Our Staff Members
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Julie joined as the Executive Director of the Coldharbour Institute in 2024. Originally from eastern Washington, she relocated to the Gunnison Valley in 2014 to serve as High Country Conservation Advocates’ Water Program Director. Her collaborative approach in that role involved engaging diverse stakeholders to tackle complex land management issues.
Her love for working and natural landscapes was cultivated at a young age. As a girl she was exposed to the relationship between agriculture and wetland restoration on her uncle’s farm in Wisconsin. She worked in Yellowstone National Park during summers off from the University of Washington. A position with Elephant Energy in law school allowed her to work on renewable energy policy for Namibia, creating recommendations for feed-in tariffs as Namibia explored off-grid solar opportunities. These early experiences fostered an interest in how to meet community needs while treading lightly on the land. Julie graduated from the University of Colorado School of Law in 2011. After graduation she launched her career in western land management issues through appointments with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), Colorado Law School’s Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment, and Western Water Assessment. In these positions she found it fascinating to explore challenges and opportunities to sustain communities, cultures and ecosystems through collaborative resource solutions. Her passion for sustaining our ecosystems is matched by a dedication to supporting the agencies and non-profits that address some of our hardest questions in sustainability. She serves as the board president of Colorado Water Trust and as a board director for the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District. Joining Coldharbour is the next chapter in this progression. Outside of the office, she spends her time exploring Colorado’s mountains and rivers with her husband and two overly enthusiastic rescue dogs. |
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Alex Wilson currently serves as the Outreach Fellow and the Administrative Assistant for Coldharbour Institute. He is completing his second and final year of the Master of Environmental Management program within the Integrative Public Land Management track at Western Colorado University. Alex’s main aspirations within his Outreach role are to generate increased awareness of the happenings down at the ranch to the entire Gunnison Valley community, but particularly among marginalized groups in the region. Simultaneously, he is assisting with daily operations at our office to support our Board of Directors and the Executive Director, Hannah Schaefer-Tibbett. He hopes all of this conjoined experience will prepare him for a career in nonprofit management.
In addition to Alex’s involvement in Coldharbour, he is also an Outreach Fellow for the Gunnison Valley - Home Energy Advancement Team, or GV-HEAT. He conducts any and all marketing for the local, state, and federal household energy upgrade and bill payment assistance programs they facilitate and connect individuals of Gunnison and Hinsdale counties to. Prior to attending Western for graduate school, Alex completed his Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science with a concentration in the Life Sciences from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. For the majority of his life, Alex lived in a rural region around an hour south of Nashville, Tennessee. He considers this to be home. |
Current Graduate Fellows 2023 - 2024
A majority of our Graduate Fellows come from Western Colorado University's School of Environment and Sustainability
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Dani Laird is a first-year master's student in environmental management at Western Colorado University and currently serves as Coldharbour Institute’s research fellow. She holds a combined undergraduate degree in environmental economics from St. Lawrence University.
She recently moved to Gunnison from Alta, Utah, nestled in Little Cottonwood Canyon within the Wasatch Mountains. There, Dani observed the dynamic interactions between public lands, Salt Lake City, and the ski resorts. In her free time, she enjoys mountain endeavors, cooking, and floating rivers. As an avid skier, Dani is particularly interested in land management at the intersection of recreation and public lands. Her role as a field tech for an environmental consulting firm in Park City, Utah, equipped her with an understanding of environmental restoration, noxious weed management, and environmental policy. In her capacity as research fellow, Dani is working to expand Coldharbour's research program by enhancing science communication and fostering new research partnerships. To connect with our research program, reach out to Dani at research@coldharbourinstitute.org. |
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Annie is currently the Applied Sustainability Programs (ASP) Coordinator and fellow for Coldharbour Institute. She is in her second year as a Master's of Environmental Management student with an emphasis on Global Sustainability. She is currently working to develop the Youth Regeneration Corps program and hopes to build up and empower the valley's youth within the sustainability field.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Biology, she volunteered in various wildlife sanctuaries and soon realized in order to address environmental problems, she must work to find community-centered solutions. She is currently working with multiple non-profits locally and internationally and is inspired by these organizations' focus on community specific solutions. Annie enjoys creativity, being outside, and nature based solutions. |
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Abby Slattery is the Colorado Regenerative Network (CRN) Coordinator Fellow with Coldharbour Institute. She is a graduate student in the Masters of Environmental Management program at Western Colorado University. She holds a degree in Natural Resource Ecology and Management with a focus in Ecological Restoration from Louisiana State University. With Coldharbour, her work includes assisting the CRN with marketing, outreach, and event coordination.
