The theme of the exhibits will be the story of the Georgetown-Empire-Middle Park Wagon Road over Berthoud Pass. The exhibits will be tactile or touchable for visitors of all ages and abilities with special emphasis on those visitors with visual impairments.
PAW will be applying for grants in March for funding for the exhibits. A match is being provided from the Clear Creek County Conservation Dollars and also the Larry Lichliter Memorial Fund. Larry was an early PAW Board Member.
PAW has worked with students from the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind and also from the Colorado School of Mines in looking at ways to include persons with visual impairments in outdoor recreation experiences.
The photos below are of an exhibit that PAW helped design that is found along the trail at the USFS Yeoman Campground outside of Eagle, Colorado. The woodwork was done by the staff of the USFS Eagle Ranger District.
A long time PAW reseach project conducted with the help from the Colorado School of Mines students has been in looking at coatings that will make outdoor steel exhibits safe to touch during extreme weather conditions. This research will continue as part of the PAW Empire Research Trail. The challenge has been to find a coating thin enough that Braille can still be read through it.
A long time PAW reseach project conducted with the help from the Colorado School of Mines students has been in looking at coatings that will make outdoor steel exhibits safe to touch during extreme weather conditions. This research will continue as part of the PAW Empire Research Trail. The challenge has been to find a coating thin enough that Braille can still be read through it.