BLM News Release
For Immediate Release:October 27, 2008         
BLM Anasazi Heritage Center 
970-882-5600

Reduced Hours, Free Admission at Anasazi Heritage Center

DOLORES – The Bureau of Land Management’s Anasazi Heritage Center will adapt to the changing season with a slight reduction in museum hours, and the suspension of all entry fees through the coming months.

Beginning November 1st and continuing through February 2009, the museum will remain open seven days a week from 10:00 a.m. though 4:00 p.m. It will close only on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

The regular $3 adult admission will not be charged until March 1. Minors and nonprofit educational groups are never charged.

The remains of 12-century Escalante and Dominguez Pueblos are on the museum grounds, adjacent to a paved and wheelchair-accessible nature trail.  At the Center, children can discover archaeology and the world of the Ancestral Puebloans while earning official certification as a “Junior Explorer.”  Junior Explorers seek out hidden artifacts in the museum, and use both computers and their own imaginations to time-travel into and learn about the past.

The museum shop, managed by the Canyonlands Natural History Association (CNHA), offers a unique source for holiday gifts with exclusive books, sweatshirts, jewelry, music, and children’s items. Sales support the museum and related projects on the Colorado Plateau.

For hikers and explorers, the museum provides maps and information about Canyons of the Ancients National Monument as well as the surrounding region.

In addition to the museum’s permanent displays on local archaeology and regional history, a Special Exhibit Gallery features changing exhibitions on a variety of topics. A Gesture of Kinship, the current exhibit about growing up Navajo in southeast Utah, will close on October 31. The next exhibit, " The Old Spanish Trail,"  will open on November 28 (the day after Thanksgiving) featuring old Spanish colonial artifacts and images from the historic route,
once described as ‘the longest, crookedest, most arduous pack mule trail in the history of America."

The Anasazi Heritage Center is 3 miles west of Dolores on State Highway 184. Programs are supported by seasonal fees and donations. For more information, call the Center at (970) 882-5600 or visit its web site at www/blm.gov/ahc.

-BLM-