8th Annual Monuments and Canyons Plein Air Event – Call for Entry Open

Call for entry now open for the 2024 Monuments and Canyons Plein Air Event. Join us in western Colorado to paint this beautiful landscape.

After a whirlwind year at Colorado National Monument Association, we are sharing our 2023 Recap and Highlights. Plus, what's to come in 2024.

An often-asked question at Colorado National Monument is: what is a National Monument and why isn’t it a National Park?

Colorado National Monument Association is hosting the 2023 Monuments and Canyons Plein Air Event. This is our 7th year organizing the outdoor painting event, which will take place October 1st through October 8th. Colorado National Monument Association has invited 24 local, regional, and nationally recognized artist to come to Western Colorado and paint at Colorado …

July 23rd was a very hot day in the Grand Valley, even for our normal standards. Luckily the shade from the trees in Lincoln Park and some shenanigans with water guns kept visitors at the Latino Conservation Week Celebration relatively cool during this fun community event. Families went around to the gathering of organizations to …

The NPS part of my internship had me working mostly with their interpretation programs. I helped the park rangers by delivering their geology talk, but I also created my own “up close and personal” display. I was excited to create something more closely reflecting my background: insects! With me beginning a masters in entomology in …

Is it officially summer yet? School’s out in our district, so I think we made it! I can’t be the only one who chose routes around town to avoid school zones during the semester. If it seems like school zones are everywhere, it’s because there are over 40 schools and 20,000 students in D51. Even …

Indigenous people were the first caretakers of these canyons followed by a quirky man named John Otto. John Otto came to the Grand Valley in 1906 to work on the Fruita, CO Water Pipeline. When first witnessing the beauty of the “rugged redrock canyons…it was love at first sight.” It felt like “the greatest spot …

Over 400 informal trails were documented in Colorado National Monument, many to sensitive cultural areas or through delicate ecosystems.

Maybe you’d like to visit by joining one of CNMA’s educational programs? It could be a guided hike to learn about millions of years of geological history or perhaps an astronomy program to see Saturn’s rings for the first time. A visit to Colorado National Monument is special, no matter if it’s your first time …