Colorado Mountain College Sustainability and Ecosystem Science Conference to focus on returning the land, wildlife to Indigenous peoples
Graduating students to present sustainability, ecosystem research findings
Courtesy photo
Colorado Mountain College will hold its annual, free and virtual Sustainability Studies and Ecosystem Science & Stewardship Conference on April 18. The conference, in addition to providing a forum for graduating students to present their capstone projects, will feature “Rematriating the Rockies,” its keynote presentation.
Rematriation is a movement supporting the direct return of lands to Indigenous peoples, the return of buffalo to their homelands and the reclamation and resurgence of Indigenous knowledge, cultural practices and languages.
The conference’s keynote presentation will focus on ways to shift environmental conservation toward a more equitable and balanced future. Gemara Gifford, owner of Mending Mountains Collective and a doctoral candidate at Colorado State University, will share her research on the pathways and barriers to rematriation in the southern Rocky Mountain region.
Gifford’s doctoral research focuses on Indigenous-led land stewardship efforts on American West public lands, including land returns, co-management, wildlife reintroductions and more.
As a consultant, Gifford works with nonprofits, research institutions and governments to improve relationships and collaboration between American and Indigenous peoples and natural resource and conservation groups in the West.
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A former wildlife scientist with a background in community-based conservation, nonprofit leadership and rematriation movements in Latin America, Gifford advocates for environmental justice and Indigenous rights.
With roots in the southern Rocky Mountain region, Gifford’s family — Chicano labor rights organizers from the San Luis Valley and coal mining camps of southern Colorado — instilled in her a deep love and responsibility for animals and the environment.
The April 18 conference begins at 9 a.m. with a welcome by CMC President Dr. Matt Gianneschi, followed by research presentations by graduating students from CMC’s Sustainability Studies and Ecosystem Science and Stewardship, or ESS, programs at 9:30 a.m. and Gifford’s keynote address at 11 a.m.
Conference attendees can select one of seven virtual breakout rooms to view short research presentations by CMC sustainability and ESS students from various campuses.
The college’s sustainability studies bachelor’s degree program began in 2011. CMC began accepting students for the ecosystem science and stewardship program in the fall of 2022.
Registration for the April 18 virtual conference and the in-person Speaker Series talk on April 17 is required at ColoradoMtn.edu/sustainability-conference.
