Yellowstone
to Yukon: Conservation and Community
in the Wild Rockies
Dates: TBA
Cost: $3895
Course listing: 6
Forestry 311: Field Studies in Ecological and Human Communities; Section: Conservation Biology in the Northern Rockies (3 credits)
EVST 311/Forestry 311: Field Studies in Ecological and Human Communities; Section: Community & Conservation in the Northern Rockies (3 credits)
GENERAL COURSE PLAN:
Study conservation issues on a spectacular backpacking course with WRFI this summer. We begin our explorations in the Swan Range of western Montana and trend steadily north in a series of backcountry trips and frontcountry meetings with regional community and conservation leaders. We will finish the course in the wildly beautiful Canadian Rockies. This course examines conservation at both a broad regional perspective and at the local landscape level, with the goal of finding a comprehensive understanding of these issues.
This course area is the heart of a bioregion known as Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y). This mountain ecosystem stretches 2000 miles from Wyoming to just below the Arctic Circle in the Yukon. This region includes some of the most intact wildlands in North America, and is also home to many rapidly growing human communities. Conserving these critical wildlife habitats while making room for expanding human development is a tremendous and complex challenge. That is the long-term task that many regional communities and conservationists have set for themselves through an organization called the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. We will examine and critique the ideas and science behind the Y2Y initiative throughout this course. Subjects we will address include conservation biology, community-based conservation, regional environmental policy, conservation history, and resource economics.
Our backpacking trips will take us through core habitat areas where we will learn about local natural history, population biology, and disturbance ecology. Our frontcountry travels will take us to “fracture zones” – places where transportation routes and extractive industry limit wildlife movements. During frontcountry sections we will meet with an array of people concerned with conservation in the region: land managers, tribal representatives, environmental activists, and industry representatives.
To complement and deepen these travels, we will read and discuss recent work in conservation biology and community-based conservation. The habitat needs of wide-ranging species such as wolves, bears, and migratory ungulates will help focus this inquiry, along with the needs and desires of the region's human inhabitants. Course assignments will include field journals, "citizen letters" to land managers and representatives, service projects, and an integrative final project that we will share with regional conservation leaders.
The future of this region will evolve from a conversation between people and the land. Our goal is to give students the knowledge and experience needed to productively participate in regional conservation issues. Students leaving this course will understand the biogeography and politics of the Yellowstone to Yukon region, appreciate the natural processes, communities and economies that have shaped it, and have some ideas about the future prospects for wildness and humanity here. We hope to involve you in that conversation, please join us!
ENROLLMENT & DEADLINE:
Enrollment will be limited to ten [10] students. Our courses are multidisciplinary and our students come from all majors. There are no academic prerequisites for any of our courses. The best background is a sense of curiosity, a willingness to take responsibility for your academic growth, and a love of adventure. No prior backcountry experience is necessary, but this is a physically demanding course and students are advised to arrive good physical condition. This course takes place in high elevation settings and some backpacking sections will be physically challenging. Early applications will be accepted through March 20, 2007; final application deadline is April 20, 2007. First half of tuition payment will be due 3 weeks after acceptance in course. Remaining tuition will be due by June 15, 2007.
COST:
$3895 per student covers tuition, dinner food, on-course transportation from Missoula, Montana (and return), group camping and cooking gear, maps, and field guides. Participants supply their own breakfasts and lunches, backpack and sleeping bag. There are required course books and readers to purchase from WRFI at the beginning of the course. An additional $270 filing fee is required to receive academic credit for the course from the University of Montana.
INSTRUCTORS:
Dave Morris, Wolf Drimal and Jeff Gailus
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