Ideas, Speakers & Lectures

Wilderness Workshop

Wilderness Workshop’s mission is to protect the wilderness, water, and wildlife of western Colorado’s public lands. The organization works across more than four million acres of public lands to ensure their ecological integrity. They have led efforts to designate more than half a million acres of Wilderness and hundreds of thousands of roadless areas in western Colorado. Their efforts focus on protecting public lands from threats such as industrial development, climate change, and short-term exploitation, but perhaps more important is what they protect public lands for – intact and thriving ecosystems, a livable planet for current and future generations, and the moment of awe that can only be experienced in a wild place. Learn more at wildernessworkshop.org.

2022 Wild Feast Speaker: Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk

Aspen Public Radio

Published August 11, 2022 at 12:23 PM MDT

This event was recorded on August 10, 2022 as part of Wild Feast, in partnership with Aspen Public Radio.

Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk was born and raised in southwestern Colorado and resides on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation. She is an enrolled member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of Towaoc and spent 10 years in the information technology field, working for Chief Dull Knife College, the Southern Ute Indian, and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribes. In October of 2013, she was elected to serve as a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council.

At an early age, Lopez-Whiteskunk began to advocate for land, air, water, and animals, and strongly believes that the inner core of healing comes from the knowledge of our land and elders. She is a former co-chair for the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition Co-Chair and education director for the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose. Currently, she is a Master of Environmental Management candidate with Western Colorado University.

Employed by the Montezuma Land Conservancy as the Cross-Cultural Programs Manager, she serves on the Telluride Institute Board, Advisory Board for Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Torrey House Press Board, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Board, and as an advisor for the Women of Bears Ears. Most recently she was appointed by Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to serve on the Bears Ears National Monument Management Advisory Committee.

Lopez-Whiteskunk has traveled extensively throughout the country sharing the Ute culture through song, dance, presentations, and is honored to continue to protect, preserve, and serve through education, creating a better understanding of our resources, culture, and beliefs— the greatest foundation for a better tomorrow.

Wild Feast is an evening celebrating conservation, climate action, and public lands protection, which took place on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 in the courtyard of the St. Regis Aspen Resort. The event helps to raise critical funds that ensure Wilderness Workshop can protect western Colorado’s public lands and waters, build an equitable environmental movement, and help stop the climate crisis.