. The Valley’s profound historical, religious, and cultural convergence remains visible in the landscape and can be experienced in its communities, art, food, lodging, and events.
The lower San Luis Valley lies at the intersection of the Hispano Southwest and Anglo Rocky Mountain West where the flavor of Hispano culture thrives. The Valley’s relative isolation has preserved a living cultural tradition where art, language, architecture, folklore, and religious traditions remain evocative of the region’s early Spanish and Mexican settlers.
What is a National Heritage Area?
A National Heritage Area is designated by Congress for its unique nationally significant qualities and resources. It is a place where a combination of natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources have shaped a cohesive, nationally distinctive landscape.
A National Heritage Area employs a partnership approach to heritage development involving collaborative planning around a theme, industry and/or geographical feature that influenced the nation’s culture and history. This planning strategy encourages residents, government agencies, nonprofit groups and private partners to agree on and prioritize programs and projects that recognize, preserve and celebrate many of America’s defining landscapes.
A National Heritage Area seeks short- and long-term solutions to conservation and development challenges by fostering relationships among regional stakeholders and encouraging them to work collaboratively to achieve shared goals.
Board of Directors
President Mitchell Jarvies
Conejos County Commissioner
Vice President Jason Medina
Costilla County
Treasurer Karen Hinojos
Conejos County
Karen currently serves as the Executive Director for the Conejos County Housing Authority. Prior to this, she served as Manager/Analyst III of Guarantor Client Services for Nelnet, Inc. for 28 years. She received an Associates of Arts Certificate in Liberal Arts and Philosophy from Front Range Community College and a Business Administration Certificate from the Technical Vocational Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She currently serves as President on the Saint Joseph’s Parish Board of Directors and as Secretary on the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo Foundation Board of Directors.
Secretary Sharleen Farmer
Conejos County
Sharleen Farmer was born and raised in the Denver area. Ten years ago, her and her husband were looking to purchase property and came down to the valley. She was not too sure about this place with very few trees but after spending one night under the valley sky – she was hooked! They spent the next seven years camping out on their property in Costilla County, enjoying the incredible sunrises and sunsets and of course the stars! Three years ago, they decided to make the move permanently and bought a house in Conejos County, retired from their regular jobs, packed up and moved down to the valley. In a brief time, this wonderful place has become home! They cannot imagine being anywhere else. Sharleen and her husband have always been interested in history, exploring ghost towns, and rockhounding. Now they can almost do all of that in our back yard. They are excited to learn more about the history of this area and the heritage of the people that have called it home. They are both very excited to contribute to our community, and she is honored to serve on the Heritage Board representing Conejos County.
Jeff Owsley
Alamosa County
Jeff Owsley is 4th generation from the San Luis Valley and a graduate of Alamosa High School and Adams State University with a concentration in marketing. He spent roughly half his career in Austria, Detroit, Dallas, Albania, Macedonia and Colorado Springs, before coming back to his family’s homeland to work with La Puente as Operations Manager. He has also been Director of the SLV Small Business Development Center, active in regional tourism efforts and founded the Rio Frio 5k on Ice. Jeff currently is the Community Relationship Manager for Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) in South Central Colorado and offices in the exact location in the Kavley’s Business and Tech Center in downtown Alamosa where his grandfather, Hartley Owsley, once operated Kavley’s Department Store as its co-founder, along with partner, LD Kavanaugh. His other grandfather, Ted Curtis, founded Curtis Bros Furniture in Alamosa, which stayed in the family for 3 generations. Jeff and his wife Hallie enjoy the outdoors and give back through trail building and maintenance, having adopted a section of the Continental Divide Trail and two other trails in Conejos County. They have three grown children, Charles, Laura and John.
Robert Espinoza
Costilla County Commissioner
Robert Espinoza, Costilla County Commissioner
Anna Lee Vargas
Conejos County
Barbara Kruse has lived in the San Luis Valley since 1983. Born and raised in Denver, she got a job in Alamosa teaching high school biology and has never had a desire to leave. Every season here has taught her about the ecology, history, farming, geology and cultures that surround us. She believes that the more we educate others about our rich environment the more the people who live and visit here will cherish and protect it.
Aaron Montoya
Alamosa County
Aaron Montoya is an anthropologist whose work has taken him from southern Mozambique to southern Colorado to work on educational projects and conduct research on natural and cultural heritage. He currently directs a project to improve undergraduate STEM education at Adams State University funded by a National Science Foundation Hispanic-Serving Institution grant. He implements culturally relevant and place-based education initiatives to expand the sciences and he conducts research to document how the sciences are making progress to be more responsive to diverse publics. Building from his research in Mozambique, his current work asks how education in Southwest North America can better cultivate bicultural development that supports both students’ scientific identifications and their cultural formations rooted in their heritages and social experiences. For his work, Dr. Montoya has been awarded a IIE Junior Fulbright fellowship, University of California Eugene Cota Robles fellowship, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University, and Ford Foundation fellowship.
Chris Rodriguez
Costilla County
Mr. Chris Rodriguez is a Colorado native from southern Colorado. Mr. Rodriguez was raised in Chama, CO a village outside of San Luis. He moved to San Luis, the oldest Town in Colorado, in 1992 after marrying his wife Tammy and the birth of their son James.Become a Board Member
Staff
Julie Chacon
Alina Marquez
Jessica Sommers
Brandon Gonzales
Historian/ResearcherAlliance Of National Heritage Areas
The Alliance of National Heritage Areas works collectively to protect and promote the people and places that tell America’s stories.
We are a membership organization of congressionally designated National Heritage Areas and partner-affiliated organizations promoting the professionalism and benefits of the program through education and advocacy. Together, we facilitate and celebrate partnerships that improve our effectiveness and impact.
Our goals:
- Serve as one voice on interests related to all NHAs
- Educate key constituencies about success and image of the NHA program
- Facilitate strategic links among NHAs and partners
- Enhance the organizational capacity of its members
- Provide a network for sharing best practices regarding a variety of disciplines
Of the 55 National Heritage Areas, Colorado hosts three of them: Cache la Poudre River, South Park, and Sangre de Cristo. They each possess natural beauty, adventure, and history. Discover and experience Colorado’s culture, history, and recreational activities at all our National Heritage Areas through the Colorado Heritage Journey.
2022 Annual Report
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Management Plan
Los Caminos Antiguos Scenic & Historic Byway Management Plan