Mesa Verde National Park – First Lady Laura Bush traveled many long, winding miles of roads and trails today to wish this park a happy 100th birthday.
Standing under a great sweep of golden sandstone that shelters Long House, one of Mesa Verde’s largest and most remote cliff dwellings of the ancient Pueblo Indians, Bush made a very short speech on the importance of national parks to the American people.
“Congratulations on your first century,” Bush told park officials. “I wish you many, many more. … This park’s archaeological sites are some of the best-cared for in the country. ”
The sneaker-clad First Lady said she planned to stick around a few days to explore the area with some of her usual hiking buddies, Regan Gammon and Nancy Bechtle. Even Secret Service agents were wearing blue jeans.
It was an unusual sight – the grounds of the 860-year-old Long House cluttered with more than a hundred metal folding chairs for invited guests, half of them reflecting the light on a sun-baked ledge and half in the deep shade of the cliff alcove.
Guests included the acting Secretary of the Interior, Lynn Scarlett, and 18 fourth- and fifth-graders from Cortez’s Manaugh Elementary School, honored as the first International Junior Rangers for their research and collaboration with students living near archaeological preserves in Mexico and Belize.
Bush is an active supporter of the Junior Ranger Program and is honorary chair of the National Park Foundation, which helps children discover national parks. She also helped to create in 2001 the Preserve America initiative.
Bush’s excursion to Mesa Verde was the first official White House visit since former First Lady Hillary Clinton came in May 1999. Clinton announced a $1.7 million donation of private contributions to the park through the Save America’s Treasure program.
