Emily Barbo

Symposium Speaker: Citlali Cortés Montaño

June 22, 2023

The Salazar Center is proud to announce that Dr. Citlali Cortés Montaño will be joining us Denver, Colorado, for the fifth-annual International Symposium on Conservation Impact.

Citlali has worked in ecology, management, and conservation in México for over 20 years. Since 2015, she has served as the senior sector coordinator for the México office of KfW (the German Development Bank) in biodiversity and forestry. Citlali’s work keeps her connected with community-based conservation and the management of biodiversity and ecosystems.

She has a Ph.D. in Forest Science from Northern Arizona University, and her dissertation focused on old-growth habitats and their relationships to wildfire. Her research has helped to provide a new depiction of fire regimes in the Sky Islands that can help inform fire management, restoration, and regional conservation planning, fostered by local and traditional knowledge and collaboration among landowners and managers.

A major impact of climate change, very evident in recent news, is the increase in the frequency of large fires. In her paper, “Climate Change, Forests and Fire in the Southwestern US and Northern Mexico”, Citlali collaborated with Dr. Don Falk to compare forests and forest management in the Southwest United States and Northwest Mexico.

Additional Research

Contemporary Fire Regimes Provide a Critical Perspective on Restoration Needs in the Mexico-United States Borderlands

Emily Barbo

Symposium Speaker: Shaun O’Rourke

June 21, 2023

The Salazar Center is proud to announce that Shaun O’Rourke will be joining us in Denver, Colorado for the fifth-annual International Symposium on Conservation Impact.

Shaun is a Director on the Water Climate and Finance Team at Quantified Ventures (QV) focused on accelerating nature-based solution projects through innovative funding and financing approaches. He has more than 15 years of climate leadership in the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors. Prior to joining QV, he was the Managing Director at Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and was appointed by Governor Raimondo as the state’s first Chief Resilience Officer. In this role, he led the development and implementation of the climate resilience action strategy, Resilient Rhody. The strategy resulted in over $45 million in new, dedicated funding for climate resilience projects during the first four years. Shaun worked closely with Rhode Island’s congressional delegation and state legislature to advocate for priority projects and direct federal funds for clean energy and climate resilience projects.

Additionally, Shaun has served as the National Green Infrastructure Director at The Trust for Public Land and Director of Sustainable Design and faculty member at the Boston Architectural College.

He is passionate about working with municipalities, counties, and states to accelerate implementation of nature-based solutions to solve multiple problems at once. He and his family live in Northern Vermont and in his free time, Shaun can be found playing in the mountains.

The Water and Climate Finance team at QV partners with communities and organizations from all sectors to deliver clean water, climate mitigation, and community resilience solutions to improve the wellbeing of people and planet. They work with their clients to identify and secure capital to catalyze and scale environmental infrastructure and nature-based solution projects.

Emily Barbo

Symposium Speaker: Gwen Bridge

June 20, 2023

The Salazar Center is proud to announce that Gwen Bridge will be joining us in Denver, Colorado for the fifth-annual International Symposium on Conservation Impact.

Gwen is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation and has been working for over 20 years with First Nations, all levels of government, and the private and nonprofit sectors, across North America, developing relationships and strategies that advance reconciliation. She has been negotiating initiatives and advising on strategy and policy that recognize and implement Indigenous Knowledge, such as in the proposed South Okanagan Similkameen National Park Reserve.

Gwen is advising the BC government on how to better consider indigenous knowledge in collaborative land use planning and forestry related climate change considerations. Support to local governments includes developing strategies and principles for becoming “Cities of Reconciliation” and advising on climate change policy and economic development engagement strategies. Indigenous-led conservation focuses recently include the smelqmix Protected Area and caribou habitat conservation advancement in the territory of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. Advancing an understanding of the ecological, economic and equity-based partnership mechanisms to support our collective reconciliation agenda through training is a recent focus. Other clients include First Nations and First Nation organizations, Parks Canada, US National Parks Service, National Geographic Society, other nonprofits, regional and municipal governments including Metro Vancouver, other consulting firms, the University of Washington, Blue Quills University, BC Ministries of: Environment, Indigenous Relationships and Reconciliation, Forests, and Land, Water and Resource Stewardship.

Gwen is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Forestry at UBC. Gwen has a Master of Science in Forest Hydrology from the University of Alberta.

Emily Barbo

Symposium Speaker: Brenda Mallory

June 19, 2023

The Salazar Center is proud to announce that Brenda Mallory will be joining us in Denver, Colorado for the fifth-annual International Symposium on Conservation Impact.

Brenda Mallory is the 12th Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). She is the first African American to serve in this position. As Chair, she advises the President on environmental and natural resources policies that improve, preserve, and protect public health and the environment for America’s communities. She is focused particularly on addressing the environmental justice and climate change challenges the nation faces while advancing opportunities for job growth and economic development.

Chair Mallory has decades of experience in both the private and public sector, including spending nearly 20 years at the Environmental Protection Agency and CEQ, serving in a number of senior roles. In Chair Mallory’s first stint at CEQ as the General Counsel, she helped shape many of President Obama’s signature environmental and natural resource policy successes.

