Category: People

Coordinating Online Communications for Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative

Posted on by Meghanlata Gupta

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[…]

Reconciling Landownership and Sage-Grouse Management Designation Data

Posted on by Meghanlata Gupta

This is an inter-agency project led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. Federal and State agencies frequently respond to requests for analyses of land status within the sagebrush biome, such as acres of land ownership or management designation. However, across agencies the results are inconsistent. The goal for this Read more about Reconciling Landownership and Sage-Grouse Management Designation Data[…]

Organizing and Implementing the Western Speaker Series

Posted on by Meghanlata Gupta

The Symposium Student Coordinators organize the Western Speaker Series, which connects knowledgeable conservation professionals with Yale students to learn about and discuss issues facing the American West. The coordinators work with the UHPSI staff to plan presentations and panel discussions on campus with speakers who bring valuable insight and perspectives on the past and future Read more about Organizing and Implementing the Western Speaker Series[…]

Increasing Adoption of Grasslands Avoided Conversion Carbon Projects

Posted on by Meghanlata Gupta

Climate and Forest Capital (CFC) has partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund on an NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant to research economic incentives that could increase the adoption of conservation practices on US working lands. One of the primary strategies being investigated utilizes a Climate Action Reserve protocol that measures greenhouse gas reductions resulting from the Read more about Increasing Adoption of Grasslands Avoided Conversion Carbon Projects[…]

Understanding Socio-economic Change and Implications for the Future of the Bridger-Teton National Forest

Posted on by Meghanlata Gupta

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[…]

Estimating Utah Prairie Dog Survival Using Camera-trap Data

Posted on by Meghanlata Gupta

One of our research assistants is working with the Utah Bureau of Land Management to analyze trends in plague-induced prairie dog mortality. The Utah prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens) is currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Alongside habitat destruction, sylvatic plague is a major cause of their population decline. By monitoring various colonies Read more about Estimating Utah Prairie Dog Survival Using Camera-trap Data[…]

Conservation Planning for Sheridan County, WY

Posted on by ucross-admin

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[…]

How to Find Spatial Data Online — Michael Storace

Posted on by Meghanlata Gupta

GIS can feel overwhelming sometimes to the casual user, and it can even intimidate those proficient with the program. However, do not fall into despair, there are ways to make spatial data work for everyone! Despite its complexity, GIS remains an incredible tool that can portray the world in a spatially specific way. You can Read more about How to Find Spatial Data Online — Michael Storace[…]

Funding the Future of Conservation: A GreenLight Ideation Session with Colorado Parks and Wildlife — Franklin Eccher

Posted on by ucross-admin

Colorado, like many western states, faces a sticky problem: its outdoor spaces are being loved to death. The problem is multi-fold, a product of the transient recreational eco-tourism industry, but also of its influx of permanent residents. Colorado’s population is projected to double from five million to ten million people from 2010 to 2050. The Read more about Funding the Future of Conservation: A GreenLight Ideation Session with Colorado Parks and Wildlife — Franklin Eccher[…]

Final Soil Dryer Prototype — Nat Irwin

Posted on by ucross-admin

Now that my project partner, Seila De Leon, and I have finished our ten week fellowship at the Yale Center for Engineering, Innovation, and Design, I will reflect on the progress we have made and the work that still exists for us. At the end of the fellowship, we had created what is, at least Read more about Final Soil Dryer Prototype — Nat Irwin[…]

A Girl Scout’s Walden (Part Two) — Franklin Eccher

Posted on by ucross-admin

Trey Davis, the Preserve Manager at The Nature Conservancy’s Tensleep Preserve, described Tensleep as “a place of superlatives.” Everything at Tensleep is the oldest, the most diverse, the most valuable to researchers, and yet in order for those superlatives to remain true the place must also remain relatively unknown and untouched. My explorations of the Read more about A Girl Scout’s Walden (Part Two) — Franklin Eccher[…]

A Strong Fourth Quarter — Joshua Perez-Cruet

Posted on by ucross-admin

One of the major challenges I faced during my study was dealing with the weather; benthic invertebrates are extremely sensitive to natural fluctuations such as water flow and temperature. In order to reduce as many scientific variables as possible during sampling, I spent the first weeks waiting for optimal conditions, which was extremely difficult for Read more about A Strong Fourth Quarter — Joshua Perez-Cruet[…]

Ranch Crew: 2018 Overview — Caleb Gray (a Uni. of WY student)

Posted on by ucross-admin

Ranch Crew was an excellent opportunity that I was able to take ahold of, but I was not entirely prepared for what all it entailed. When first glancing over the flyer for it I thought that it might be working as a ranch hand for part of the two weeks, but it was not to Read more about Ranch Crew: 2018 Overview — Caleb Gray (a Uni. of WY student)[…]

Land and Water: Conservation in Colorado’s San Luis Valley — Brendan Boepple

Posted on by ucross-admin

In the San Luis Valley, there are no shortage of views. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains rise like a wall on the east side of the valley and the San Juan Mountains usher in clouds from the west. The headwaters of the Rio Grande, the river snakes through the valley like a ribbon of green Read more about Land and Water: Conservation in Colorado’s San Luis Valley — Brendan Boepple[…]

A Girl Scout’s Walden (Part one) — Franklin Eccher

Posted on by ucross-admin

I first drove into Ten Sleep under cover of Washakie County darkness. The dark ribbon of highway unfurled through the silhouettes of foothills, a seemingly stark landscape in the late-May dusk. My father joined me on the ten-hour road trip from my hometown of Montrose, Colorado to the Nature Conservancy Preserve at Tensleep, and by Read more about A Girl Scout’s Walden (Part one) — Franklin Eccher[…]