Southern Ute Johnny Valdez was the featured speaker at the Badger Creek Ranch Earth Day Benefit. Valdez spoke on the topic of Star Lore. Photo by Carly Winchell.
Doors opened at 12:00 noon on Saturday, April 20 for an Earth Day Educational Celebration and Benefit at the Chaffee County Fairgrounds. The event served as a fundraiser for the Badger Creek Ranch Community, which is a program of Full Circle Alliance.
Prior to the presentations, attendees had the chance to mingle and view various booths with information about DarkSky Colorado, Badger Creek Ranch, archaeology, and more. Badger Creek Ranch also offered beef sticks, summer sausage, and fresh farm eggs.
Before his speech, Ark Valley Voice had a moment to speak with Valdez. Becky Donlan invited Valdez to come speak about star lore, history, how the stars are a part of lives, and how the native people recognized that in everything they did. “What was really valuable about her asking me to come is she had all these different groups that all know a little bit about something, and they wanted just a bit more depth of understanding,” said Valdez. He connected things, such as petroglyphs showing the moon and sun during an eclipse, to Ute lore about how the moon and sun protect people and animals.
Valdez grew up on the reservation and graduated at the top of his class at Ignacio High School. He went into contracting and did a lot of work for the U.S. Forest Service and eventually created his own business with his brother, Tava Wu Cuttum. Their projects have been completed across the southwest, but a lot has been concentrated in the Four Corners area. They focus on hiring native people and their spouses.
Johnny Valdez shows the audience a medal he received as an executive officer of the Southern Ute Tribe. He was the featured speaker at the Badger Creek Ranch Earth Day Benefit and spoke on the topic of Star Lore. Photo by Carly Winchell.
Around 2009, Valdez was appointed as the Executive Officer of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. He explained during his speech that this is the highest position a non-member could hold as a descendant. He spent three years doing that work, interfacing with the government, conducting outreach, and establishing programs that are in place to this day.
After his time as executive officer, Valdez has been invited to speak nationally and internationally, especially in the U.S. and Canada, Papua New Guinea, and Australia, on the topic of sovereignty, international finance, and sovereign wealth funds,
When AVV asked what question nobody had asked but should have, Valdez replied “Is my- is their- history important? And we’ll get to the bottom of that today.”
Star Lore Connection to Personal History
Valdez was the featured speaker for the event and opened the presentations with a Southern Ute Blessing and a discussion of Star Lore.
“Grandfather, in a good way, we come together to have kindness, to give kindness, to see it in others to learn from everyone, that we’re not here just to speak, we’re here to learn. And then in our learning, that we take beyond us to somewhere else that we remind ourselves that we are the teachers of the young. We are the ones that will fail if they don’t learn,” said Valdez.
“Grandfather, Muanum, in a good way, our world is struggling. There are wars and battles. Help people to find peace with each other. Help them to understand that they don’t have to agree. Grandfather, remember we are all part of one people. In a good way, Grandfather, we ask you to smile with us and teach us to smile, teach us to be happy. That there are more important things than all the pains we have in this world.”
Valdez made it clear that he did speak on behalf of the tribe. “While I don’t talk for all of the tribal members, I don’t talk for all of the tribe, for each band, for each family is because there are hundreds of families. There’s eleven different bands of Utes, and three completely different tribes: the Northern, the Southern, and the Ute Mountain Ute.”
Early in his speech, he returned to the question that had yet to be asked “Is my story important?”
“Is your story and your history important? Yes it is,” said Valdez. “I have a story history. There is a lot about the West you can find just by my one story. Each one of you would not be here if there weren’t great grandmothers and great grandfathers and others who added to your story and how important every little piece is.”
To connect personal history with star lore, Valdez told the story of fishing when he was a child. He would go to his grandmother’s house, get tortillas, and then go fishing. It was there he heard stories of his family from elders. Stories of battles, hunting, truth, lies, and family history and the little details about people.
They would also tell stories with meaning, such as the story of the Rabbit and the Wolf, which taught how to navigate using the stars. The wolf chases the rabbit in a circle, but the tail of the rabbit never moves in the sky, so the tail of the rabbit could be used to find the way home. Every family has a slightly different story.
And people learned from the stories, not just by observation but by there being passed down and learning from others “because we are not the smartest person in the room. The collective is smarter.” In his own case, Valdez wrote the stories about his own family down and then decided to research them and found everything he’d been told, such as the fact that his great-grandfather was a buffalo soldier, turned out to be true.
Southern Ute Johnny Valdez discusses star lore at the Badger Creek Ranch Earth Day Benefit. Photo by Carly Winchell.
Valdez said the explanation for the wolf and rabbit being in the sky is that Star People brought people here, specifically to the top of Tava Mountain, known to many as Pikes Peak. Tava means day or sun. Valdez showed petroglyphs potentially depicting Star People with antlers or possibly a headdress.
Hundreds of families were taught the same thing, that Star People came and dropped them off on the mountain and to spread out and be stewards to the land. “This is the land of the Great Spirit, that’s what we call it,” said Valdez, who has traveled around the world. “None of it is as beautiful as our land here. Where the Utes live.”
In some funerary rites, the person is set alight in the night. The process involves giving themselves back to the stars. “That way when it gets dark and scary and cold, you get to watch over your people. It’s your job,” said Valdez.
“We’re not just here for a short period of time, short stewards and then it’s over. Then we become the Star People, and we take care of the people that are left here. All of you. Anybody who lives in the Land of the Great Spirit is part of our team. You’re on our side. You may not know it, but you are. All of you.”
