Welcome Address
Plenary Speakers:
Here and Now: A Lifetime Reconciling Human and Natural Dimensions
Dr. Richard (Rick) Knight, Professor, Dept of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University
Knight is interested in the intersection of land use and land health in the North American West. A professor of wildlife conservation at Colorado State University, he received his graduate degrees from the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin. While at Wisconsin he was an Aldo Leopold Fellow and conducted his research at Aldo Leopold's farm, living in "The Shack." Presently, he sits on a number of boards including the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, The Quivira Coalition, the Science Board of the Malpai Borderlands Project, and The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado Council. He was selected by the Ecological Society of America for the first cohort of Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows which focus on leadership in the scientific community, communicating with the media, and interacting with the business and corporate sectors. In 2007, Colorado State University awarded him the Board of Governor’s Excellence in Teaching Award. With his wife Heather, he works with his neighbors in Livermore Valley on stewardship and community-based activities.
Imagining the Future: Humans, Wildlife and Global Climate Change
Dr. Douglas Inkley, Senior Science Advisor, National Wildlife Federation
Inkley is a certified wildlife biologist with expertise in ecology and wildlife management, and is the National Wildlife Federation’s Senior Scientist. Inkley has worked on a broad diversity of wildlife issues including endangered species conservation, state wildlife funding, national wildlife refuge legislation, waterfowl conservation and wetlands conservation. Frequently working with the media and as a public speaker, his current focus is on the impacts of global climate change on fish and wildlife resources. Inkley served as Chair of The Wildlife Society’s Global Climate Change and Wildlife Technical Review Committee and was the lead author of the 2004 report Global Climate Change and Wildlife in North America published by The Wildlife Society. He received the 2005 Conservation Education Award from The Wildlife Society as the lead aurthor of the Global Climate Change and Wildlife in North America. He received the 2007 Communications Award from Ducks Unlimited for work on publicizing climate change impacts on wildlife. Inkley studied wildlife ecology throughout his academic career, with degrees in zoology and physiology (Ph.D.-University of Wyoming), natural resources planning (M.S.-University of Vermont) and wildlife management (B.S.-Michigan State University).