Now having returned to CEQ, Chair Mallory is looking to reinvigorate CEQ’s important environmental policy role to advance President Biden’s ambitious climate and environmental justice agenda. Chair Mallory was the first in her family to attend college, graduating from Yale College with a double major in history and sociology and then from Columbia Law School as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. She and her husband Mark live in Rockville, MD. They have three adult children. The family enjoys visiting the parks and other natural treasures that reflect the environmental values she has worked to protect.

Emily Barbo

It’s Earth Day! What does it mean to you?

April 18, 2023

Every year on April 22 we celebrate Earth Day, which marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. CSU understands just how important it is to learn about and engage in sustainability activities so we are celebrating Earth Month from the end of March through April.

The Salazar Center staff took some time to reflect on the question, “What does Earth Day (or month!) mean to you?”

Jen Kovecses
Assistant Director of Programs

I have worked in what is often referred to as science-based restoration or conservation for over fifteen years. In that space, we rely on data, hypothesis-testing, statistics to drive decision making or implement projects on the ground. Our underlying assumption is that good science will lead to better outcomes. While this is true and necessary, it leaves out a big challenge: people outside of our bubble are often not moved to act or change behavior by data. Sometimes more ephemeral moments can inspire pivotal change. Part of the lore of the history of Earth Day is that it was in part inspired by one of the world’s now most famous photographs – Earthrise. One photo, albeit a photograph captured through amazing technological wizardry, that raised our environmental consciousness, lit a collective match under our sense of urgency to protect the planet, and contributed to the foundation that Senator Gaylord Nelson leveraged when he founded the first Earth Day in 1970. One photo helped change the way people saw the world and themselves in it. As I continue to work in this space, this aspect of Earth reminds me that it takes more than science to solve our current problems and we need to bring all sorts of perspectives and tools to the table to create lasting change.

“To see the Earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats is to see ourselves as riders on the Earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold.”
From poet Archibald MacLeish, New York Times on Christmas Day 1968

Shoshana Dean
Program and partnerships Specialist

Earth Day is always an energizing and special day to me, as it reminds me of the strong conservation community that is passionate about protecting our planet. I think it is important to remember that anyone can take actions to celebrate and conserve the Earth, regardless of whether you are working in an environmental career field. I often think of my nieces and nephews (all six of them!) and how important it is to see our world through their eyes and protect it for their futures. This year, I am celebrating by waking up in Colombia and exploring the vast tropical biodiversity in that country. What better way to celebrate our Earth than getting out and experiencing all it has to offer?!

Adriana Ortega
Operations and Research Coordinator

Earth day amplifies for me the unequivocal interconnectedness of everything around us. How most organisms -humans included- go about our days, changing ourselves and the world around us in the process, using energy collected from the sun by other beings, and how all the physical elements needed to carry on with such acts of awe come from the Earth itself and ultimately, the Universe. The preciousness of what happens every second on this planet is humbling, inspiring and very encouraging.

Emily Barbo
Senior Communications Manager

Anyone who has ever tried to create social change can tell you, it takes both the head and the heart to make a difference. That’s why I love that the first day of spring and Earth Day are so close to each other. For me, the first day of spring is an opportunity to enjoy the natural environment around me. Those first few days of spring sunshine gets my heart pumping; it’s like my own emergence from winter hibernation. Then Earth Day offers the opportunity to put my talents and energy to work with the environmental conservation community in a way that feels meaningful and impactful (which usually requires getting my hands a little dirty, literally).

I often say, it’s not enough to know what needs to change. It’s not enough to be passionate, either. That knowledge and energy needs to be put into action. That’s what Earth Day means to me. Action.

Catie Boehmer
Assistant Director of Engagement and Operations

This year I’ll be on vacation in Las Vegas on Earth Day, so I won’t be engaging in quite the same way as I usually do. It turns that, contrary to what is probably a widely shared misconception about this desert destination, Vegas is actually one of the most water-efficient cities in the world. So while I won’t be participating in an official Earth Day event, I will definitely be looking at the Bellagio Fountains with a newfound understanding of how water is conserved and recycled across the city.

Over the past few years, I’ve found myself thinking more and more about how to balance conservation and recreation—especially given the explosive demand for more opportunities to get outside that came with the COVID-19 pandemic. There are typically lots of different ways to observe Earth Day locally, and there’s this split between clean-ups or restoration-type activities like tree plantings, and activities like group hikes or bike rides. I was at a conference in 2022 that addressed how all recreation activities are “consumptive”—even if you aren’t necessarily hunting or fishing or cutting down your Christmas tree—because that activity is impacting the ecosystem you’re recreating in: hiking or mountain biking on a trail, for example, is going to affect how a nearby elk or fox or hawk moves through the area. Earth Day feels like a great time for us to pause and consider our own impacts in a more multi-faceted way—it’s about the perennial Earth Day (or week or month) calls-to-action like recycling, reducing our reliance on single-use plastics, and saving the rainforest, but it’s also about continually expanding our understanding of how we can do better for the planet.

Now it’s your turn! What does Earth Day mean to you and how are you planning to celebrate (either with old traditions or maybe a new one!)?

