Mountain Pine Beetle Preservation Management Suggestion

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Because Wilderness Areas–and other forms of preserved landscapes–are outside the realm of human intervention, anthropogenic disturbances does not necessitate management by humans. The question, then, is not, “How do we manage these issues?”, but rather, “How do we appropriately mitigate their occurrences in the first place?” This means tightening regulations on surrounding landscapes that are … Read more

Mountain Pine Beetle: Preservation Perspective

As a preservationist, my landscape management philosophy is that Nature is capable of managing itself and that human intervention further imposes our ideals and our knowledge/science upon the landscape. Nature is prior to our ideals and science and, thus, with the preservation of areas as Wilderness, we allow Nature to carry on as it has … Read more

Pine Beetle Outbreak: Rocky Mountain National Park

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This documentary on Rocky Mountain National Park, gives a very good overview about the current outbreak of the Mountain Pine Beetle.  He explains that historically outbreaks of this insect are normal, but not at the current scale.  He describes this outbreak of the Pine Beetle as the perfect storm, because of warmer winters and hotter … Read more

Biodiversity begins with a B

An interesting video targeted towards younger audiences:

Conservationist Beetle Kill Management Recomendations

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Conservation Biologist Management Suggestion Beetle kill in the Rocky Mountains is a natural event, one that is typically mitigated by nature through deep freezes and fires.  However, due to rising global temperatures attributed to humans, as a conservation biologist I am most interested in restoring the lost balances.  Thus far there are two types of … Read more

Mountain Pine Beetle: Perspectives and Policies [Begin story here]

Geography 4335 Creative Project This is the first of several blog posts that three students at the University of Colorado Denver have begun as a class creative-research project. The goal of these posts are to provide the viewer with an opportunity to hear from a key stakeholder in the Mountain Pine Beetle situation in the … Read more

Lost Creek Wilderness

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Access from Denver: Take Hwy 285 West to Bailey. In Bailey, access can be gained by taking Wellington Rd. south-east, where first access can be obtained at the Colorado Trail (CT) crossing, but further access can be achieved by following Wellington Rd. past the lake to FR 560 to Wigwam Park and Goose Creek trails, … Read more

Red Herrings, Pollen, and Biodiversity

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Biodiversity is not an economic issue, but a red herring when you run out of real arguments… [An ecological service] is another non-economic red herring. What is an ecological service? Protecting a watershed is ridiculous. –Jerry Abboud, Executive Director of Coalition of Off Highway Vehicles Colorado (COHVCO) The Rhetoric of Nature Deficit Disorder With 80% … Read more

Llovía

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As we sat underneath the tarp eating our dinner, it began to rain.  By this time, we were used to it.  This onslaught of water, this downpour.  Our second semester in the Chilean Patagonia and we were no longer strangers to this element.  I peered out from the blue tarp that was our kitchen, as … Read more

Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign: Contesting and Defining Wilderness in Colorado’s Central Rocky Mountains

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[This is an abridged version of a research paper for an Environmental Policy class at the University of Colorado Denver] What’s the controversial issue? Throughout the last few years, there have been heated and contentious debates regarding the type of landscapes that the Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign (HGWC) proposes to preserve as Wilderness. The landscapes … Read more

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