Past Fellows
Annie Beall Land Manager Fellow |
Annie served as the Land Manager for the Coldharbour Ranch during her fellowship with Coldharbour Institute. This included hosting community walkabouts, designing and facilitating hands on volunteer projects, and working with our many partners which utilized the ranch. Annie also managed the Coldharbour Regenerative Network by supporting workshops, developing the Patreon platform, and redesigning this website.
For her masters project, Annie explored carbon markets and ecosystem service valuation. Regenerative land practices can sequester and hold carbon in the soil, and there might be a way to be rewarded for these management practices as carbon markets emerge in Colorado. Annie is influenced by principles in permaculture, biodynamics and community ownership. Annie holds a B.A. Sociology from CU Boulder and is a certified herbalist and permaculture designer. |
Danielle du Plooy Applied Sustainability Coordinator |
Danielle served as the Applied Sustainability Program Coordinator during her Coldharbour Institute fellowship. Her interests include consulting for the Farm-to-Table Movement and is looking to strengthen the local economy, while raising different communities awareness in local and sustainable food systems.
Danielle is a 2021 graduate in the Masters of Environmental Management program at Western Colorado University. She holds an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Sustainable Design from Pacific University, in Oregon. |
Jesse Bryan Research Coordinator |
Jesse graduated from the Masters in Environmental Management program at Western Colorado University in 2021. During his Coldharbour fellowship he studied wetlands & performed stream assessments to better understand the hydraulic characteristics of the Tomichi Creek. He also studied the effects of the wetland easement and compared macro-invertebrate populations to neighboring locations surrounding the Coldharbour Ranch. Lastly, he also facilitated the Coldharbour River Watch Citizen Program.
Jesse landed in Gunnison, CO from Salt Lake City where he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Utah. Jesse hopes to pursue postgraduate education after he graduates from WCU to study with a watershed science program. |
Kristen Arendt MFA Fellow |
Kristen Arendt helped support Coldharbour's community growth and engagement to a wider audience. She graduated in 2021with a Master of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Nature Writing from Western Colorado University. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Adams State University and has previously worked as a supervising editor and digital content manager in the outdoor recreation industry.
In her writing, she explores issues at the intersection of recreation, stewardship, compassion, and care-taking in the West and the wider world. A native Coloradan with an affinity for blue sky days, she enjoys putting in miles trail running, backpacking, and nordic skiing. She is passionate about finding ways of connecting people back to place and inspiring action through creative storytelling. |
Hannah Schaefer Tibbett |
Hannah Schaefer Tibbett helped re-launch the Applied Sustainability Program during her fellowship with Coldharbour Institute. She helped create all the policies, budget, and more for this program. In 2020 she graduated from the Master of Environmental Management program at Western Colorado University. Prior to, she graduated from Hiram College with a degree in environmental studies.
Her background includes environmental education and interpretation with various organizations and agencies from the Student Conservation Association, Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, Flathead National Forest, California State Parks, and the National Park Service. |
Alexia Cooper clark fellow |
Alexia researched how the application of biosolid compost on rangelands in the Gunnison Valley affected soil health, plant productivity, fungal relationships, and the carbon stocks within soil. Her project was catered to the address the expressed needs of the ranching community to increase their resilience to drought, by improving the health of the soil. The Coldharbour Ranch is one of four sites that Alexia applied her treatment of compost to.
Alexia plans to begin a soil consulting business while pursuing her PhD at UC Merced working with Rebecca Ryals, from the Marin County Carbon Project, on soil carbon sequestration project in California. Alexia has been influenced by regenerative theories found in holistic management, permaculture, and local food systems. Prior to joining Coldharbour Institute, Alexia worked in the Roaring Fork Valley as a private landscaper. Alexia holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. |
Ashley Merkel Clark Fellow |
Ashley Merkel graduated from the University of Texas Permian Basin with a Bachelor of Science in Biology in May 2018 and was a 2020 graduate in the Master in Environmental Management program at Western Colorado University.