Emily Barbo

What it means to be a tenacious woman in conservation

April 4, 2023

I participated in the Palmer Land Conservancy’s annual TENACITY: Women in Conservation Conference in March. As I made the drive from Denver to Colorado Springs with my colleague, Catie, I couldn’t help but ponder the name of the event and my role in conservation as a woman. It was harder than I expected to define my place in the Ven diagram of these two identities (and the I-25 South traffic didn’t help). What few answers I was able to come up with weren’t so positive, remembering moments of adversity in my professional development and uncertainty around my ability to make a meaningful impact. My apprehension about attending started to grow and the nervous energy that I always feel when attending networking events became mixed with a tightness in my chest that usually signals one thing, dread. I was terrified I wasn’t going to be able to be a supportive, energetic, optimistic, driven, eco-Zena-warrior-princess. Worse, I was worried I didn’t belong. I felt like an imposter to my gender and my profession. Not great.

But it was too late to back out now. Had I been the one driving, I might have seriously considered turning us around. But I wasn’t, and I didn’t want to look like a total wimp in front of my boss – an eco-warrior in her own right. So, I swallowed my fear and prepared for the worst.

Thank God.

When I walked into the Pinery lobby, the sound of women’s energetic voices immediately enveloped me. And instead of feeling overwhelmed, as I had convinced myself for an hour in the car that I would, it was instantly comforting. Before I got five steps into the reception, another colleague from CSU hurried over to me and gave me a big, welcoming hug. She’d been coming to this event for years. I don’t know if she saw the trepidation in my eyes or if she is just naturally a nurturing soul (probably both), but she immediately acted as a sort of guide, introducing me to folks she knew and generally acting as a home base for me to launch from and retreat to throughout the evening. It was wonderful. I met new people with an ease that rarely happens in networking spaces because we all had at least two things in common – a shared context.

The evening’s main event, a conversation between three women who are shaping the future of Colorado in their respective industries featured Anne Castle, who is a Senior Fellow at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment at the University of Colorado Law School; Dawn DiPrince, the Executive Director of History Colorado and the State Historic Society; and Jackie Miller, the Executive Director of Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO).

In front of a sold-out crowd, these three powerhouse women shared their visions, hopes, and concerns for our future. Here are a few quotes (some of which are paraphrased, drawing from my memory) that have stayed with me since the event.

“So, why women in conservation? I think we all know, there is nothing more powerful than a room full of women (and a few men) who are motivated to get stuff done. We also know that we face gender inequality. And that until a time when we are equally recognized, supported, and celebrated, it is important that we illuminate the powerful leadership and impact that women have in conservation and beyond. Our health and future very much depend on it.”
– Rebecca Jewett, President and CEO of Palmer Land Conservancy

“My superpower is that I try to live a very love-based life and I think I’m a pretty authentic human being.”
– Jackie Miller

“Water is not only a finite resource, it is shrinking…. Water is a basic human right, that not all humans have, by the way. We can’t continue to use water in the west, in Colorado, in the way that we have historically. And what that means for us is that our cities are going to look different. They aren’t going to have as much wide-open green space, there is going to be more zero-scaping. We are going to look more like Santa Fe, which would be fine, it’s a good way to live in a desert environment.”
– Anne Castle

“So many of our communities are experiencing the tension between conservation and recreation – knowing that increased use and the effects of climate change are putting extra pressure on our natural resources. People are wanting to recreate in record numbers, which is fabulous. Nature makes us healthier and happier. But how are we going to continue to protect the resource to ensure that the Colorado that we all know and love continues to thrive on a landscape level? Progress moves at the speed of trust. We need to build trust with one another so that we can work towards common solutions.”
– Jackie Miller

“One of the things that keeps me up at night is a concern about tribal communities and whether at the end of the day, we will do the right thing by the tribes. And we haven’t yet.”
– Anne Castle

“Hope isn’t something that happens to us. Hope is something that we make.”
– Dawn DiPrince

This last quote from Dawn has been coming back to me over and over – and encompasses what the event was all about – women gathering together to inspire, learn, and lift up each other as leaders in our communities even, and perhaps especially, when we feel like we don’t always belong.

I’m excited to be on this team, with these women, and for the opportunity to confront these issues and dream of a better future. And I can’t wait to see how I feel when I am driving to the TENACITY: Women in Conservation Conference next year.

John M. Mola

Thinking about parks as places for people and pollinators

March 20, 2023

Spring is here and everyday I am more excited for the arrival of my favorite things. No, not brewery patio beers. No, not gloves-free bicycle rides. Instead, my excitement is for the emergence of fluffy moths, the drunken meanderings of butterflies, and the dramatic antics of bees frantically gathering food for their offspring.

Perhaps when I talk about these insects, or when one thinks about nature and wildlife in general, we imagine day trips up to Rocky Mountain National Park or to some faraway “nature”. But nature is not some faraway thing – it’s right here in our neighborhoods. Our gardens, parks, roadside ditches or in the canopies of street trees. One of the most striking examples of this nature at home can be found in learning about the lives of bees, butterflies, and other pollinating insects. These pollinators can be your “Gateway Bugs”, helping you see the fascinating drama of the life of insects unfolding right in your city.

Some Basics About Pollinators

*Hunt’s Bumble Bee (*Bombus huntii) visiting a cherry blossom on April 4th, 2020 in Fort Collins. Queens of this species are among some of the earliest native bees you can find in cities along the Front Range.

