Projects

Grazing Intensity Study

An eight-year study with yearling cattle grazing on native oak brush range at four levels of intensity was begun in 1977 to determine the proper stocking rate for a five-month grazing season. Optimum seasonal stocking rate was determined to be in the moderate range of six to eight acres per yearling. The relative proportions of grasses, forbs and shrubs in the diet remained the same throughout the grazing season in the two lowest stocking rates. Late in the grazing season, shrub species were selected with increasing frequency in the two more heavily stocked pastures. This reduced the quality of the diet and digestibility, and lowered individual animal gains. Gain per animal favored the light grazed pastures and gain per acre favored the heavy use pastures. The moderate level of grazing proved to be most beneficial for producing beef and maintaining plant vigor and range condition.

San Juan Basin Research Center

Research at the Old Fort provided many opportunities for graduate student research projects at Colorado State University. Over 40 MS theses and Ph.D. dissertations have been written on data collected at the Old Fort (San Juan Basin Research Center), and over 200 scientific papers and popular articles have been published.

In June 2010, Colorado State University closed the San Juan Basin Research Center at the Hesperus location.

View historical research records

Reach out about a new project

Please contact us to inquire about a new project at the Old Fort.

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The Old Fort

18683 CO-140
Hesperus, CO 81326
 oldfortathesperus@fortlewis.edu
 970-385-4574

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Land Acknowledgement 

We acknowledge the land that the Old Fort is situated upon is the ancestral land and territory of the Nuuchiu (Ute) people who were forcibly removed by the United States Government. We also acknowledge that this land is connected to the communal and ceremonial spaces of the Jicarilla Abache (Apache), Pueblos of New Mexico, Hopi Sinom (Hopi), and Diné (Navajo) Nations.

The Old Fort and Fort Lewis College are committed to reconciling their history as a federal Indian Boarding School from 1892 to 1909.

Learn more about reconciliation

 

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The Old Fort is owned by the Colorado State Land Board and managed by Fort Lewis College.


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