Northern San Juan • Entered by Robyn Cascade on August 6, 2025
DEIJ
January 5, 2025 – April 21, 2025
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | |
| Post Admin hours | |
| Activity Hours | 7 |
| Participants | 1 |
| Total Hours | 7 |
Key Issue: Doesn’t apply
Activity Type: Relationship Building with non-white and/or frontline communities (relational meetings, attending events, community support, etc.)
Key Partners: Ouray Climbers Alliance; Ute Indian Tribe (Betsy Chapoose;) Ouray Board of County Commissioners
Measurable Outcomes
Outcome 1: Advocacy actions (2 comments)
Outcome 2: Communication with Indigenous TIPO (2 emails)
Short Description of Activity
Landscape is Ouray County. Robyn reached out to Betsy Chapoose (TIPO for Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray reservation) for feedback on two written summaries: 1. in the Ouray County Master Plan and 2. kiosk being developed and erected in Rotary Park by the Ouray Climbers’ Alliance.
Reflection/Evaluation
Robyn commented in writing and in BOCC meeting regarding the inaccurate, potentially offensive language in the Ouray County Master Plan. It was not changed by the commission because, as stated by the county attorney, the entire document would have to go back to the Planning Commission (who had already worked years on the document and was ready for it to be adopted at the meeting.) It was frustrating that some language re: Indigenous history of the area had been added very late in the multi-year process. However, even though it seemed so late to reach out to Tribes, Robyn sent an email to Tribal relations at all three Ute Tribes. In the end, it was too late to influence the document. However the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer from the Ute Indian Tribe, Betsy Chapoose, did indeed respond to my query with a revised paragraph. For educational purposes (for whoever reads this!) I have uploaded the master plan language and Betsy’s revision below.
As is quite common, the NGO Ouray Climbers’ Alliance (OCA) reached out to me for Indigenous contacts when the text for their kiosk was in its final stages (when it would have been ideal had they reach out to Tribes prior to writing the first draft and paid the Tribes for someone to craft the text!) However, I respect and trust the representative from OCA so I was willing to reach out to Betsy. She did respond that she did not have time for the request to review the language.
Photos/Uploads
Upload 1 |
Photo Captions
Ouray County master plan language and Ms Chapoose’s revision