Around the world there are over 20,000 species of bee and over 180,000 species of Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths). Not to mention tens of thousands of other pollinating flies, wasps, beetles, birds, and more. The question “What is a pollinator?” is one of those simple questions with a surprisingly complex answer – so for now, let’s leave it at animals, primarily insects, that feed upon flowers. And most important among them are the bees, for they are the only ones that feed their offspring from pollen as their primary source of protein.

For many people, the honey bee might be a familiar sign of spring and the first bee we might think of when thinking of “the bees”. But these creatures represent only a tiny sliver of bee diversity. The European Honeybee (Apis mellifera) can be commonly found throughout the Front Range, but the species is not native to North America. It was brought here with the first European settlers (and in fact can often be a source of disease or competition for native species). Instead, along the Front Range you’ll want to keep your eyes and ears open to find bumble bees, mason bees, leaf cutter bees, and in total over 80 or so species of native bee living in our cities and towns. Check out this CSU Extension project on native bees for some more information on how to find or identify these species.

Why Care About this Diversity

Pollinator diversity, and their persistence in our cities, is important not only for the joy they can bring us in the springtime. An estimated nearly 90% of plants worldwide depend on pollination by animals. Additionally, for our agricultural industry, the pollination of crops amounts to an estimated over $200B every year. These important pollination services cannot be relied upon from just a single species, either. Global synthesis studies show that in all crop systems that rely on bee pollination, the addition of native, wild bee species always increased yields and/or crop quality beyond that of honeybees alone. Within urban environments, these bees are important to the pollination of crops in urban farms or gardens. On the western slope, pollinators contribute to the economically important orchard crops.

Concerns About Pollinator Declines

Despite a growing recognition of the importance of pollinators to our daily lives, there is a simultaneous and troubling body of research documenting regional and global declines of their populations. The presence of pollinators in our cities should not be taken for granted, it may not always be this way if we’re not careful. Factors like pesticide exposure, loss of flowering plants, and the impacts of heat and drought can make life tough for pollinators in the city. But we are not unaware of these stressors – we can make decisions about how to conserve or manage our natural resources.

In fact, there are several reasons to be hopeful about the fate of insects within urban environments. The presence of high densities of flowering plants due to gardens, parks, and street trees may help to offset the loss of wild flowering plants in areas that have been overgrazed or otherwise lost historic plant composition. Additionally, because gardeners often like to have something blooming for much of the growing season, sometimes these areas can provide a continuous source of floral resources rather than the “bloom and bust” cycles associated with agriculture or otherwise degraded lands. However, much remains to be learned about how we can best support pollinators in urban environments and ensure these species can be enjoyed and learned from for generations to come.

Conservation Action

But there is hope – there is a growing recognition of the value of green spaces not only for people, but also for pollinators. And there are substantial opportunities for win-win scenarios where we can increase the aesthetic value, value to pollinators, and climate resilience of our parks all in one.

My lab group at Colorado State University is working on a new project Denver Parks and Recreation and the Salazar Center for North American Conservation that will help provide guidance on conserving pollinator populations within Front Range communities (and hopefully beyond). This summer we’ll be conducting surveys of park goers and Denver residents to understand aesthetic and cultural preferences towards pollinator plantings. That should help us find win-win scenarios in conserving pollinators and building beautiful spaces. Additionally, we’ve been assembling a trait database on “pollinator friendly” plants to help build a plant selection tool for the city. Our philosophy is that there is no one “best plant” or mix of plants to support pollinators – instead, we need to be aware of the context of various goals and objectives in our efforts. If you’d like to read more about these projects, check out this CSU story.

How Can I Help?

That may be well and good that my lab is working on some plans with Denver Parks – but what can someone who is concerned about pollinator declines do to support populations in their city or backyard? The first thing – do NOT keep honeybees. Honeybees are important for agriculture, but they are domesticated species, not wild native pollinators. We like to say that keeping honey bees to “save the bees” would be like keeping chickens to “save the birds”. It can be a fun hobby for sure, but it is not a conservation action.

If you have space available, planting pollinator-friendly plants is an excellent way to provide food resources to pollinators and begin to learn about the insects that inhabit your space. We’re working on better guidance for municipalities, but for residents, CSU Extension already has some great guidance for home gardeners.

Perhaps my favorite way for folks to get involved though, is to contribute to research by documenting the bees and other pollinators you see on websites like iNaturalist.org or Bumble Bee Watch. This data, along with the associations with plants, has become a huge source of information for modeling population trends, learning about plant-pollinator associations, or documenting changes in species ranges. Contributing data to these sites is an excellent way to learn about pollinators while making an impact well beyond your home garden or neighborhood.

*A map of Denver neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are colored according to their equity index. Red dots represent records of bees from the website iNaturalist.org. Many Denver* *neighborhoods lack information on their pollinators – and many of these records are non-native honeybees.*

As the weather warms up, and the bees begin to emerge, I encourage you to look around and see if you can find nature close by. Soon, up above, you can find huge bumble bee queens beginning their seasons diligently collecting pollen and nectar from early-blooming trees like cherry, maple, and willows. Ground nesting bees jostle for territory in dirt patches at the edge of flower beds. Aggregations of males of solitary bee species form small frenetic clouds as they search for mates.

Perhaps by finding these creatures you can learn more about them and feel a greater connection to the world around us.

