Naturalist Nights

Naturalist Nights is going virtual in 2021! 

Each winter, ACES partners with Wilderness Workshop and Roaring Fork Audubon to co-host the popular Naturalist Nights speaker series. While we won’t be able to provide the traditional tea and cookies for this winter’s virtual series, we’re still bringing a great line-up of experts to explore topics of the natural world with our community. This year’s modified Naturalist Nights series will include five presentations, plus a Spanish translation for each.

January 7

Community Science in the Age of #SocialDistancing: How We Can Still Advance Ornithological Science Even During the Pandemic
Ted Floyd – Editor of Birding magazine, American Birding Association
Watch now
 

January 21

Merging Traditional and Modern Growing Methods for Food Sustainability
Susan Sekaquaptewa – Assistant Agricultural Agent, Hopi Tribe. University of Arizona Extension
Watch now
 

February 4

Sharing the Same Slope: Can Canada lynx and Winter Recreation Coexist?
Lucretia Olson – Ecologist, US Forest Service
Watch now
 

February 18

Forest Bathing in Your Own Wild Home
Melanie Choukas-Bradley – Certified Forest Bathing Guide
Watch now
 

March 4

Colorado’s Record-setting 2020 Fire Season in the Context of the Past 6000 Years
Philip Higuera – Associate Professor of Fire Ecology
Watch Now

Past speakers:

Winter 2020
 

• Divas in the Treetops: When and Why Do Female Birds Sing? | Lauryn Benedict, Ph.D., University of Northern Colorado
• Denizens of the Alpine: Breeding Site Selection and Winter Movements of Brown-capped Rosy-Finches | Amy Seglund, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, and Aaron Yappert, Wildlife Biologist
• Disappearing Elk: Loving Our Wild Places to Death | Paul Millhouser, Rocky Mountain Wild
• Maintaining CATCHments, Not waterSHEDS: The Effects of Wildfire | Liz Schnackenberg, U.S. Forest Service
• Too Hot to Trot? Pika Ecology in a Time of Global Change | Johanna Varner, Ph.D., Colorado Mesa University
• Feral Horses in the Western USA: Politics, Controversy, and Science | Kate Schoenecker, Ph.D., U.S. Geological Survey
• No Boundaries for Birds: Saving Tropical Birds in the Roaring Fork Valley | Nic Korte, Grand Valley Audubon Society
• Border Wall Impacts on Wildlife, Wilderness, and Communities: A View from Both Sides* | Myles Traphagen, Wildlands Network, and Mirna Manteca, Profauna (*bilingual presentation)
• Snowmelt to Streamflow: Vulnerability of Mountain Rivers to Climate and Forest Change | Rosemary W. Carroll, Ph.D., Desert Research Institute
• The March 2019 Avalanche Cycle: One for the History Books | Kelly Elder, Ph.D., U.S. Forest Service, and Brian Lazar, Colorado Avalanche Information Center

Winter 2019
 

• Creating an American Nile: The Colorado River's Forgotten Global History | Sara Porterfield, Tributaries Consulting, LLC
• Close-up Stories From The Trinidad Rainforest | Ray Mendez, Asa Wright Nature Center
• The White-tailed Ptarmigan: An Alpine Icon in Colorado | Kathryn Bernier, Colorado Parks & Wildlife
• Greater Sandhill Cranes in Colorado’s High Country | Van K. Graham, Retired from Colorado Parks & Wildlife
• Wildfire: From CATCH-ment, to water-SHED, to CATCH-ment | Liz Schnackenberg, United States Forest Service
• What is the Future of Colorado's Aspen Forests with Climate Change? | Bill Anderegg, Ph.D., University of Utah
• When the Well Runs Dry: Securing Water for People & Nature in the Colorado River Basin | Aaron Derwingson, The Nature Conservancy
• The Deep History of Pueblo People | Mark Varien, Ph.D., Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
• Colorado’s Snowpack: Adventures in Monitoring and What It Means for Our Water Supply | Gigi A. Richard, Ph.D., Fort Lewis College
• How the Changing Climate is Affecting Wildflowers and Pollinators in the Colorado Rocky Mountains | David W. Inouye, Ph.D., Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory
   

