SCHEDULE overview
Monday, April 27th
1:00 - 2:15 pm Conference Welcome and Keynote Speaker (Gemara Gifford)
2:30 - 3:45 pm Breakout Sessions #1
3:45 - 5:30 pm Free Time, Sponsor Expo, and Optional Activities (Indigenous Cultural Event from 4:30-5:30)
5:30 - 6:30 pm Reception and Poster Session
6:30 - 7:30 pm Dinner
8:00 - 9:30 pm Optional Meetup: Astronomy and Campfire
Tuesday, April 28th
6:30 - 7:45 am Optional Morning Meetups
6:30 - 8:00 am Breakfast
8:00 - 9:15 am Breakout Sessions #2
9:30 - 10:45 am Breakout Sessions #3
11:00 - 12:00 pm Plenary Remarks and Keynote Speaker (Patt Dorsey)
12:00 - 1:15 pm Lunch
1:15 - 2:30 pm Breakout Sessions #4
3:00 - 5:30 pm Free Time, Sponsor Expo, and Field Trips
5:30 - 6:30 pm Reception and Student Poster Session
6:30 - 7:30 pm Dinner
8:00 - 9:30 pm Evening Meetup
Wednesday, April 29th
6:30 - 7:45 am Optional Morning Meetups
6:30 - 8:30 am Breakfast
8:30 - 9:45 am Breakout Sessions #5
10:00 - 11:15 am Closing Remarks and Keynote Speaker (Dacher Keltner)
11:15 - 12:15 pm Lunch
12:15 - 4:00 pm Field Trips
Schedule at a Glance
A more detailed schedule will be available in the conference app in late March.
Healing the Land, Healing the People: A New Era of State-Tribal Partnerships in Conservation
While the federal trust responsibility has long defined the relationship between governments and Tribal Nations, states have a unique and largely untapped opportunity to go further — building creative, inclusive, and community-centered partnerships for Indigenous-led conservation, ancestral homelands protection, and rematriation. Rematriation — the return of land, wildlife, and relationships to Indigenous stewardship — is not a distant theory, but a powerful and growing reality. Through personal stories and on-the-ground research, Gemara’s plenary will draw on inspiring examples from Colorado and across the West, including co-stewardship models, wildlife and land return efforts, and innovative funding mechanisms to show what becomes possible when states, Tribes, nonprofits, and philanthropic partners work together. This plenary is a call to action for institutions to offer genuine support, for practitioners to think outside the box, and for all partners to do the bold, relational work that supports healing for people, and the land.
- Beyond Binoculars: The Untapped Potential of Wildlife Viewing for Conservation and Community in Colorado - Presented by Colorado Parks & Wildlife
- Bison as Agents of Ecological & Cultural Resilience - Presented by Denver Mountain Parks
- Building Capacity for Meaningful and Long-Term Tribal Engagement - Presented by Colorado Parks & Wildlife
- Carrying Our Ancestors Home - presented by staff representatives from the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs and History Colorado
- Connecting the 4 Ws: Wildfire, Water, Wildlife, Recreation & Ways of Life - Presented by Keystone Policy Center
- Engaging Willing Landowners to Survey Colorado's Biodiversity - Presented by Colorado Natural Heritage Program
- From Restoration to Rematriation: Shared Stewardship on the Mancos River - Presented by Montezuma Land Conservancy and Trees, Water & People
- Living Land: Ecological Art, Community Reclamation, and the Kinážiŋ Seed Project - presented by Sid Whiting, Jr. and Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand
Network with fellow conference attendees as you enjoy appetizers and drinks. Be sure to stop by the main lobby to learn from all of our wonderful poster presenters:
- Bridging Communities and Conservation: A Community Navigator Model for Grant Access (Presented by Magali Robinson & Berliz Morales , Hispanic Access Foundation)
- Creek Connections: Outreach and Education in the Fountain Creek Watershed (Presented by Mary Wilson & Susan Finzel, Fountain Creek Watershed District)
- Healing in Nature: Building Belonging with Newcomer Girls & Women (Presented by Marley Steele-Inama & Savina Treves, Women's Wilderness)
- CSU Extension Logan County Outdoor Equity Program (Presented by Jaci Wagner & Brian Kailey, CSU Extension Logan County)
- Designing for Uncertainty: Climate-Resilient Restoration in the Fountain Creek Watershed (Presented by Lucy Rogers, Fountain Creek Watershed District)
- Headwaters of the Colorado Initiative (Presented by Matt Smith, Headwaters of the Colorado Initiative)
- Outside 285 Regional Partnership (Presented by Carrie Tanner, Outside 285)
Enjoy a campfire, s'mores, and astronomy with the Colorado Springs Astronomical Society.