Emily Barbo

Peregrine Accelerator: Evaluator Spotlight 3

December 9, 2022

The Peregrine Accelerator for Conservation Impact program wouldn’t be possible without the support of our partners who have graciously agreed to serve as mentors and proposal evaluators to our applicants.

While only a maximum of 12 teams will be accept into the program, The Center wants to make sure that all applicants walk away with something valuable from the experience since it takes time and resources to develop a proposal. Getting substantive feedback from regional and subject matter experts on the strengths and opportunities for improvement on proposals is one of the significant benefits of applying to this program.

These evaluators were selected for their experience, curiosity, and passion for watershed health, climate resilience, and social equity. They will provide a thorough review of each application submitted, and each applicant team will receive feedback from a minimum of five evaluators to help them strengthen their approach and solutions. Since they play such an important role in the program, take a moment to get to know a few of the evaluators who will be investing their time and energy in this work!

Be sure to check out the full list of evaluators and their bios.

Kate Trujillo, Honnold Foundation

Kate is the Deputy Director at the the Honnold Foundation, where she develops and oversees HF’s work supporting grassroots organizations that are using solar energy to improve peoples’ lives and reduce environmental impact. Throughout her career, Kate has worked with various nonprofits and foundations at the nexus of social justice, public health and environmental conservation. Her work has always focused on increasing access to basic needs for marginalized communities and spans from strengthening Tribal Court Systems on Native American reservations to developing sustainable agriculture programs in Ecuador. She believes strongly in the power of grassroots movements and in using community-designed solutions to foster sustainable change. Kate is a member of the Laguna Pueblo and received her master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan. In her spare time, Kate can be found running through the forests of the Pacific Northwest, spending time with her friends and family or planning her next adventure.

Whether the Honnold Foundation’s grants are helping to fund solar-powered boats in the Ecuadorian Amazon, set up solar water pump systems in indigenous desert communities in Mexico, install micro solar home systems built from salvaged electronic waste in Indonesia, or improve energy resilience in the USA’s Navajo Nation tribal lands, the criteria is the same, says Trujillo.

“It has to be a community-driven project,” she says, which both fits the needs of locals and has a self-sustaining plan for the maintenance and upkeep of the solar equipment, which invariably means there are beneficial training, education, job-creation and other spin-offs.

“Community is such a huge part of what we do. What it boils down to is, ‘who owns and is accountable for this program’? And if the answer is not the community, then we’re not interested.”

Kate is a member of the Laguna Pueblo and received her Master’s of Public Health from the University of Michigan. In her spare time, Kate can be found running the streets of Salt Lake City with her dog or on an outdoor adventure with her fiancé.

Carlos Fernandez, The Nature Conservancy

Carlos leads a staff of 60 Colorado employees as the Nature Conservancy’s State Director for Colorado. Working with partner organizations, government agencies, elected officials, and other key decision-makers, Carlos and his team strive to build alliances that advance conservation outcomes both in Colorado and around the world. Since taking the helm in Colorado in 2015, Carlos and TNC have enjoyed many notable achievements—everything from protecting large swaths of native grasslands to helping to create Colorado’s newest state park. He previously served the Conservancy as the Southern Andes Conservation Strategies Manager and the Patagonia Program Manager. He joined the Conservancy in January 2003, working as the Foreign Legal Advisor for the South American Conservation Region.

Carlos believes in cultivating collaborations and investing in diversity when it comes to the development of conservation goals and initiatives. “Many people say that the environmental movement lacks diversity, and I always answer the same thing: yes, but only in the United States,” he shared in an interview with Colorado Water Trust. “The environmental movement is a wide movement. It may not be diverse in the United States, but the global environmental movement is very diverse, and that difference is very important.” He went on to share, “There is a lot of work to be done. We need to make sure our environmental outcomes have a match to their demography. I think we ought to be in a place where the work we are doing and putting out is not only relevant for the white demography of Colorado but to the entire demography of Colorado, including, of course, our large Hispanic population and everyone else.” He also spoke of the need to elevate Black and Native American voices in the conservation world, especially in the areas where they are most affected.

Earlier in his career, Carlos worked for large international law firms in both Washington, DC and Buenos Aires. He holds an LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center and a J.D. from the University of Mendoza, School of Law from Mendoza, Argentina.

Emily Warren Armitano, Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Emily is the director of land conservation and water programs for the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation in Austin, Texas. She is responsible for leading the design of the land conservation and water program strategies and managing a grants portfolio to achieve the foundation’s sustainability goals.

Emily joined the foundation in 2019, bringing with her deep experience in community engagement, movement-building, connecting research to action, and a commitment to equity and social justice.

Previously, she held leadership positions at the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, where her focus was on sustainable natural resources management. She also served as a member of the management team at United for Iran, working to improve human rights, support civil society, and increase civic engagement in Iran. In addition, Emily worked as part of the global management team for a United Nations Development Program aimed at reducing the volume and toxicity of health care waste in eight low-income countries across the globe.

She recently participated in the Center’s 4^th Annual Symposium for International Conservation Impact. You can watch her session in English and Spanish.

Emily is from Venezuela and comes from a family that spans four continents. She is fluent in Spanish. Emily holds a Ph.D. in Geography from Texas State University, a Master’s of Science in Environmental Science, and a Master’s of Public Affairs from Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and a dual B.S. in Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution and Pre-Medicine from the University of Illinois.

