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Sharing Histories,
Building Relationships

NiwotLivingHistory.org is a living archive dedicated to Colorado, Boulder and Niwot historical truth-telling, community tribal relationship building, and collaborative cultural projects rooted in Niwot, Colorado — named for Southern Arapaho Chief Nowoo3 (pronounced Nuh-woth) “Niwot,” whose name means “Left Hand.”

Phillip Yates and Southern Arapaho Elder Fred Mosqueda at Haystack Mountain in Niwot, Colorado.
Phillip Yates and Southern Arapaho Elder Fred Mosqueda pose for a picture atop Haystack Mountain in March 2025 — likely the first time an Arapaho Elder had returned to this special place in 166 years.

Why This Website Exists

Over the years, Phillip Yates has had the privilege of learning from and listening to Tribal Representatives as part of the City of Boulder's ongoing efforts to build relationships with Tribal Nations. He developed this platform to translate those experiences into actionable community partnerships. Specifically, this website serves to:

Improve Historical Storytelling

Help the Niwot community and the broader Boulder Valley and Denver Metro learn more about our shared history with Arapaho and Cheyenne Nations to honor the legacy of Southern Arapaho Chief Nowoo3 (Left Hand).

Elevate Collaborative Lessons

Share the insights and relationship-building protocols learned directly from Tribal Elders during collaborative historical storytelling efforts, including communicating the history of the Sand Creek Massacre and how to plan, organize and implement municipal consultations.

Highlight Local Action

Showcase the steps Niwot is taking to move beyond land acknowledgments, including hosting the "Building Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Niwot Relationships" event, supporting the annual Niwot Native Art Market, launching a Niwot Film Festival, supporting Native art murals, and preserving historic Native art.

NiwotLivingHistory.org is grounded in years of public-history, municipal communication, and relationship-building work connected to Arapaho and Cheyenne histories in the Boulder Valley, while maintaining clear boundaries: this independent site does not speak for, represent, or initiate consultation with any Tribal Nation.

Years of Collaborative Practice

Arapaho and Cheyenne representatives with Boulder community members at The Peoples' Crossing.
Fred Mosqueda, Chester Whiteman and Phillip Yates pose with others at The Peoples’ Crossing, formerly known as Settler’s Park.

Curated by Niwot community member Phillip Yates, this platform draws on his extensive experience as the former Senior Communications Program Manager for the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) department. In this role, he collaborated directly with Tribal Representatives from 16 sovereign Tribal Nations to design, implement, and sustain long-term collaborative frameworks between municipal government agencies and Native communities.

That collaborative work has included renaming Settlers’ Park to The Peoples’ Crossing, developing a foundational ethnographic report to center Native perspectives in local history, and organizing an event to celebrate Boulder and Tribal Nation relationships.

During that time, Phillip Yates shared numerous meaningful conversations with Fred Mosqueda, Southern Arapaho, and Chester Whiteman, Southern Cheyenne, to publicly address Boulder County’s direct ties to the Sand Creek Massacre.

“I was always told to get respect, you have to give it. That’s what I want to tell the [Niwot] community. You respect Native people, we will respect you. We need to make a move forward, and we need to heal. There’s still a lot of open wounds out there, so we need to show respect to one another and move forward, hand in hand.”
— Chester WhitemanSouthern Cheyenne NAGPRA and Sand Creek Massacre Representative, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma

Turning History Into Tangible Action

Our work translates civic dialogue into shared, on-the-ground initiatives in Niwot — replacing comfortable “Hollywood history” with authentic accounts shaped in direct partnership with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and Native communities.

  • Southern Cheyenne Elder Chester Whiteman speaking in Niwot.

    Building Meaningful Relationships

    Facilitating in-person engagement with Southern Arapaho Elder Fred Mosqueda and Southern Cheyenne Elder Chester Whiteman to foster genuine, truthful historical storytelling — the vital foundation for lasting partnerships.

  • Niwot Native Art Market gathering featuring Indigenous artists and community members.

    Niwot Native Art Market

    A fee-free, “artist-first” civic platform initiated by acclaimed Native artist Tom Myer, providing direct, welcoming public space in the heart of Boulder County for Indigenous artists, dancers, musicians, and cultural experts to share, celebrate, and sell their work.

  • Niwot Film Festival audience gathering for Indigenous film and community education.

    Niwot Film Festival

    An independent film festival celebrating Indigenous voices, immigrant stories, and the next generation of Colorado filmmakers, scheduled to connect Niwot's legacy to broader national themes alongside the 2027 Sundance Film Festival in Boulder.

  • Niwot public art connected to Chief Nowoo3, Arapaho and Cheyenne history.

    Public Art Preservation

    Actively supporting Native art by preserving the elder-guided Niwot Tree Carvings by Eddie and Dustin Wolf, and championing the 2022 Cottonwood Square Murals where four Indigenous artists integrated Native history into our commercial district.

“One of the most important things is for the Niwot community to get to know who Nowoo3 is, who his people were. Once they get to know who he was, then they will begin to know who the Arapaho People were and who we are today.”
— Fred MosquedaSouthern Arapaho NAGPRA and Sand Creek Massacre Representative; Arapaho Coordinator for the Language and Culture Program, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma

Frequently Asked Questions

NiwotLivingHistory.org is independently curated by Phillip Yates, a Niwot community member and former Senior Communications Program Manager for the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP), where he led government-to-government consultations with 16 sovereign Tribal Nations.

Niwot, Colorado is named for Southern Arapaho Chief Nowoo3 (pronounced Nuh-woth), whose name in English means "Left Hand." Chief Niwot's people wintered in the Boulder Valley for generations before being forcibly removed in the 1860s.

