Fernandez-Gimenez, with sheep herd in Spanish Pyrenees, in 2011.

A Colorado cowboy, a Spanish sheepherder and a Mongolian nomad walk into a bar… what do they have to talk about?

Maria Fernandez-Gimenez, a professor at Colorado State University, studies the traditional ecological knowledge of ranchers around the world, and she spoke to me about her work and findings for High Country News in January 2012.

Here’s an excerpt from the conversation, regarding how ranchers view the roles of values of predators:

HCN How similar are ranchers’ attitudes and management practices when we’re talking about interactions with predators?

MFG It was so similar, the wolf dialogue in the West and the bear dialogue in the Pyrenees, and the vilification.

In the Pyrenees, I spoke to one of the most outspoken, cantankerous herders in this village who was just renowned for being the kind of person who comes to every public meeting and stands up and yells at the government about the bear problem. But when we were talking to him, he actually he said he was able to distance himself and say, “I understand that as a citizen of this country that the bear is a public good, and I can understand why people want the bear. But as a livestock owner, I have a different feeling.” To me, it was maybe an instance of someone getting to a certain point in their maturity of thinking about an issue.

My December 30, 2011 story for the Northern Colorado Business Report looks at the progress of the initiative, and how a local recycling company is teaming up with the industry.

Here’s an excerpt:

Beginning in 2007, SIA, representing winter sports gear manufacturers and retailers, voluntarily launched a corporate-responsibility recycling program. The project was aimed at educating consumers to bring old equipment to retail stores, and its pilot phase focused on the Rocky Mountain region.

In three seasons working with just a handful of retail outlets, the SIA’s Greg Schneider said the program has compiled a whopping 300 tons of skis, boots and other gear. But the group had struggled to figure out how to actually process the trashed equipment, because winter sports products use composite plastics, wood fiber, aluminum and other metals that must be separated into usable materials. In the meantime, the backlog has sat in a Goodwill warehouse in Denver.

…

“We’re always looking for ways that we can repurpose the old equipment,” Schneider said. “It’s like the holy grail.”

Spent brewery grain (via Flickr, under a Creative Commons license)

In Fort Collins, a city that sometimes seems to be powered by beer, businesses are looking at an innovative power plant to run on spent brewery grains.

A Sept. 23 column in the Northern Colorado Business Report — “Beer-powered syngas plant slated to give FortZED a buzz” — explores the backers’ claims and potential interests.

Here’s a sip from the article:

If all goes well, the same partners hope to build a four-megawatt gasification power plant in Fort Collins, using local spent grains and other brewery waste. The beer-fueled electricity would be enough to offset the energy needs of several local microbreweries, and another two megawatts of waste heat would be recaptured and could be sent to a brewery or other business to replace the use of natural gas.

“It’s an extremely innovative project, and one that’s receiving international attention,” said Ryan Speir, acting CEO of the Rocky Mountain Innosphere.

Stephen Schneider

When Stephen Schneider died in July 2010, the climate science community lost one of its leading and most articulate voices, but colleagues and a new generation of researchers are carrying forth his spirit and approach to understanding and explaining the impacts of climate change.

This August, hundreds of Schneider’s fellow scientists gathered in Boulder to remember him and also share their own research exploring the topics that he helped bring attention to with policymakers and the public. My September 2011 article for Miller-McCune, “A Discernible Human Influence: Schneider and Climate Change,” recounts the personal and intellectual impacts Schneider had on his colleagues and explores how scientists are tackling the latest and largest questions surrounding climate science and policy.

Ten years after the attacks, Peek and I spoke for an interview, “A Spotlight on the 9/11 Anti-Muslim Backlash,” for Miller-McCune in September 2011.

Powdered oxides of rare-earth minerals (Peggy Greb, USDA ARS)

A run on rare earth metals, used to make solar panels, military hardware and cell phones, is driving a frenzy for mining claims in the West.

My April 17, 2011 story in High Country News looks at the rush and the reality behind a rare-earth boom in the U.S.

My article, “Algae industry embraces lower expectations,” in the April 21 issue of the Northern Colorado Business Report, covers Solix’s latest moves and explores the future of algae and biofuels production.

My January 24, 2011 cover story for High Country News, “Utah’s Sagebrush Rebellion capital mellows as animal-lovers and enviros move in,” reports on the region’s swirling social, political and environmental dynamics, from antigovernment protests over public lands to failed bikini bans to supposedly uphold local, social values.