The Center is thrilled by the number of high-quality applications we received to join the Peregrine Accelerator program. Our evaluators will be reviewing applications and sharing feedback over the next several weeks. Be sure to keep an eye out for an announcement introducing our cohort in the new year!

Emily Barbo

4th Annual International Symposium for Conservation Impact – Day 2 Recordings

December 2, 2022

The 2022 Symposium focused on transboundary conservation, specifically across the US-Mexico border, which spans nearly 2,000 miles across six distinct ecoregions and shapes a landscape that is home to more than 15 million people. The region represents a unique opportunity to explore how to improve conservation outcomes for both people and ecosystems – and how to do so in the context of multinational, transboundary collaboration.

The Symposium concluded on Friday, October 7, 2022. The morning started with a keynote address from Assistant Secretary of Water and Science Tanya Trujillo, on the importance of federal collaboration as critical to the successful management of our vital river systems.

To complement this, a panel of experts including Roberto Salmon, Jennifer Pitt, Carlos de la Parra, and Anne Castle discussed the complex and innovative Colorado River Minutes process that has allowed the two countries to reach agreements that preserve the river ecosystems and the human livelihoods that rely on a sustainable water supply to prosper.

Calixto Mateos-Hanel, Managing Director of the North American Development Bank, shared the innovative ways in which NADB is funding work that simultaneously fosters sustainable development while meeting environmental goals.

The morning concluded with an incredible panel of NGO leaders sharing the work they are doing to integrate climate resilience into their conservation work throughout the borderlands. Thank you to Serge Dedina, Fay Hartman, and Jon Dale for sharing the innovative projects you all are doing to help your communities adapt and prepare for the effects of climate change.

It takes a lot of passion, collaboration, planning, and science to make conservation happen. But none of it happens if we can’t pay for it. The afternoon sessions of Friday dove into innovations and ideas of ways to pay for the work with examples from the borderlands including a panel discussion on why business needs biodiversity, moderated by Jennifer Gooden, President Biophilia Foundation, which advances biodiversity conservation on private lands by fostering systemic change through people, their communities, and direct action. Participants then heard from experts from philanthropy in the US and Mexico who spoke about the role they see for the future of philanthropy in the borderlands and beyond to help further conservation goals.

The final speaker of the Symposium was Ron Rael, a designer, activist, trained architect, author, and Eva Li Memorial Chair in Architecture at the University of California Berkeley. His research interests connect Indigenous and traditional material practices to contemporary technologies and issues. He is a thought leader within the topics of additive manufacturing, border wall studies, and earthen architecture. His moving presentation gave participants hope and a vision for the future as we continue to have constructive conversations that create meaningful change.

You can now watch all of the recordings from Day 2 of the Symposium in English and Spanish. For more, including the pre-conference webinars, be sure to visit the Center’s YouTube Channel. Please note, due to a power outage on Friday morning, some session recordings are incomplete.

Symposium Day 2 Recordings

Welcome and introductory remarks

Beth Conover, Executive Director, Salazar Center for North American Conservation
Tony Frank, Chancellor, Colorado State University System
Luis Benitez, Vice President for Government Affairs and Global Impact, VF Corporation (emcee)

Federal perspectives on transboundary rivers

Tanya Trujillo, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Department of the Interior

Ver en Español

Multi-national cooperation on water: Interstate compacts as a model for transboundary cooperation

Roberto Salmon, Founding Partners, Luken Center for Strategies in Water and the Environment, and Former Commissioner, Mexico-United States International Boundary and Water Commission

Carlos de la Parra, Chair of the Board, Raise the River
Jennifer Pitt, Colorado River Program Director, National Audubon Society
Moderated by Anne Castle, Senior Fellow, Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment at the University of Colorado Law School

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North America Development (NAD) Bank: Promoting sustainable development while protecting the environment across the U.S.-Mexico border

Calixto Mateos-Hanel, Managing Director, North American Development Bank

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Climate impacts to biodiversity and water in the border region

Jon Dale, Director, Rio Grande Valley & Mexico, American Forests
Serge Dedina, Executive Director, WILDCOAST

Fay Hartman, Conservation Director, Colorado River Basin Program, American Rivers
Moderated by Jen Kovecses, Assistant Director, Salazar Center for North American Conservation

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Financing ambitious conservation across the border: Innovations in financing critical conservation in Mexico

Lorenzo Jose De Rosenzweig Pasquel, Founder and CEO, Terra Habitus

Business needs biodiversity: Case studies from the U.S. and Mexico

Valeria Cañedo, Conservation Biologist, Wild Sonora Collective
Alejandro Espinosa Trevino, Biodiversity Conservation Manager, CEMEX
Alberto Garza Santos, Chairman, Promotora Ambiental S.A.B. (PASAB MX)
Moderated by Jennifer Gooden, President/CEO, Biophilia Foundation

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The role of philanthropy in the future of climate resilience and transboundary conservation

Renee Gonzalez, Director, Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature
Ted Kowalski, Colorado River Initiative Lead and Senior Program Officer, Environment Program Walton Family Foundation

Emily Warren Armitano, Director, Land Conservation and Water Programs, Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Moderated by Beth Conover, Executive Director, Salazar Center for North American Conservation

