Over the years, residents in Bayfield and Ignacio have spotted mountain lions in their yards. Just because you don't see one doesn't mean they aren't there.
The Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum is hosting a traveling exhibit about mountain lions now through April 2017 in the museum's temporary gallery. Admission is free.
Lead exhibit preparer Jed Smith and Cheyenne Caraway, who helped design as well as manage the exhibit, gave a tour recently. A motion-sensitive lion snarl greets visitors as they come into the gallery.
The exhibit was developed by the Center for Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College and the Colorado Division of Wildlife, with sponsorship from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, as well as the San Juan Mountains Association.
Smith and Caraway have traveled with the exhibit. "Every time we've put it up in different places, it takes on a whole new look with the place where it's installed," Smith said. "It's like a whole new show. This space really fits with mountain lions. It's one of the better set-ups that we've had."
They worked for the Center for Southwest Studies to create the exhibit and now work on contract with whoever has the exhibit. The exhibitor pays for transport, set-up, maintenance, and take-down.
Smith pointed about 20 feet up on the wall just inside the gallery. There's a paw print image there to show how high a mountain lion can jump. "The exhibit is kid-friendly, very interactive," Smith said.
There are photos of mountain lions, posters with information about lions, taxidermy displays (Smith and Caraway said all of them were road kill), a display of skull replicas of extinct cats from the La Brea Tar Pits in Southern California, and a Colorado Parks and Wildlife video about mountain lions narrated by Patt Dorsey. There's even a display of pop advertising images with mountain lions.
The exhibit starts with historical information going back to big cats such as saber-tooth tigers that went extinct around 10,000 years ago, and early humans. It follows lions through history.
"We go into living with mountain lions currently, what you should do and expect if you encounter one," Smith said. "You may never see one. They're considered one of North America's most elusive creatures."
Then the exhibit explores the Native American relationship with mountain lions, starting with a petroglyph image and including Zuni stone fetishes and a Hopi kachina.
The lion was known as "the one who moves silently."
There also is a Navajo sand painting of two lions standing upright, attributed to Hosteen Etsitty. "The Navajo believe their hunting skills were gifted from the mountain lion," Smith said.
Then the exhibit transitions to the European settler view of mountain lions as something to be exterminated, then hunting lions for sport, and how the view of mountain lions has evolved to an effort to preserve them.
"We end it with managing and researching mountain lions," Smith said.
The final display case is mountain lions in art, including two bracelets by Ben Nighthorse Campbell.
During their time here, Smith and Caraway also are doing work related to getting the museum's permanent gallery open again.
"It's in a state of transition under full operation of the tribe," Smith said.
The door is open, and visitors can go in.
"We're in the process of cleaning the gallery and re-assessing the collection. We don't have any objects on display at this point. We're doing a meticulous cleaning of every case, trying to reorganize where artifacts will be displayed, and new artifacts that haven't been displayed."
Artifacts that were previously on loan were returned when the tribe took over direct operation of the museum, he said. New display items will come from the tribe. Caraway added, "There are hundreds of things that have never been displayed before, the permanent collection of the tribe or loaned by tribal members."
Smith said the hope is to have the permanent gallery re-opened by late this year.
Linda Baker is the tribe's transition team leader for the cultural Center and Museum. She noted there are now rotating exhibits in the entrance lobby of things from the tribe's collection that haven't been displayed before.
The current exhibit is Ute Seasons. Next will be work of the late tribal member and artist Bennett Thompson.