Abby is the recipient of the Sustainable & Resilient Communities - Community Leadership fellowship and an intern for both the City of Gunnison and the Gunnison Valley Climate Crisis Coalition (GVC3). She has an interest in community resiliency and sustainability in the face of climate change, and she will work this year with Coldharbour to develop her professional skills in the nonprofit sector. |
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Andrew Wayrynen is a second year master's student in the Master of Environmental Management Program at WCU. He has primarily worked in the education field, though never as a traditional classroom teacher. From editing and publishing curriculum for developing high schools in Tanzania to coordinating field-based environmental education programs in Colorado, he has always been interested in human-oriented work that has tangible value. He considers Ann Arbor, Michigan to be home, though these days it feels like he has many more.
His work with CI is to develop and accelerate the Homestead; CI's natural environment is well-utilized, pristine, and actively being managed and studied, but that is only half the tale. Its built environment seeks to have the same kind of impact and become a place for gathering, experimenting with creative and progressive building techniques, hosting events and educational programmng, and even intentional living. He will be working to gauge community and CI partner need for the site and assist in designing it after this vision. He is thrilled to be applying his skills in community engagement, educational programming, and more recently energy retrofitting to this project. He hopes to continue in a career rethinking and redefining how we can build and live more sustainably on a more thoughtful human scale. This often begins with existing structures, and demands reprioritizing values like social and environmental impact alongside economic cost. |
Student Partners 2023 - 2024
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My name is Destan Gerhard and I’m currently heading into my final year of the master’s in environmental management program at WCU, where I’ve been focusing my coursework and research on global sustainability. I have a background in finance, international development, refugee immigration, and many other non-profit community service based work. Growing up on a small farm in eastern Pennsylvania has informed a lot of my outlook on life, and has resulted in me choosing to focus my master’s project on the nexus of wetland restoration and meat production.
As a graduate-student researcher for Coldharbour I’ve piloted a three-year study monitoring the impacts of Beaver Dam Analogues (BDA) installed along a historic tail water ditch in the east pasture of CI’s property. Over the three years we will be looking at soil moisture, arial, and vegetation data collected in the study and control area to monitor any impacts that might be occurring because of the installation of the BDA’s. In addition, we will also be collecting qualitative data from the cattle ranching operation that has a lease to graze CI’s property. By synthesizing all the information collected we hope to be able to add to the growing body of research surrounding low-tech process based restoration methods, like BDAs, and how they can have positive impacts on both wetland habitat as well as a riparian meadows ability to support cattle grazing. Upon graduation, I hope to continue my work in the environmental field. Working with public and private stakeholders to better manage land for healthier outcomes to humans and non-humans alike. One day in the future my partner and I dream of being able to run a small-scale permaculture farming operation on my father’s property where we focus on addressing the issue of equitable access to healthy nutrient rich foods that are free from chemical pesticides and fertilizers. |
Board of DirectorsButch Clark, Founder & Emeritus Board Member Trace Brooks, Board Chair Chris Nutgrass, Board Vice-Chair Melody Marks, Treasurer Brett Guarerro, Board Member Rich Stromberg, Board Member Gloria Montgomery, Board Member Rachel Sabbato, Board Member Devin Quarles, Board Member Micah Russell, Board Member Ben Calvin, Board Member |