For her master's project, she wrote a Sustainable and Adaptive Wildlife Management plan for Coldharbour Ranch that focused on the riparian and wetland zones. This plan will become a model for other ranchers and help Coldharbour Institute lead in land conservation in the Gunnison Basin. Post-graduation, Ashley is hoping to work as a seasonal again for the US Forest Service Gunnison Ranger District to obtain more experience in wildlife. From there she hopes to find a permanent position with the Forest Service in the Southern region. |
Sam Liebl Clark Fellow |
Sam Liebl is an environmental manager and multimedia journalist committed to conserving the health of Central Colorado's landscapes.
As a Coldharbour Institute Clark Fellow he worked to tell the story of cheatgrass invasion in the Gunnison Basin through podcasts, documentary film, and community events. The goal of these efforts was to protect the basin's iconic sagebrush steppe from this invasive plant and thereby help this region of Colorado avoid a fate that has already befallen millions of acres across the Inter-mountain West. Prior to joining Coldharbour and the MEM program at Western Colorado University, Liebl worked at daily newspapers covering environmental issues. Sam is from Houston, Texas and earned a bachelors in political science and economics at the University of Texas at Austin. |
Will Shaw Clark Fellow |
Will supported planning Coldharbour Institute's homestead development. This included building plans, land use changes, and permitting. Will’s project was part of Coldharbour’s long term capital campaign to create a multi-use research and collaboration space on its Gunnison County ranch.
Will is a '20 graduate in the Masters of Environmental Management program at Western Colorado University. His interests are in urban sustainability and planning. Will is influenced by the principles of social ecology, historical materialism, and new urbanism. Prior to joining Coldharbour, Will served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Gambia. He worked as a school administrator in a rural village called Darsilameh. Will holds a degree in anthropology from Texas A&M University. |
Maclom Macleod Clark Fellow |
As a Clark Fellow, Malcolm developed a Citizen Science Program with Colorado Riverwatch for Coldharbour Ranch’s water systems. Through his passions of beavers and Beaver Believers he worked to reduce the beaver/human conflicts in the Gunnison Basin by installing flow devices.
Malcolm Macleod received his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas, followed by Peace Corps service in a Ngäbe community in Panama. He has a varied professional background that includes working in wildlife biology, agriculture, and forestry. |
Matthew Jones Clark Fellow |
When Matthew became a fellow for Coldharbour Institute he had already been with the organization as a volunteer in undergrad. During his fellowship with Coldharbour Institute he began the creation of Coldharbour’s Master Education Plan, as well as implemented Coldharbour's youth programming (e.g., Headwaters for Kids' events, Coldharbour Friday's, and How to Be a Naturalist). One of his goals during his fellowship was to support a permanent environmental education program for the Gunnison Valley.
Matthew is looking for career opportunities to blend environmental education and outdoor education curriculum that can be accessed by all. He is particularly interested in international environmental education and sharing environmental education with people of all socioeconomic backgrounds. Matthew's primary influence has been Steve Irwin, whom he hopes to have as big of a impact on youth as Steve did. |
Chloe Beaupré clark Fellow |
Chloe Beaupré is an interdisciplinary thinker and lifelong learner. Chloe holds a degree in Society and Environment (with a focus on US Environmental Policy and Management) from the University of California at Berkeley. She graduated from the MEM Program and the MS of Ecology Program at Western Colorado University in 2021.
Chloe is interested in wildlife - particularly, big game ungulates - and geospatial analysis. During her fellowship she was found making maps of the Coldharbour property! |
Mike King Clark Fellow |
Mike abandoned a law career to pursue writing about the environment and environmental movement. He was a '21 graduate candidate in the Masters of Environmental Management program at Western Colorado University and is completing his MFA with Regis University. Mike is also an instructor at Western, a social justice advocate, and an eco-fiction writer. He plans to publish prolifically in the coming years. Check out his work at Medium.com under the pen-name Jay Molay.
Mike's primary influences include John Irving, Elmore Leonard, Terry Tempest Williams, Lin YuTang, Raymond Smullyan, Confucius, John Muir, Edward Abbey, Craig Childs, and Amy Irvine. |
