The last time I posted, I was a busy forensic ecologist/detective discovering the culprit behind dips in trumpeter swan productivity in western Wyoming. Now, I’m a slick computer programmer using remote sensing data to spatially examine the habitat characteristics selected for by nesting swan pairs. To be transparent, I am neither slick nor a computer Read more about The Swan Lives On — Sam Maher[…]
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[…]
During my summer with the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust (RiGHT) I was tasked with developing and implementing a stakeholder input process that would guide the development of the organization’s new conservation plan. To better understand the perspective of the community and the concerns of natural resource managers in the San Luis Valley, we conducted Read more about Thinking Beyond Acres – Brendan Boepple[…]
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[…]
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[…]
I have focused my last several weeks on the sampling portion of my project and am loving every minute of it!!! My foremost goal is to analyze how two subterranean sink systems affect the benthic macroinvertebrate communities of Canyon Creek through The Nature Conservancy’s property. I’ve been sampling invertebrates from 6 unique spots on the Read more about An Unexpected Discovery — Joshua Perez-Cruet[…]
Sometimes studying wildlife feels a bit like you’re a detective solving a mystery. You’ve got a question that no one really knows the answer to, a whole lot of information that may or may not be relevant, and probably some bureaucracy to navigate. But when solving it means that you might help a critter’s chance Read more about Forensic Ecology — Sam Maher[…]
Pretend for a moment that you’re a seal. You’re swimming along, minding your own business, when you hear a killer whale vocalizing nearby. Killer whales eat seals like you! So what do you do? You swim away as fast as you can, right? You’d be right, normally. But there’s something more: killer whales don’t always Read more about Predators and Prey — Adam Eichenwald[…]
Trout have a storied and complicated history in America’s conservation history. Ever since the early days of hatchery breeding – a monumental and often daring effort by Livingstone Stone in California – nonnative invasive trout have grown to dominate nearly every recreational fishery in the country. America’s collective memory has gone so far as to Read more about Trout Fishing in America — Franklin Eccher[…]
Catherine Kuhn (MEsc ’15) worked with Ucross during her time at F&ES, analyzing gas fluxes from Clear Creak, the main river system flowing through the Ucross Ranch. Field work took her and Ucross staff on journeys from the slow-moving river in the bottomlands of the high plains at 4,000 feet, up to the headwaters of Read more about UHPSI Alum Catherine Kuhn Publishes![…]
Hello again, it is now my last week in the The Nature Conservancy’s Lander, WY office. Though I am sad to leave such a great office and town, I am proud of what I have accomplished this summer. It has been 11 weeks characterized by climbing steep learning curves and climbing Wyoming mountains. All in Read more about Wrap-Up in Lander, WY – Carli Kierstead[…]
Instream Flows on the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie Over the last two months I’ve been helping piece together a picture of water use on the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River. Water from the Middle Fork irrigates some 11,500 acres of agricultural land in the region around Lander, Wyoming. These diversions support Read more about Instream Flows and Photography for Landscape Monitoring – Austin Rempel[…]
I’m writing from Red Canyon Ranch, a working ranch and nature preserve owned by the Nature Conservancy. I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to live at the Ranch this summer while working with Conservancy staff on questions related to beaver restoration and water management. Red Canyon Ranch covers some 5,000 acres in the foothills of Read more about Beaver Restoration and Water Management in Wyoming – Austin Rempel[…]
Hello all, I am writing to you from Lander – a small town in Central Wyoming that has already won me over. Since my arrival two weeks ago, I have been interning with The Nature Conservancy as a Summer Research Fellow. My summer research will be focused on the feasibility of a decision support tool Read more about The Popo Agie (bonus points for pronouncing this one right!) – Carli Kierstad[…]
Check out this interactive story map about the exciting research done by Taylor Ganz, 2016 Western Research Fellow and graduating MESc student from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She traveled to the high peaks of the Wind River Range, WY to study how air pollution is stored in snowmelt and delivered to Read more about The Science of Snowmelt: An Interactive Story Map – Taylor Ganz[…]