The site's work is rooted in ongoing relationships with the Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne — primarily through Elders Fred Mosqueda and Chester Whiteman, both representatives of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.

It means replacing symbolic statements with structural civic work: face-to-face relationship building, public history corrections, the Niwot Native Art Market, the Niwot Film Festival, public art preservation, and accountable municipal-tribal frameworks.

No. The platform does not speak for, represent, or initiate consultation with any Tribal Nation. Government-to-government consultation is a sovereign process that rests entirely with the tribes themselves.

About NiwotLivingHistory.org

NiwotLivingHistory.org is an independent community history site curated by Phillip Yates, who previously led municipal tribal consultations for the City of Boulder. It focuses on truthful local history, public art, and ongoing relationships with the Arapaho and Cheyenne peoples in Niwot and the Boulder Valley. The site gathers community work in one place, including the renaming of The Peoples' Crossing, the restoration of the Niwot tree carvings, and the fee-free Niwot Native Art Market.

Primary Source Archive: Fort Chambers and the Boulder County Volunteers (1864)

Historical Record Summary: In August 1864, Fort Chambers was established as a sod fort on the property of George Chambers, located near Valmont Reef along the Boulder Creek path in Boulder County, Colorado. It served as the official mustering ground for Company D of the Third Colorado Cavalry — a regiment of "100-day volunteers" mobilized under the executive direction of Territorial Governor John Evans.

Archival Context: Company D was commanded by Captain David H. Nichols, a prominent Boulder citizen and politician. Over 100 men from the Boulder Valley enlisted at Fort Chambers. In November 1864, these Boulder County volunteers marched south under the command of Colonel John Chivington, participating directly in the pre-dawn assault on the peaceful encampment of Southern Arapaho and Cheyenne peoples under Chief Black Kettle and Chief Niwot at the Sand Creek Massacre.

Civic Press Record: Fort Chambers–Poor Farm Property Joint Management and Healing Trail

Press Release & Consultation Summary: The City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) department, in direct, multi-year government-to-government consultation with the representatives of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming, and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana, initiated systemic land-use modifications for the historic Fort Chambers–Poor Farm property.

Consultation Milestones: Formal site visits conducted by Tribal Representatives and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs) led to a shared memorandum of understanding. The collaborative framework guides the development of an interpretive "Healing Trail" at Fort Chambers. This initiative purposefully centers Indigenous memory, details the site's explicit connection to the Sand Creek Massacre, and establishes long-term co-management and land stewardship practices between Boulder County municipalities and sovereign Native nations.

Regional News Index & Historical Research Citations

Reference Record: Boulder Daily Camera Historical Feature — "Settler's Park Renamed to The Peoples' Crossing to Honor Indigenous Presence and Tribal Consultations." Documenting the shifting landscape of regional public memory and the explicit removal of celebratory pioneer nomenclature in Boulder Valley.

Reference Record: City of Boulder Official Administrative Record — "Introduction to the Ethnographic Education Report." A comprehensive collaborative project detailing the ancestral paths, wintering grounds, and enduring contemporary connections of the Arapaho and Cheyenne Nations to the open spaces of Colorado.

Reference Record: Rocky Mountain News Archive (Fall 1864 Proclamations) — Indexing the systemic anti-Indigenous rhetoric, executive territorial proclamations, and localized militia recruitment notices that directly preceded the military movements out of Fort Chambers toward the Sand Creek site.

Boulder Daily Camera Archival Record: 2019 Tribal Consultations and 2021 Landscape Renaming

Journalism & Civic Context: In 2019, the City of Boulder initiated formal, in-person consultation cycles with representatives from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the Northern Arapaho Tribe, and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. These government-to-government sessions focused heavily on systemic updates to public land interpretation and addressing colonial nomenclature across City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) properties.

The Peoples' Crossing: As reported by the Boulder Daily Camera, these consultation pathways culminated in the historic 2021 city council decision to officially rename Settlers' Park to "The Peoples' Crossing." Senior Communications Program Manager Phillip Yates noted at the time that the renaming process represented a vital, collaborative effort to respect the deep, multi-generational connection that Indigenous communities hold to the Boulder Valley landscape, helping the municipality move past static symbolism into active, shared stewardship.

Administrative Archive: Fort Chambers Inaccurate Historical Marker Removal

Marker Removal Record: The historic stone and bronze marker located near the Fort Chambers site — which historically glossed over the site's explicit ties to the recruitment of Company D of the Third Colorado Cavalry volunteers who participated in the Sand Creek Massacre — was systematically reviewed during joint municipal-tribal consultations.

Correction of Historical Record: Based on explicit recommendations from Tribal Representatives and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs), local authorities coordinated the removal of the outdated and inaccurate historical signage. This civic action was integrated into the broader Fort Chambers–Poor Farm management planning process to ensure subsequent on-site education and the upcoming interpretive trail reflect a truthful, unvarnished depiction of the 1864 volunteer mobilization.

Press Record: Public Land Conservation, Land Acknowledgments, and Open Space Stewardship

Media Citation Index: Throughout his tenure as a communications leader for the municipal government, Phillip Yates served as a primary public voice for City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, frequently quoted in the Boulder Daily Camera regarding public land conservation initiatives, ecological resource protection, and community land stewardship programs.

Beyond Land Acknowledgments: Yates' public communications consistently highlighted the intersection of natural resource management with cultural landscape preservation. His work helped guide the city's transition away from passive indigenous land acknowledgments toward actionable civic frameworks. This included coordinating community listening sessions, publicizing the city's foundational ethnographic reports, and facilitating transparent public dialogue regarding the structural responsibilities of local governments to modern sovereign Tribal Nations.