In a celebratory spirit, community members will gather at the Chicken Creek Nordic Ski Trailhead off County Road 40 at 1 p.m. Dec. 15.
“Public lands unite us,” said Ryan Borchers, a Mancos resident who helped organize the event. “We’re celebrating our connection to public land.”
Though it’s no coincidence it’s on Dec. 15, which is the day the Free Land Holder Committee said their “claim has been resolved forever” on their most recent proclamation, the intention behind the event is celebration, not confrontation.
“With recent events that threaten our public lands, this is a celebration renewing our connection and appreciation for the amazing landscape that we share,” the flyer and website, www.celebratepubliclands.com, said.
Like any proper celebration, there will be live music, which will be a three-piece band performing on a stage set up in the parking lot, Borchers said.
They’ll start around 1:15 p.m., and three or four guest speakers will talk afterward.
There will also be booths and representatives from organizations, as the groups and people who use public lands are numerous and diverse: From skiers to hikers to backcountry horsemen to cattlemen and more, people from all the groups who use these lands will be there.
“It’s easy to take public lands for granted because they’re here and we always use them,” Borchers said. “We don’t realize how lucky we are until they’re under threat, and that’s why it was so easy to unite on.”