- Meet up for a casual morning walk or run
- Register for morning yoga
- Lightning Talks
- Building Independence Through Horses: Outdoor Equity in Action (Bits of Freedom)
- The Mayfly Project: Mentoring Youth in Foster Care (The Mayfly Project)
- Where Tech Meets Trails: Powering Outdoor Access Through Partnership (Flexion)
- Flash Talk on the Water: Wildfire Nexus (Walton Family Foundation)
- Bears and People: Shared Landscapes (Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
- Youth and Families from the Backyard to the Backcountry (Great Outdoors Colorado)
- The Ecosystem Effect: Strengthening Colorado’s Web of Outdoor Access Ecosystem (Rising Routes Alliance)
- Outdoor COLAB: Lessons from a Regional Leadership Laboratory for the Future - (Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance)
- Connecting Biome-Scale Grassland Conservation to Local Action: The Central Grasslands Roadmap and the Eastern Colorado Grassland Coalition (Bird Conservancy of the Rockies)
- How Belonging Initiatives Drive Sustainable Outdoor Recreation (Colorado Mountain Club)
- Bringing Digitization to Stewardship: An Intro to Trailfunds (Trailfunds)
- Building Beyond Access: Conservation Tools and Tribal Lands Work in Colorado (Montezuma Land Conservancy)
- Using Outdoor Learning Data to Guide Conservation and Stewardship Outreach Efforts (Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education)
- Collaborative Strategies for Sustainable Outdoor Recreation & Tourism Economies (Colorado Tourism Office)
- "Finally, somebody gets me!” - Building Partnerships to Get Kids Outdoors (Friends of Youth and Nature)
- Everyone Outdoors Colorado Mentorship Program (Everyone Outdoors Colorado)
- E-bikes and Accessibility: What's All the Confusion About? (Every Body Outside Consulting, LLC)
- Taking Action: Recreation for Conservation (Suffer Better)
- From the GPLI to the GORP Act: How extensive collaboration led to the most broadly supported public lands legislation in years (The Wilderness Society)
- Forty Years of Fishing is Fun in Colorado (Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
Making Room: Balancing Recreation and Wildlife in Colorado’s Outdoors
With humor, heart, and a few surprising wildlife lessons, Patt Dorsey invites Colorado’s recreation and conservation communities to think differently about how we share space with wildlife. Blending humor, lived experience, and powerful imagery from her field photography, she explores why big conservation problems aren’t solved by blame, why strategically placed recreation provides better experiences, and helps protect wildlife and the places we love, and how personal responsibility and unlikely alliances can move the Colorado Outdoor Strategy forward. An inspiring call for collaborative, wildlife‑centered stewardship.
