A century ago, the Colorado River ran uninterrupted from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. It fanned its delta across 3,000 square miles of winding river and green lagoons, with mesquite and willow trees providing habitat for hundreds of species of birds. “The river was everywhere and nowhere,” wrote the conservationist Aldo Leopold Read more about The Death and Rebirth of the Colorado River Delta[…]
Before my LegacyWorks Group internship in the Tetons this summer comes to a close, I’d like to highlight a couple additional major projects with which I’ve been involved beyond what I outlined in my first blog post. One great aspect of my experience has been learning new approaches to achieving conservation success, such as the Read more about Accelerating Community-Driven Impact, Part 2 — Shea Flanagan[…]
Paul’s project investigates socioecological change affecting Paiute communities in California and Nevada. It examines the cultural importance of pinyon forests on lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and focuses on the development of new approaches to forest management that promote Paiute traditional foods and silvicultural practices. The Great Basin is experiencing increasing frequency of Read more about Investigating the Socioecological Importance of Pinyon Forests for Paiute Communities in the Great Basin[…]
Howdy! I’ve headed west to work as the Summer Associate for LegacyWorks Group in Jackson, Wyoming. LegacyWorks accelerates community-driven impact to realize transformative change. Here in the Teton Region, we focus our efforts on large-scale conservation initiatives that could not be tackled by a single organization alone. The organization also focuses on regional initiatives in Read more about Accelerating Community-Driven Impact, Part 1 — Shea Flanagan[…]
Leif is researching independently in northwest Montana where faith-based environmental organizing sets the stage. Three emerging organizations seek to empower religious congregations to take up environmental advocacy — Montana Faith & Environment Coalition, Faith and Climate Action Montana, and Montana Interfaith Power & Light. Through interviews with advocates and faith leaders, Leif is beginning to Read more about Exploring the Interface of Religious Life and Environmental Politics in Montana[…]
Lucas is working for The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Program (CRP). His focus for the CRP is two-fold: first, Lucas is researching environmental governance and finance models to facilitate the creation of a water fund for the Colorado River delta. This work entails outreach to stakeholders and coordination with existing environmental funds to glean best Read more about Governance and Storytelling Along the Colorado River[…]
Shea is working with LegacyWorks Group in Jackson, Wyoming to accelerate community-driven impact to advance large-scale conservation efforts in the Teton region. She is assisting the team in executing projects that advance four major goals: 1) increase the ability of local conservation partners to work collaboratively on community- and regional-scale projects, 2) enhance water availability Read more about Increasing the Pace and Scale of Conservation in the Tetons through Collaboration[…]
BACKGROUND Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) in western Wyoming is the third-largest forest in the continental United States. It is a key piece of the biodiverse Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, home to everything from charismatic megafauna like wolves and grizzly bears to birds and trout. It is also a place that has been shaped inexorably by human Read more about Engaging the Jackson Hole Latinx and Youth Communities in Bridger-Teton National Forest Review Processes —Eve Barnett, Haley Leslie-Bole, and Jesse Bryant[…]
Black bear at a bird feeder Carnivores have become social media sensations when they enter into urban areas. Hundreds of videos of bears breaking into houses and raiding the refrigerators or mountain lions lying under an unsuspecting resident’s back porch can be found with one quick online search. After a predator shows up in a Read more about Urbanization & Human-Wildlife Conflict in the West —Amy Zuckerwise[…]
A significant amount of carbon is locked up underneath the ancient grasslands of North America. Grasses naturally absorb carbon during their lifecycle, and over time can sequester that carbon into the underlying soils. Grasslands carbon is considered safely locked away and out of the picture when it comes to rapidly accelerating global greenhouse gas emissions Read more about Grasslands Can Help Fight Climate Change —Jeffrey Conti[…]
We are working with the Bridger-Teton National Forest to map community networks that will facilitate the forest in engaging local Latino and youth communities in future Forest Plan Revision and project-specific efforts. The Bridger-Teton intention is to ensure that these communities’ concerns and aspirations are used to inform the decisions made by the National Forest Read more about Engaging Youth and Underserved Communities in Land Management and Project Review Processes for the Bridger-Teton National Forest[…]
As the Ucross Communications Coordinator, Meghanlata has completed a number of improvement projects for the website and other Ucross communications, including updating the “current students” page and creating posts for 2019 projects. Additionally, she also writes for the Ucross blog and works with the symposium committee. Student Coordinator Meghanlata Gupta, Communications Coordinator | Meghanlata Read more about Coordinating Online Communications for Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative[…]
Our student research team has been working with the Bridger-Teton National Forest to help inform their efforts for a future Forest Management Plan. The team has been compiling socioeconomic data related to the shifting demographics of three very different counties in western Wyoming as well as researching academic literature in the fields of geography, sociology, Read more about Understanding Socio-economic Change and Implications for the Future of the Bridger-Teton National Forest[…]
Our research assistant team worked in partnership with the Sheridan Community Land Trust to develop a conservation planning mapping tool to guide future private land conservation efforts. They incorporated a variety of spatial data from public sources to help SCLT prioritize and direct its funding and outreach in cooperation with its organization’s goals to protect Read more about Conservation Planning for Sheridan County, WY[…]