“Crisis to Comeback: Your Local Climate Action Podcast”

Anyone can nominate a tree for the Champion Tree Program! CTC accepts nominations from rural and urban areas all over the state. To nominate a tree, click here.  If you are re-measuring a tree, please send an email to to Neal Bamesberger listing the exact location of the tree, the new (verified) measurements and any other new information about the tree's condition, owners, etc..     

https://www.coloradotrees.org/champion-tree
[email protected] 

https://www.coloradotrees.org/events

In this final episode of season one of Crisis to Comeback, host Kori Stanton talks with Colorado Water Center's Director, John Tracy. According to CSU’s website, "The Colorado Water Center is one of 54 Water Resources Research Institutes created by the Water Resources Act of 1964. As a division under CSU’s Office of Engagement and Extension, the Center aims to connect all water expertise in Colorado’s higher education system with research and education needs of Colorado’s water managers and users, building on the rich water history at Colorado State University."

John got his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at Colorado State University and ultimately received a master's and PhD at UC  Davis. Throughout his career he has been  Director of water centers in Nevada, Idaho and Texas before coming back to Colorado to lead the Water Center two years ago. 

You can find more information on the Center at watercenter.colostate.edu

On this episode host Kori Stanton interviews Andrew Rickert, Program Manager for Colorado’s Weather Modification Program which is through the Colorado Water Conservation Board aka CWCB. Andrew has been managing the state's Weather Modification Program for five years and was recently in the field helping measure Colorado's snowpack statewide.  Andrew invites listeners to reach out to him with any questions via email at [email protected] or you may call his office at 303-866-3441 extension 3249.

VIDEO: NCAR | RAL - Winter Cloud Seeding with Silver Iodide Steps
Source for Silver Iodide: Deepwater Chemicals, Inc., Safety Data Sheet

This episode features a conversation (based around the carbon cycle) with political economist, climate change advisor and North Fork Valley resident, Calla Rose Ostrander. Calla Rose is also the co-creator and host of 'Rain & Shine'—another podcast produced by Kori Stanton. 

If you have any nature or science questions for Calla Rose you can reach her at [email protected] and who knows…  maybe one of your questions will be answered on an upcoming episode of Rain & Shine. 

This episode features John Miller who is the Soil Health Program Manager through the Colorado Department of Agriculture. John was born and raised on a cattle ranch in Delta County, he has a  background  in  engineering and prior to working for the CDA he spent over 11 years working for the Delta Conservation District  teaching  people  irrigation water management in Delta, Mesa and Montrose  Counties.

Colorado's Soil Health Program
(STAR) Program - Colorado Saving Tomorrow’s Agricultural Resources 
2024 Western Colorado Soil Health, Food & Farm Forum 

• Here’s the link to the sustainability report: https://www.blackhillsenergy.com/sites/blackhillsenergy.com/files/2022-sustainability-report.pdf 
• Black Hills Colorado Gas, Inc. 2024 – 2028 Clean Heat Plan

This episode feature's a conversation on food security and climate change with Colorado's Commissioner of Agriculture, Kate Greenberg. 

This week's episode feature's a conversation with Dr. Heidi Steltzer. Dr. Steltzer is a Professor of Environment and Sustainability at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO where she’s been teaching for the last 15 years. She's been living in and studying Colorado since 1994.

She founded the Heidi Mountains Cooperative, a non-profit field station & retreat center in Cortez, Colorado that honors science and faith as ways of knowing. Heidi is a Master’s student in Theological Studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver.

Dr. Steltzer is a lead author for the chapter on High Mountain Areas in the 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on the Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. She is a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and an advocate in AGU’s Voices for Science program launched in 2018 to promote communication about the value and impact of Earth and space science to decision makers, journalists, and public audiences.

Dr. Steltzer is a mountain and Arctic scientist, explorer, and science communicator. She studies how environmental changes affect mountain watersheds and Arctic ecosystems and their link to our well-being. She has spent 25 years conducting field studies on mountain and Arctic hillslopes in Colorado, Alaska, Greenland and recently China. She’s pioneered studies on the impacts of earlier snowmelt through experimentally accelerating snowmelt and monitoring plant and ecosystem responses. Her field studies lead to an experiential approach to higher education, in which she creates opportunities for student-led inquiry into environmental issues. Her experiences engaging with students have influenced her choice to invest in science communication and climate diplomacy. Dr. Steltzer earned her BS in Biology at Duke University. Her doctorate is in Ecosystem Ecology from University of Colorado at Boulder. Find her on social media @heidimountains.

Recent Honors

• Witness before the US House Committee Science, Space, and Technology for the U.S. House of Representatives for the hearing on: An Update on the Climate Crisis: From Science to Solutions, 2020
• Powerhouse Science Center Honoree, Durango, Colorado, 2019

This episode features Paonia resident, Elizabeth Agee. Elizabeth is passionate about helping people build their connection with the natural world through gardening and conservation. In 2015, she moved to Colorado to study permaculture at Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, seed saving at Rocky Mountain Seed School, Holistic Management at Holistic Management International and Southwestern agriculture and tradition. She values collaborations within the local community and thrives in situations where she can support others' work in conservation and agriculture. Elizabeth works for an organization called Colorado Farm & Food Alliance (COFFA) and manages the Plant-A-Row project, Just Good Food Campaign and the newly minted Equity Garden Incubator Plot in Paonia, CO.