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A vision for the future: Ambitious ideas for advancing conservation for healthy landscapes and people in the borderlands

Ron Rael, Chair, Department of Art Practice, and Professor of Architecture, Eva Li Memorial Chair, University of California Berkeley

Closing remarks

Beth Conover, Executive Director, Salazar Center for North American Conservation
Luis Benitez, Vice President for Government Affairs and Global Impact, VF Corporation (emcee)

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Emily Barbo

4th Annual International Symposium for Conservation Impact – Day 1 Recordings

December 2, 2022

The Symposium started on Thursday, October 6, 2022. We heard from amazing speakers representing Cuenca Los Ojos, Sierra Club Borderlands, the Tohono O’odham Nation, and the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University. The first panel of the day, moderated by Teresa Martinez of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, discussed their social and cultural connections to the borderlands and what is at risk if we do not act intentionally to heal and reframe the narrative of how we view the region while there is time to preserve the resiliency of the area.

Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau shared the importance of collaboration between the U.S. and Mexico and how conservation is a key solution for addressing the complex geopolitical issues of the region. He advocated that “The right approach to durable conservation is having it come from grassroots organizations” and shared the department’s commitment to working with local communities to ensure solutions best serve those in the region.

The panel on connectivity in the borderlands brought together experts who reflected on successes that can be replicated and scaled:

Luke Cole: We need to use what’s in your water portfolio wisely – which is happening more and more in the borderlands. And we should continue to learn from tribal partners; never lose sight of the blueprints that are in front of us on the wise use of water that can augment and guide our technological advances.

Rurik List: We need to restore ecosystems, all ecosystems, and part of that restoration includes connectivity. In particular, we need to address the impacts of the border wall on that connectivity.

Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta: We need science-based planning in our efforts and a renewed focus on governance that incorporates the needs of nature and humans.

Next, Pete McBride shared powerful photographs and stories from his expeditions to inspire attendees to respect and protect wild places. After ten years documenting expeditions in some of the most challenging locations in the world, Pete turned his attention to his own backyard, understanding the plight of the Colorado River and other natural treasures under threat, like the Grand Canyon. With writer Kevin Fedarko, Pete completed a 1,207-kilometer (750-mile) thru-hike of the entire length of the canyon. They learned from many canyon lovers, park officials, and Native tribal residents throughout the area that development plans poised to forever change one of America’s most iconic landscapes. His talk highlighted the conservation challenges as visitation numbers grow and development pressures mount. Even in the face of such adversity, a small group of people come together and have a huge impact on preserving the sacredness of the canyon.

Participants ended the day by learning about some of the impacts that the US-Mexico border wall has had on the borderlands’ amazing biodiversity, human, and ecological linkages.

Dinah Bear, who is an attorney and consultant and served for 25 years as General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel at the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), shared insights from her professional experience with border issues from both an environmental and humanitarian perspective, including work related to border barriers and to prevention of migrant deaths.

Following Dinah’s presentation, Dr. Sharon Wilcox, Senior Texas Representative for the national conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife, moderated discussion with a panel of experts with a wide range of perspectives on living with and addressing the impacts of the border wall.

And so much more! You can now watch all of the recordings from Day 1 of the Symposium in English and Spanish. For more, including the pre-conference webinars, be sure to visit the Center’s YouTube Channel.

Symposium Day 1 Recordings

Welcome and introductory remarks

Beth Conover, Executive Director, Salazar Center for North American Conservation
Jordan Dresser, Chairman, Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation
Luis Benitez, Vice President for Government Affairs and Global Impact, VF Corporation (emcee)

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Setting the stage: How do we define transboundary conservation in the borderlands?

Valerie Gordon, Secretary/Treasurer of the Board, Cuenca Los Ojos

Social ties: Culture and connectivity in the borderlands

Irasema Coronado, Director & Professor, School of Transborder Studies, Arizona State University
Verlon Jose, Governor of the Traditional O’odham Leaders, Tohono O’odham Nation
Erick Meza, Borderlands Coordinator, Sierra Club

Moderated by Teresa Martinez, Executive Director, Continental Divide Trail Coalition

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America the

America the Beautiful and how cooperative conservation can serve the U.S. and Mexico

Tommy Beaudreau, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior

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Connectivity in the borderlands: Exploring important ecological pathways across land, water, and air

Luke Cole, Director, Sonoran Institute
Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta, Director of the Coastal Solutions Fellows Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Rurik List, Head of the Research Area on Conservation Biology, Metropolitan Autonomous University – Lerma
Moderated by John Sanderson, Director, Center for Collaborative Conservation, Colorado State University

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Chasing water in drying times: Challenges and successes in the Colorado River Basin — snow to sea

Pete McBride, Contributing Photographer, Writer, Filmmaker at National Geographic and Smithsonian Magazine

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Learnings across transboundary river basins: Case studies from the Colorado and Rio Grande

Lorelei Cloud, Southern Ute Tribal Council and Co-Chair, Indigenous Women’s Leadership Network
Oscar Leal, Water Program Director, Pronatura Noreste
Enrique Prunes, Senior Program Officer for Freshwater, World Wildlife Fund
Moderated by John Tracy, Director, Colorado Water Center