Winter 2018
 

• The Future of Wildness | John Hausdoerffer, Ph.D., Center for Environment & Sustainability, Western State Colorado University
• Ultimate Fisher: The Osprey | Jasmine Finks, Boulder County Parks and Open Space
• "Nature should be free!" Public Claims to Public Land in the 21st Century | Melanie Armstrong, Ph.D., Master in Environmental Management Program, Western State Colorado University
• Can Rocks Talks? Geology's Story from the Bottom of Glenwood Canyon to the Grottos | Garry Zabel, Colorado Mountain College
• Colorado's Bluebirds and How You Can Help Them | Kevin Corwin, Colorado Bluebird Project, Audubon Society of Greater Denver
• A Biologist's and Senator's Look at Wolf Recovery and Conservation | Sen. Mike Phillips (District 31, Montana), Turner Endangered Species Fund
• Pinyon-Juniper Woodland Response to Global Change: Climate, Management, and Recovery | Miranda Redmond, Ph.D., Colorado State University
• The Natural History of Colorado | David Anderson, Colorado Natural Heritage Program
• Guarding the World's Finest Guano: A Story of Ecology and Economy | Scott A. Taylor, Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder
• Ecosystems of the Colorado Plateau: What Does the Future Hold? | Jayne Belnap, Ph.D., United States Geological Survey

Winter 2017
 

• Mimicking Nature: Engineering for the Environment | April Long, Stormwater Manager, City of Aspen
• Beyond Mastodons & Mammoths: The Latest Scientific Understanding from the Snowmass Ice Age Discovery | Stephanie Lukowski, Paleontologist, Snowmass Ice Age Discovery Center
• Welcome to Subirdia | John Marzluff, Ph.D., Professor of Wildlife Science, University of Washington
• Warmer—But to What End? The Past, Present & Future Climates of the Roaring Fork Valley | Jeff Luckas, Research Integration Specialist, Western Water Assessment
• The Second Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas Project | Lynn Wickersham, Research Associate, Fort Lewis College
• Balancing Outdoor Recreation with Wildlife Conservation in Protected Lands | Sarah Reed, Ph.D., Colorado State University & Sarah Thomas, Ph.D., Sarah Thomas Consulting, LLC
• Energy Development Impacts on Wildlife: Lessons Learned for the Next Energy Boom | George Wittemyer, Associate Professor, Colorado State University
• Public Response to Fire Management: Conventional Wisdom vs. Reality | Sarah M. McCafferty, Ph.D., Research Social Scientist, U.S. Forest Service
• Cutthroat Trout: Conservation through Uncertainty | Kendall Bakich, Fisheries Biologist, Colorado Parks and Wildlife
• Small Mountain Owls | Scott Rashid, Director, Colorado Avian Research and Rehabilitation Institute

Winter 2016
 

• Should Wolves Be Restored to Colorado? | Delia Malone, Wildlife Team Chairperson, Sierra Club, Rocky Mountain Chapter
• The Challenges of Advocating for Mountain Lion Conservation | Wendy Keefover, Native Carnivore Protection Manager, The Humane Society of the US
• The Red Fox: Naturalist History & Winter Ecology | Patrick McGee, Ph.D., Director of Thorton Biology Research Program, Western State Colorado University
• The Hungry Bird: What Birds Eat | David Leatherman, Former Forest Entomologist, Colorado State Forest Service & Author of "The Hungry Bird" column, Colorado Birds
• Neonicitinoid Pesticides & Their Impact on Honeybees & Other Pollinators | Ed Colby, Beekeeper & Aspen Mountain Ski Patrol
• The Biggest Global Change You've Never Heard Of: How Nitrogen is Affecting Colorado's High Country | Jill Baron, Ph.D., Research Ecologist, United State Geological Survey & Senior Research Scientist, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University
• Do Spruce Beetles Make Forest Fires More Severe? Field Evidence from the San Juan Mountains, CO | Robbie Andrus, Ph.D. student, Biogeography Lab, University of Colorado at Boulder
• The Gold King Spill: Impacts on the Animas River | Marcie Demmy Bidwell, Executive Director & Scott Roberts, Water Program Director, Mountain Studies Institute
• From Cottonwoods to Cut Banks: Is River Restoration Working in the Desert Southwest? | Shannon Hatch, Restoration Coordinator, Tamarisk Coalition
• Good Fire, Bad Fire & the State of Our Landscapes & Communities Without Fire | Jim Genung, Prescribed Fire & Fuels Specialist, White River National Forest

