Historical and contemporary policies and practices have resulted in over a century of fire exclusion across much of the US. Within designated wilderness areas, the exclusion of fire constitutes a fundamental and ubiquitous act of trammeling.

Today, 30 Tribal Nations hold senior water rights, equivalent to about 20–25% of the water in the Basin. These Tribal Nations bring important leadership and unique perspectives to lasting, Basin-wide strategies that address a future with less water. Hear staff from The Nature Conservancy discuss how Tribal Nations play a critical role in solving water scarcity and other environmental challenges in the Colorado River system and beyond.

Bird populations are declining across North America primarily due to habitat loss. Beavers can help reverse those declines! Find out how you can help Roaring Fork Audubon help beavers to help birds.

There’s a terrible beauty in this world. There are things we love beyond words—our children, our community, special places in the natural world—and yet all of those things are threatened by climate change. And yet our actions in response to that threat tend to be token: many of us don’t even vote. After a divisive presidential election, and at the eleventh hour, how do we grapple with climate change, and use our humanity and aspirations as a way to propel us forward?

In this talk, Dr. Park Williams unravels the story of why western U.S. society has lost control of wildfire after nearly eliminating it from the landscape for the better part of a century. The conclusions can guide our understanding of fire in the western U.S. and how we can change our ways to live sustainably with it.

As Americans, we have an opportunity and responsibility to use our voice to affect how our food is grown, how our land is treated, and how industrial agriculture harms our climate. This Jessica Catto Dialogue delves into the policies shaping US food systems, the impact agriculture has on the environment, our inefficiencies of land use, and the “agricultural exceptionalism” that protects the industry from oversight. Speakers discuss different policy approaches and priorities regarding past and future Farm Bills and how rethinking the food system more broadly offers options that uplift and support farmers, farmworkers, animals, and most importantly… you.

The Audubon’s Chief Scientist Chad Wilsey opened the festivities with an educational talk, sharing examples of how birds connect people across the hemisphere through their amazing migratory journeys and ultimately, how art can help drive conservation action.

The sixth great extinction crisis is one of humanity’s most pressing and least attended problems. It is a clarion call for changing our relationship with Mother Earth from that of disregard and destruction to regard and restoration. The evening’s talk offers inspiring stories of collective action to recover imperiled species as redress for the crisis, with comments including the wolf restoration to Colorado.

Alexis Nikole Nelson is a forager and an outdoor educator using her platform to yell, sing and celebrate all the edible plants hiding in plain sight! She invites all who will come on the foraging journey of collecting, identifying, and eating wild food.

Shereen Sarick shares stories that weave together the people in the Roaring Fork Valley and villagers of the Langtang Valley. Learn about the lives, schools, and villages that crumbled in the 2015 earthquakes, and the rebuilding of them all.