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The border wall over time: Policy, ecological, and cultural outcomes

Dinah Bear, Attorney and Consultant, Former General Counsel, White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)

Border wall impacts on connectivity, water, and biodiversity

Lorraine Eiler, San Lucy District Alternate of the Tohono O’odham Legislative Council, Hia-Ced O’odham Nation
Diana Hadley, Founding President, Northern Jaguar Project

Myles Traphagen, Borderlands Program Coordinator, Wildlands Network
Moderated by Sharon Wilcox, Senior Texas Representative, Defenders of Wildlife

Closing remarks & Peregrine Accelerator announcement

Gloria Schoch, Senior Director of Global Impact and Executive Director of the VF Foundation, VF Corporation
Luis Benitez, Vice President for Government Affairs and Global Impact, VF Corporation (emcee)

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Emily Barbo

Scenes from the 4th Annual International Symposium

December 1, 2022

Photographer: Griffin Moores, CSU Office of Engagement and Extension

Emily Barbo

Peregrine Accelerator: Evaluator Spotlight 2

November 18, 2022

Be sure to check out the full list of evaluators and their bios.

Teresa Martinez, Continental Divide Trail Coalition

For over 30 years, Teresa has worked professionally to increase awareness, engagement, access, and stewardship of the United States’ entire National Trails System. A graduate of Virginia Tech, Teresa holds a B.S. and M.S from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in the College of Natural Resources. Teresa is a lifelong outdoor recreationist and from 1987-2007 she worked for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, from 2007 to 2012 she worked for the Continental Divide Trail Alliance, and since 2012, she has been the Executive Director (and co-founder) of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition. She serves on the Trail Leadership Council of the Partnership for the National Trails System and has served as the Chair of the Federal Advisory Committee to aid the USFS in the development of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail.

Teresa is actively involved in the creation of equitable spaces for all people in the outdoors and currently serves as the acting chair of the Board for the Next100 Coalition. She believes that inclusion in the outdoors matters because it is the underlying foundation of the landscapes and communities within which we work and wish to expand. Inclusion means that every voice along the Continental Divide has a seat at the table and the opportunity to influence the future of this 3,100-mile-long corridor of land across the Rocky Mountains. In 2019, Teresa was honored by the Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources as the recipient of the Gerald Cross Alumni Leadership Award. When not working on behalf of one of our National Trails, Teresa may be found exploring trails in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico, by bike, horse, and foot.

Estrella Woods, Great Outdoors Colorado

awards competitive grants to local governments and land trusts across Colorado and makes investments through Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Created by voters, GOCO has committed more than $1.3 billion in Lottery proceeds to more than 5,500 projects in all 64 counties without a single dollar coming from taxpayers’ pockets. Estrella joined the GOCO team as the Southwest program officer in June 2021. She is driven by a deep desire to be of service in a way that directly supports health and wellness for local communities and the environment. When the opportunity arose with the creation of GOCO’s regional officers, she felt the position aligned perfectly with those values, working with partners to support outdoor recreation and conservation projects and programs for residents and visitors alike. Her position serves thirteen counties in the southwest region of Colorado in the development of projects seeking GOCO partnership and funding.

Estrella’s past work experience is rooted in the outdoor recreation and travel industries as well as fundraising for nonprofits focused on health and human services. Estrella studied Language Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz and completed an MBA with Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. Originally from Maine, Estrella has lived on the Western Slope of Colorado for over twenty years. Above all, she enjoys being outside in nature, sharing her passion for outdoor recreation, and being a steward of the land in southwest Colorado.

Jim Petterson, Trust for Public Land

Jim is the Trust for Public Land’s Mountain West Region vice president, overseeing the organization’s Northern Rockies (MT, ID, WY) and Texas Programs, and providing day-to-day management of its Colorado and Southwest Program (CO, UT, AZ, NM). Together, these teams are working with local communities in some of the fastest-growing urban, suburban, and rural areas to generate climate, health, and equity outcomes by creating parks, conserving priority lands, reimagining schoolyards, and building and enhancing trails and greenways. When describing his work, Jim said, “Community is at the heart of everything we do at The Trust for Public Land. We pride ourselves on being active listeners and good partners, working to connect people to the outdoors through land protection, trails, green schoolyards and parks and open space. We’ve been working in Colorado for over 35 years to ensure healthy, livable communities for generations to come.”

Prior to joining Trust for Public Land, Jim spent 17 years at The Nature Conservancy, including 12 years in a variety of senior marketing leadership roles, such as chief communications officer and communications director; and five years as senior advisor to the CEO. Prior to joining the Conservancy, Jim spent 10 years working in Washington, D.C. as a communications director and legislative assistant for a senior member of Congress and as a press secretary for the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Jim is an avid trail runner, bushwhacker, and peak bagger. When he’s not visiting his kids at their colleges in the Florida Keys and Berkeley, California, Jim lives in Denver, Colorado with his spouse, Jeanine.

Do you have an innovative idea for conservation solutions in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo River Basin? Do you want to connect with a network of industry leaders and experts like those mentioned here? Then you should apply for the Peregrine Accelerator! Learn more about the proposal requirements and be sure to submit your application, in English or in Spanish, before the deadline on Monday, November 21 at 5:00 p.m. MT.

Learn More & Apply