CeRSER is excited to host another pub talk on July 26!

Join us the evening of July 26 at the Irish Embassy in Durango for a presentation “Collaborative Watershed-Length Riparian Restoration in Four Major Tributaries of the Colorado River” by Mike Wight, River Restoration Director, Southwest Conservation Corps with time for discussion following his presentation.

Admission and appetizers are free

thanks to generous sponsorship from Horizon Environmental Services!

 
 
 
This presentation will focus on four specific partnership efforts in large tributaries of the Colorado River Basin to restore habitat at a scale previously unseen.  Partnership governance/structure, funding mechanisms, collaborative successes, ecological and social accomplishments will be discussed.

In recent years the southwest United States has seen a significant growth in collaborative efforts to restore riparian habitat on a watershed scale. Land managers, non-profits, private landowners, conservation organizations and others have come together to rally around a host of issues. Invasive species represent the primary target for many of these partnerships, with management goals aimed at improving the quality and quantity of riverside habitat for the benefits of wildlife, recreation, access, aesthetics and ecosystem restoration.

Conservation corps can provide much of the man power for the initial treatment of invasives such as Tamarisk and Russian olive, often using chainsaws and herbicide to treat these species, while also providing services such as bank stabilization, fencing, planting, seeding. Engaging young adults in these efforts provides economic, educational, and stewardship benefits to communities, transforming restoration projects into multifaceted capacity building efforts.

Mike began his conservation career on a seasonal Forest Service trail crew in Arizona while working towards his B.S. in Ecology and Natural History at Prescott College.  After five rich seasons working and learning, leading the crew, fighting fires and reflecting as a lookout, he was ready to continue progressing.  His final studies in college included conducting Wild and Scenic research in the Grand Canyon, on foot and by raft.  Next steps found Mike leading volunteers in Colorado with Landmark Volunteers, becoming a Project Coordinator with the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps and working with a private fire mitigation company in Steamboat.   As his boating skills progressed, Mike became more passionate about the Southwest’s amazing rivers and landed a river instructor position with Outward Bound.  His experience with youth and the outdoors led to running a local Mountain Youth Corps in Nederland, Colorado where he eventually became Academic Director of Chinook West- an alternative high school with a focus on service learning and outdoor experience.  After five rewarding years, it was again time to move along.  Joining the Southwest Conservation Corps as River Restoration Director was a culmination of Mike’s varied experiences.  Four years after beginning the position, he finds great value in engaging young adults in riparian restoration, while supporting watershed length, collaborative habitat restoration initiatives on the Dolores, Verde, Escalante and Gila rivers with five conservation corps programs.

Food, Fun and Ecological Restoration!!

Download the poster here.