Chaco Culture America the Beautiful Quarter

The second United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters™ Program strike to appear in 2012 will be the 2012 Chaco Culture America the Beautiful Quarter. Additionally, it will be the twelfth quarter to been seen under the program since it debuted in 2010.

As of now, no design information is known for the Chaco Quarter. Initial information will probably be released the first part of 2011 when the Citizen’s Coinage Advisory Committee and the Commission of Fine Arts will likely review possible design candidates for the next year’s issues. Their recommendations will be forwarded to the Treasury Secretary who will make the final selection. Then, the Mint will announce those choices sometime before the quarter is issued.

The Chaco Quarter will be preceded in 2012 by the El Yunque National Forest Quarter from Puerto Rico. Three others will follow the Chaco strike including the Acadia National Park Quarter from Maine, the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Quarter from Hawai’i and the Denali National Park from Alaska.

Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico

Hosting the best concentrations of pueblos in the southwest of the United States, Chaco Culture National Historic Park of New Mexico honors the ancient pueblo people who lived in the region a thousand years ago.

The park is located in northwestern New Mexico between Albuquerque and Farmington, but fears of erosion caused by tourism has led to several areas being declared off limits to the public. Despite this, the park system works closely with the Hopi and Pueblo descendants to insure their concerns are taken into account while maintaining access to most areas.

By 1050, the Chaco area was being abandoned in favor of other locations leaving its ruins for future generations to ponder on. No one knows for sure why the native population left Chaco, but climate change may have had some affect. A 50-year drought (circa 1150 A.D.) in the region would certainly have played a part.

Today, the area seems to be subject to many extremes. Temperature swings of 60 degrees in one day are not unheard of. The heat of summer routinely reaches into the upper 90’s and late summer thunderstorms are a common occurrence.