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with Dr. Barry Mink and Erik Skarvan

Speaker: Van K. Graham, Retired Terrestrial Wildlife Biologist Description: The Greater Sandhill Crane is an iconic bird species of the Yampa Valley in Northwest Colorado. Van will present a narrative describing the life history of Colorado’s Greater Sandhill Cranes. He will discuss the annual cycle of crane migration in the fall and their return to our high country nesting habitats in the spring. His presentation will reveal intimate knowledge of how cranes interact with our mountain environment, other wildlife and human settlement in the West. Speaker Bio: Van K. Graham is a retired wildlife biologist who worked for Colorado Parks and Wildlife for 32 years. His interest in sandhill cranes began while working in Steamboat Springs where the core population of Colorado’s nesting and staging cranes is located. Sandhill cranes were listed as a Colorado endangered species in 1973 and by the mid-1970s research on cranes had intensified, primarily to gather baseline data and begin development of management plans and programs. Throughout his career he assisted with annual work plans, inventories, field studies, and development of a Greater Sandhill Crane recovery plan. He worked with CPW wildlife managers based in northwest Colorado and collaborated on plans with the U.S. Forest Service. Van currently lives in Grand Junction, where he works as a private environmental consultant, primarily in western Colorado. He is a Board Member of the Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition, which sponsors the annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival in Steamboat Springs in late August-early September each year. He maintains a deep interest in sandhill cranes and enjoys traveling to various locations to observe, photograph, and enjoy sandhill cranes across North America. Naturalist Nights are brought to you through a partnership between the Wilderness Workshop, Aspen Center for Enviornmental Studies (ACES) and Roaring Fork Audubon.

The Aspen Daily News and Aspen Times are hosting Squirm Night II for the two candidates vying for mayor in the April 2 runoff.

The one-hour probe of candidates Ann Mullins and Torre will occur on Thursday, March 21 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in council chambers in the basement of City Hall.

Journalists from both newspapers will ask the candidates questions about their positions on particular issues, their past voting records and what qualities make them a good leader, among other topics.

The Aspen Times along with Grassroots TV hosted a forum on the Lift One Corridor Plan, which is on the ballot in the March 5 municipal election.

hosted by: Debbie Braun

hosted by: Debbie Braun

with Aaron Derwingson, Agricultural Coordinator, The Nature Conservancy Colorado River Program

The Colorado River and its tributaries provide water for over 36 million people and irrigate over 5 million acres of agricultural land. They also support abundant fish and wildlife and world-famous recreation. But the river that carved the Grand Canyon no longer reaches the sea, and the state of Colorado is facing an estimated shortfall of over 162 billion gallons to meet its future needs. Join Aaron Derwingson from The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado River Program to learn how innovative tools can meet these challenges in ways that protect and restore the health of the rivers that we all depend on.

featuring Aspen City Council Candidates and City of Aspen Mayoral Candidates

with Harris Berlinsky, Bryan Peterson, Kelly Murphy, and Host Debbie Braun

with Skippy Mesirow, Bert Myrin, and Host Debbie Braun