Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

Ameohtse’e Ochinee Prowers

Ceran St. Vrain

Charles Bent

Dr. Edward Lewis Hempstead

John Smith, Trader

Kit Carson

Mestaa'ėhehe (Owl Woman)

Mountain Men at Bent's Fort

Bent's Old Fort, a large trapezoid-shaped adobe structure enclosing a central plaza was originally built around 1833. The Fort was reconstructed by the National Park Service in 1975-76 from historical documentation, drawings, and conjecture. Problems with the reconstructed Fort’s maintenance began with its adobe blocks and render as the structure was nearing completion. This essay reflects the state of the reconstruction in 1992, when it was sixteen years old.

When the climate changes enough, the vegetation communities growing in any given place will also change. Under an expanded bimodal climate zone, some plant communities in western national parks are more likely to change than others. National Park Service ecologists and partners investigated the future conditions that may force some of this change. Having this information can help park managers decide whether to resist, direct, or accept the change.

Both the Clean Air Act and the National Park Service Organic Act protect air resources in national parks. Park resources affected by air quality include scenery and vistas, vegetation, water, and wildlife. Over the past three decades, the National Park Service has developed several internal and cooperative programs for monitoring various measures of air quality.

Construction of Bent’s Old Fort was started in 1833, interrupted by smallpox epidemic, and completed probably in the spring of 1835. Presumably it was designed by Charles Bent with William assisting and in charge of construction. It was probably based on forts he had seen in the East, and then influenced by the Mexican-Indian pueblos he saw in the Mexican Territory.

In the summer of 2001 and spring of 2002, the Colorado Natural Heritage Program conducted surveys of birds at Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site.

First in a series of three "In Focus" articles that share insights into the near-universal and far-reaching effects of soils on the ecology, management, and enjoyment of our national parks.

Across the US, changes in water availability are altering which plants grow where. These changes are evident at a broad scale. But not all areas experience the same climate in the same way, even within the boundaries of a single national park. A new dataset gives park managers a valuable tool for understanding why vegetation has changed and how it might change in the future under different climate-change scenarios.

Climate change may have direct and/or indirect effects on many elements of Southern Plains network ecosystems, from streams and grasslands to fires and birds.