By Shelly Sommer

Principals
Peter Blanken; Amanda Carrico; Eve-Lyn Hinckley; John Knowles; Keith Musselman

Funding
National Science Foundation听(NSF)

Collaboration + support
CU 色吧亚洲 students and staff; land managers; residents

Faculty, students and technicians from CU 色吧亚洲 and the University of Wyoming walk the site of the newly installed EcoTram near INSTAAR鈥檚 Mountain Research Station.

Land managers, residents and scientists across Colorado鈥檚 Front Range are uniting to map how ecosystems and public lands are responding to pressures from people and climate change.

鈥淐olorado will face some tough choices in the coming years and decades. . . . It鈥檚 important for residents of Colorado to have a voice in how we set priorities as we look into the future,鈥 investigator Amanda Carrico said.

Researchers will adapt an advanced computer model of Earth systems to the Rocky Mountain environment. A measurement campaign on Niwot Ridge is helping develop and test the model.

At the same time, Carrico is learning from land managers how they make decisions in the face of public pressure and climate change. Those conversations will shape project research with land managers and residents.

鈥淲orking with local institutions on local problems鈥攖hat鈥檚 something we鈥檙e all excited about,鈥 investigator Keith Musselman said.

Photo: Faculty, students and technicians from CU 色吧亚洲 and the University of Wyoming walk the site of the newly installed EcoTram near INSTAAR鈥檚 Mountain Research Station.鈥

Photo by Keith Musselman