Custom Outdoor Experience: Monte Vista Crane Festival
During the 2026 Monte Vista Crane Festival, SLV GO! staff led a variety of birding, cultural and historical experiences for visitors. Resident birder Jesse Casias guided novice and seasoned birders on popular educational walks in Alamosa and Monte Vista, while Health & Wellness Coordinator Esteban Salazar led a sold-out interpretive hike at Penitente Canyon incorporating a land acknowledgment, regional history, precontact history and discussion of Indigenous and historic rock art.
SLV GO! also coordinated a unique field trip with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to the prehistoric Spring Creek paleolithic peat bog site. Participants had the rare opportunity to visit this significant archaeological site and learn about the discovery of a Midland paleolithic projectile point—the oldest intact artifact recovered within the San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
