Saving Mesa Verde's Spruce Tree House

Above, Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Last year, I paid a visit to Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. During the visit, one of the ancient cliff dwellings visited was Spruce Tree House. It is one of the more popular cliff dwellings in the park due to its easy access.

However, a big slab of sandstone rock above the cliff dwelling is on the verge of collapse. Park officials have been trying to figure out how to stabilize the rock and save Spruce Tree House.

The Durango Telegram reported:

It’s not going to be easy: Mesa Verde National Park is about to try and stop a massive slab of sandstone from collapsing and destroying one of the most prized cliff dwellings in the park, Spruce Tree House.

In October 2015, park officials were forced to close Spruce Tree House to visitors after a series of rock falls made it too dangerous for people to enter the iconic alcove. Mesa Verde is home to some of the most notable and best-preserved cliff dwellings in the world, but Spruce Tree House, the third-largest cliff dwelling in the park, is by far the most visited because of its easy access.

The ancestral Puebloan people built these massive and thriving communities between the years 900-1250 in protected alcoves – large, arched recesses in the cliff wall. But, over the years, park officials have been concerned the rock structures above and around the alcoves are increasingly at risk of erosion and other geological forces.

For the past six years, Mesa Verde has undertaken an exhaustive effort to figure out how best to stabilize the failing sandstone above Spruce Tree House – not just to make it safe for the public, but also to save the cliff dwelling underneath. Those plans are coming together, said project manager Allan Loy, but there’s still a ways to go.

To read more, go here.