Valdez hearkened back to the prayer he gave at the start of the presentation. He explained that it is spoken “in a good way” because it shows it is being done well without elevating the person too far. “I’m thinking of it well. I’m not above anybody else. I’m considering everyone else’s position.”
To be “in a great way” would exalt oneself to the Great Sky, which is where the ancestors live.
The goal of star lore as Ute people, Valdez explained, is to become that floating star above everyone, dedicated to protecting the land and the people who live on it. Valdez spoke of traditional dances, the beat of the drum, and hearing the heartbeat.
“The tears start to well up in your eyes and you look up at the stars, and they’re blurry. And they start to dance. And they’re dancing for you. That’s star lore,” explained Valdez. “If you can be that one time, you have done something more than most people will ever do.”
“It’s learning from people who know more than you do,” said Valdez.
“We do not matter. The people before me matter. The people I helped create and who come after me matter even more. We try to live our life seven generations at least into the past. . . and I am praying for those people that would be seven generations beyond. I am only a connecting point. I am not the person that matters and neither are any of you. But if we fail in making the connection between here and there, we won’t be able to be the blurry star in the sky, and it’s all that I dream about and I hope you do too.”
A video showing an excerpt of Valdez’s presentation discussing the Rabbit and the Wolf and how the constellations were used for navigation is available at the end of this article.
Archaeology and Local Historic Sites
Ken Frye and Becky Donlan took the stage after Valdez, leading the audience through slides depicting various archaeological or potentially culturally significant sites in Central Colorado.
Native American Research and Preservation Inc.’s Ken Frye discusses the local “Big Bird” petroglyph during the Badger Creek Ranch Earth Day Benefit. Photo by Carly Winchell
Some of these sites include the “Big Bird” petroglyph, various cairns located throughout the San Luis Valley or SLV (some say these were constructed by shepherds, but Donlan and Frye disagree with that assessment), Quetzalcoatl Hill and other serpent walls, Bear Circles and other sites in the South Park area, sites near La Garita, and more.
Frye and Donlan frequently referenced “Culturally Modified Rocks.” Essentially, these are rock formations, which may resemble or may have been modified by people to resemble animals and creatures. Some images that Frye and Donlan shared were of rocks that resembled bears, turtles, snakes, and other creatures, though they aren’t necessarily clear carvings or constructions.
Frye and Donlan stressed the need to preserve these sites, which often fall victim to vandalism. Their slideshow and booth featured several images where historic sites had been damaged. In some cases, people had taken chalk to outline petroglyphs, which damages the historic images and interferes with scientific dating processes to determine their age.
Donlan and Frye work to preserve sites and educate the public on how to help care for the history of the area.
Native American Research and Preservation, Inc. was established in 2009. Donlan explained the organization’s mission is to locate, document, interpret and preserve Native American sites. They have consulted and worked with the Smithsonian Anthropology and Archaeology Department, the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA), retired assistant Colorado State Archaeologist Kevin Black, Curtis Martin of the Colorado Wickiup Project, Andrew Collins (researcher of sites in Turkey and author of many books, including Gobleki Tepe) and have consulted with the Apache, Ute, Dine (Navajo), Shoshone, Paiute, and Lakota tribal members.
Frye is a retired archaeological technician with the Rio Grande National Forest. Donlan has taken classes offered by the State Archaeology office and has been a volunteer doing site stewardship work. The have presented at the Monte Vista Crane Festival, museums, and schools. and various other festivals and events.
“In all of our presentations we stress how important it is to not vandalize sites,” stated Donlan. “Many rock art sites have been destroyed by people carving graffiti, initials, names, or even trying to hack the rock art out of the panel. Stone structures have been destroyed by people adding stones or removing stones. We believe education has been helping, but it is an ongoing process.”
The organization is now working with the Badger Creek Ranch Community. The area has archaeological sites, which Donlan and team are researching and working to educate people about their preservation, protection, and interpretation. Their research into archaeoastronomy led them to become involved with DarkSky Colorado because dark skies will enable better study of sites and the astronomy involved.
Full Circle and Badger Creek Ranch
Badger Creek Ranch Community logo. Image courtesy of BCRCommunity.org.
Badger Creek Ranch is owned by Director and Ranch Mentor Chrissy McFarren and her husband Dave McFarren. The family-owned and operated ranch is located high above the Arkansas River valley and focuses on preserving the land and history of the area.
“I like to say, instead of owners, we are the land stewards of Badger Creek Ranch,” explained Chrissy McFarren during the Earth Day event.
She explained that Full Circle Alliance is a partner to help in that stewardship, which supports nonprofit work at the ranch and public interest work. This includes the internship program where young people can come and work at the ranch for the season as well as various events hosted by the ranch. Badger Creek Ranch Community is a program of Full Circle Alliance Inc.
“Our intention is to have an open gate policy,” said Chrissy. “We want you to come and learn about what we’re doing. We want you to come, boots on the ground, to be on the land and fall in love with it in the same way that we have fallen in love with it. It takes all of us. That’s the hope. Hopefully you walk away today realizing, as Becky said, that we are all connected.”
More information about the ranch is available on their website here. Part two of our coverage of this event will focus on Dark Skies and what people can do to help preserve the nocturnal ecosystem.
Below is a video showing an excerpt from Valdez’s discussion of Star Lore:
Recent Comments