Research Associate Hannah Gosnell of the University of Colorado at Boulder will lecture Jan. 14 on conservationists' efforts to restore and "rewild" the Southern Rockies ecoregion, which includes Colorado's Western Slope and parts of southwestern Wyoming and northwestern New Mexico.
"Healing the Southern Rockies Ecoregion: What Will it Take?" will begin at 7 p.m. in the Chautauqua Community House at 900 Baseline Road in Boulder. The talk is part of the 2003-04 Chancellor's Community Lecture Series and is free and open to the public.
The Southern Rockies are world-renowned for their striking beauty, high mountain topography and continuous stretches of wild, undeveloped land. But human expansion and development have inflicted multiple wounds on the landscape, Gosnell said: native species have been exterminated, old growth forests logged, wild and powerful rivers dammed and polluted and the land degraded. At the same time, she said, vibrant communities comprised of people tied to the land economically and spiritually have been established throughout the ecoregion, resulting in ongoing opportunities to interact with nature in more sustainable ways.
Gosnell will discuss recent conservation strategies aimed at "rewilding" the Southern Rockies and will consider some of the opportunities and barriers surrounding these efforts. She holds a doctorate in geography and is a research associate at the Center of the American West specializing in private land conservation, land use and land management in the rural mountain West.
The event is one of nine public lectures presented by CU-Boulder faculty in 2003-04 on the theme "Healing the West." The series is sponsored by the CU-Boulder Chancellor's Office, the CU-Boulder Center of the American West and the Colorado Chautauqua Association.
The series will continue through May on Wednesdays once a month. For more information call the CU-Boulder Office of Community Affairs at (303) 492-7084.