For the article, “Ecomarkets and the Farm of the Future,” I spoke with ranchers, environmentalists, government officials, professors, and one Green Party county commissioner/poet to learn about several efforts getting under way in Colorado, which would establish markets to pay landowners to protect and restore wetlands, floodplains and endangered species habitat, offset damages resulting from development, and provide a supplementary source of income for struggling farmers and ranchers.

Here’s an excerpt:

In southwestern Colorado, Art Goodtimes is also exploring options for payment for ecosystem services (PES) projects. A performance poet, environmental activist and San Miguel County commissioner, in no particular order, Goodtimes was inspired while attending a conference on collaborative conservation at Colorado State University in September 2009, where he heard Sally Collins and others speak. “They all were talking about PES projects, but no one was really doing them,” says Goodtimes, who decided his county would be a prime area for a market-based experiment.

San Miguel County voters had approved a bond issue in 2001 to pay landowners to preserve open space. The initiative funded the purchase of development rights from farm properties, which prohibits subdivision of parcels and puts conservation easements in place. Goodtimes considered the county’s support of the program as a signal that his constituents—a mix of liberal-minded skiers and hippies in Telluride and conservative ranch families in much of the rest of San Miguel—would be open to innovative PES projects that would support ranch families and local land stewardship.

With financial support from the county and a grant from Colorado State University’s Center for Collaborative Conservation, Goodtimes has convened a county working group, receiving support from Toombs, Fankhauser and Goldstein, to develop local PES programs. Similar to the Piñon Canyon idea, one project could center on rare plants, identified through the state’s Natural Heritage Program. A second option would build on a past county monitoring project for old-growth wetlands called fens and create a market to protect sensitive wetland areas. Goodtimes and Fankhauser have also spoken about extending a sage-grouse market program to include Gunnison sage-grouse. The distinct and smaller grouse species also received a “warranted but precluded” ruling from the government this past September, so any market initiatives would, again, rely on voluntary actions.

Over the next year, Goodtimes expects to develop at least one of the ideas into a pilot program. Along the way, the working group will have to identify landowners willing to participate and settle on the ecosystem services that could drive a credit program.

“I’ve always been upset that we don’t get a real accounting of what natural resources are really worth in the economy,” Goodtimes says. “I want this to be a model so other people can see if it works.”

Goodtimes isn’t shy about saying “if” when talking about whether market-based initiatives will work. As a self-proclaimed environmentalist and a member of the Green Party, he has issues with every aspect of the economic valuation of the environment. “But,” he says, “I see it as a great tool for society. If it doesn’t work, the pilot will show that.”

Beyond any philosophical discussion over defining nature in economic terms, payments for ecosystem services have raised some harsh criticism. One of the leading arguments aimed at PES programs and environmental markets is that despite the economic and environmental objectives, the programs facilitate development without actually achieving biodiversity conservation.

Critics argue that ecosystem services make for complicated commodities that are difficult to measure. Programs that aim for “no net loss” of wetlands or wildlife habitat might look good on paper, but can still fail to positively impact species populations or water quality measures.

It’ll be interesting to see how many of these market projects get off the ground, and whether they can deliver on their prospects: to improve conservation on private lands and make it pay for landowners, who are otherwise struggling to preserve family ag lands. One aspect I didn’t dive too deeply into during the story, but hope to explore soon is whether Wall Street’s interest in ecosystem services and markets can boost the efforts, or maybe just turn them into the next investment bubble.

Outdoor recreation is a sort of religion in the Rocky Mountain West, where huge expanses of public lands protect massive natural spaces. And like religion, there are myriad ways to recreate and the different paths to enlightenment don’t always work great in the same places.

In the Fall 2010 issue of Headwaters Magazine, published by the Colorado Foundation for Water Education, my article, “Colorado’s Culture of Recreation,” explores the state’s recreational habits and how resource managers are planning for the growing number of people — and the shifting demographics — that are heading outdoors.

As an addendum, since this story went to print, the state parks department has been faced with closures and oil and gas development (via the Denver Post) in order to meet budget needs.  Appetite and altruism, as Leopold wrote, will both be necessary along with consideration for what we’re protecting and enjoying in our parks, wildernesses, and other natural areas.