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Jared Ewy reports that his family’s former home in Gould, Colorado, is slated to become part of the Michigan River Camp, a forest education facility. The project is planned to include classrooms, meeting space and overnight lodging for up to 30 people; officials cited in the commentary say fundraising has passed $2 million.
Jared Ewy says his family’s former home in Gould, Colorado, is planned to become part of the Michigan River Camp, a forest education facility being developed with the Colorado State Forest Service. The planned camp would use the house for lodging and add classrooms and meeting space on nearby land, giving the former homestead a new role in forestry education.
In a commentary published by The Good Men Project and first carried by The Daily Yonder, Ewy describes hearing about the proposal from John Twitchell, a Supervisory Forester with the Colorado State Forest Service. Twitchell, who had worked with Ewy’s father in forestry and logging, contacted him after Ewy wrote about the abandoned family home. Ewy says Twitchell told him the house would become part of a small educational campus.
The plan, as Ewy recounts it and as described in a Steamboat Pilot report he cites, calls for classrooms, meeting spaces and overnight lodging for up to 30 people. The camp is expected to serve schools and other organizations in Jackson, Routt, Grand and Larimer counties, as well as elsewhere in Colorado. The education center is planned for an open area where Ewy says his father once assembled logs for transport to mills.
Ewy reports that rancher and philanthropist Karin Utterback-Normann donated $1.23 million to help launch the project. Twitchell told Ewy the fundraising campaign had raised more than $2 million. Those figures are presented in Ewy’s account of their conversation; the commentary does not provide a full funding breakdown, construction schedule or confirmation that work has begun.
A Homestead Recast as a Learning Site
The proposal would connect a working landscape and a family history to public forestry education. Rather than treating the house only as a vacant remnant of the past, the plan would incorporate it into a facility where visitors can learn about forests and the surrounding North Park ecosystem. That reuse may also give schools and community groups a place to meet and stay while studying the region.
The subject matter described by Ewy includes lodgepole pine life cycles and the effects of climate change on local ecosystems. The camp’s location, he writes, offers access to varied environments that can support outdoor learning. The project therefore has a practical purpose beyond the conversion of one building: it is intended to make forestry and ecological education more accessible to groups across several Colorado counties.
The reported donation also points to the role of local philanthropy in advancing a rural public-education project. Ewy says Utterback-Normann has previously donated more than 2,000 acres to Colorado State University. The commentary does not establish how that land gift relates to the camp, but it places the new contribution within her broader support for education and land stewardship.
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From Abandoned House to Camp
The development follows Ewy’s earlier Daily Yonder commentary about the abandoned home where he grew up in the Never Summer Mountains near Gould. He describes that earlier piece as personal and emotionally intense, rather than conventional reporting. The new essay takes a different turn: after the piece appeared, Twitchell contacted him and explained that the former home could be included in a forestry education project.
Ewy’s family history is closely tied to the site. His father worked as a logger, and Ewy recalls the nearby lot as a place where logs were gathered before being hauled to mills. He also remembers playing there with his older brother. The planned education center would occupy that open lot, while the family house would provide lodging, according to the proposal described in the commentary.
The proposed facility is named Michigan River Camp. Ewy attributes its outline to Twitchell and references a Steamboat Pilot article for details about its intended capacity and service area. The available material describes a project in development, not a completed facility, and does not give a firm opening date.
““Karin Utterback-Normann provided substantial momentum to the campaign that has now raised over two million dollars.””
— John Twitchell, Supervisory Forester with the Colorado State Forest Service, as quoted by Jared Ewy
Construction Plans Still Undated
The reported project remains a plan in development. The source material does not say when construction will begin or when the camp might open, and it does not specify the full project budget, remaining fundraising needs, permitting status or construction milestones. It also does not clarify which organization will own or operate the finished facility.
The intended program and capacity are described in the cited coverage, but no detailed curriculum, staffing plan or schedule of school visits is included. Ewy’s account relays information from Twitchell and the Steamboat Pilot; it does not include a formal project announcement or independent confirmation of each detail. The reported donation and fundraising total should be understood as figures stated in that account.
Funding and Project Milestones
The next public developments to watch for are confirmation of the project’s construction schedule, additional fundraising information and details about how the camp will be managed. Those steps would help establish when the former home and nearby education center could begin hosting students, educators and other groups.
For now, the confirmed development in Ewy’s report is the intended reuse of the homestead as part of the Michigan River Camp, alongside a reported major donation and a fundraising total above $2 million. The project’s timeline and final arrangements remain unspecified in the available account.
Key Questions
What is planned for Jared Ewy’s childhood home?
The home in Gould, Colorado, is planned to become part of the Michigan River Camp, a forestry education facility. Ewy says it would provide overnight lodging as part of a broader campus.
What facilities would the camp include?
The plan described in Ewy’s commentary and the Steamboat Pilot report he cites includes classrooms, meeting spaces and lodging for up to 30 people.
Who is funding the project?
Ewy reports that rancher and philanthropist Karin Utterback-Normann donated $1.23 million. He also relays Twitchell’s statement that the campaign had raised more than $2 million.
When will the education camp open?
The available report does not give a construction start date or opening date. The project is described as planned, and its schedule remains unclear.
Source: goodmenproject.com