Winter 2015
 

• How Bears Make a Living Off Salmon in Kodiak, Alaska | Will Deacy, graduate student, University of Montana
• DamNation | Film screening
• Capturing Glacial Change Through 3D Time-lapse Photography on the Helheim Glacier, Greenland | Adam LeWinter, Ph.D., Research Physical Scientist, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
• Adapting to Extremes: Life in Alaska's Arctic | Andre Wille, Teacher, PolarTREC & Aspen High School
• Wilderness in Peril: Overuse in the Maroon Bells Snowmass Wilderness | Karen Schroyer, Aspen-Sopris Ranger District, White River National Forest
• Ordinary Extraordinary Junco: Remarkable Biology From a Backyard Bird | Film screening
• Wilderness Pecha Kucha | Slideshow & performances by local artists & Wilderness seekers
• Lessons in Protecting Wildlands from Oil & Gas Development | Peter Aengst, Senior Director Northern Rockies Region, The Wilderness Society
• Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo: Colorado's Newest Threatened Species | Jason Beason, Special Monitoring Projects Coordinator, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
• A Fire History of Hunter Creek Valley | Jason Sibold, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Geography, Colorado State University

Winter 2014
 

• Wildlife at the End of the Earth: Antarctic Birds & Animals | Dick Filby
• Moose of Western Colorado | Stephanie Duckett
• A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet | Film screening
• Songbirds as Indicators of Healthy Riparian Ecosystems | Dee Malone
• Laser Mapping of Mountain Snowpacks: NASA's Airborne Snow Observatory | Jeff Deems, Ph.D.
• Response of the Alpine Treeline to Climate Change: Detailed Analysis from Pikes Peak | Miroslav Kummel, Ph.D.
• Pecha Kucha: A Fast-Paced Storytelling for the Thompson Divide | The Pecha Kucha Troop
• The Wilderness Act in an Era of Global Climate Change | Greg Aplet, Ph.D. 
• A Fire History of the Hunter Creek Valley | Jason Sibold, Ph.D
• Forests During the Time of the Mastodons: Ziegler Reservoir Fossil Site | Dane Miller

Winter 2012
 

• Beaver: Nuisance of Opportunity? | Sherri Tippy
• The Meaning of Wilderness and the Rights of Nature | Rod Nash
• "The Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for our Time" | Film screening
• Taking Science to the Extreme: Arctic Research Adventures | Susy Ellison
• Black Swifts: The 'Coolest' Bird | Kim Potter
• The Colorado River: Flowing Through Conflict | Pete McBride
• War on the West: How the Oil Industry is Carving up our Last Best Places | Eric Molvar
• Beetles, Dust, and Climate: Changing Hydrology in the CO River Headwaters | Jeff Deems
• The Science Behind Forecasting Powder and Other Weather Fun | Joel Gratz
• The Future Forest: How Science Informs our Understanding of Forests and Efforts to Protect Them | Tony Chang
• Climate Change and Our Future in the Rocky Mountains | Ian Billick
• Pikas and Climate in the American West | Liesl Erb
• American Dipper as an Indicator of River Health | Dee Malone