- Natural Resilience: The Healing Bond Between Veterans and the Outdoors (Trailhead Strategies Group)
- Conservation wins that support exceptional and sustainable recreation (Colorado Wildlife Federation)
- Collaborative Stewardship and Education: Response to Federal Funding Cuts (Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers)
- RESTORE CO: Leveraging Statewide Planning to Scale Up Wildlife Conservation (National Fish and Wildlife Foundation)
- Therapeutic Mentorship: Modality for Expanding Outdoor Access (La Plata Youth Services)
- Why We Hunt (Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
- Working Lands, Shared Futures: The Role of Agriculture in Colorado’s Outdoors (Colorado Cattlemen's Association)
- Privately Funded Trail Crew Partners with Federal Land Managers (Trails Preservation Alliance)
- Art in Shared Landscapes: Deepening Connection to Nature and Community (Alpine Artist Collective)
- Wild Game Processing, Cooking, and Taste Testing- Wild Turkey (At Cheyenne Mountain State Park with Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
- Sky High Ranch (With Girl Scouts of Colorado)
- Exploring Shared Landscapes: An Adventure at Cheyenne Mountain (At Cheyenne Mountain State Park with Agents of Discovery)
- Avenger Open Space Tour (With Palmer Land Conservancy)
- Botany Hike in the Garden of the Gods (With Colorado Native Plant Society)
- 101 Introduction to Fly Fishing (At Anglers Covey)
- Yampa River Stewardship Program: A stakeholder-driven framework for restoration and productivity on a wild river (Roddy Beall, Colorado State University)
- Do not pick up hitchhikers: age-sex biases and potential consequences of stowaway ground squirrels (Travis Rainey, Colorado State University)
- Energy and Ecology in Colorado’s Digital Corridor: A Systems Perspective on Data Infrastructure (McKenna Dunbar, Western State University)
- Wildlife Crossings Implementation: Governance Opportunities and Barriers (Julia Lankisch, Colorado State University)
- The Relationship Between Political Affiliation and Outdoor Space Use: A Comprehensive Study of
Colorado Springs (Annabel Meyer & Libby Cutler, Colorado College) - Identifying Pollinator Habitat Type Availability Thirteen Years After the Waldo Canyon Fire (Tori Trimble & Katie Lockwood, Colorado College)
- Leading through the Age of Polycrisis: A Needs Assessment of Crisis Management
Practices Among Nonprofit Environmental Education Leaders (Billy Kenn, Colorado State University)
Meet up for a casual morning walk or run.
- Lightning Talks
- Creation of the Colorado MTB coalition: History, motivation, vision (Colorado Mountain Bike Coalition)
- Get it Gone: A Roadmap of Barbed Wire Removal Through Collaboration and Dedicated Nonprofit Volunteers (Wild Aware)
- The Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program (COSWAP) adaptive program management: Examples of partner driven program refinement + listening session for future needs (Colorado Department of Natural Resources)
- The Mental Health Benefits of Connecting with Nature: Leveraging Colorado’s Outdoors for Well-Being (Behavioral Health Administration)
- Unlocking Impact Through Partnership: Creative and Practical Ways to Collaborate (Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado)
- Roadmap for Species in Need: 2025 Colorado State Wildlife Action Plan (Colorado Wildlife Federation)
- State Land Board Conservation & Recreation Working Group Update (Colorado State Land Board)
- Advancing Accessible and Equitable Trail Information Across Colorado - Breaking Down Barriers to Collecting and Sharing Your Accessible Trails (Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
- From Fear to Freedom: Embracing the Outdoors (Orophile Outdoor Adventures)
- Collective Strength: Supporting a Future-Ready Outdoor Recreation Workforce (Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals)
- The Commons Revisited: Lessons from the Timber Barons, Trail Builders, and Wilderness Philosophers (Human Potential LLC)
- A Conversation on Recreation and Conservation (Trails & Open Space Coalition and Sportspersons Roundtable)
- Chico Basin Ranch (At Chico Basin Ranch with Colorado State Land Board)
- Mt. Muscoco Hike in North Cheyenne Cañon Park (At Cheyenne Canon Park with Rocky Mountain Field Institute)
- Let's Talk Turkey: A Naturalist Walk with a Hunter (At Cheyenne Mountain State Park with Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
- Wings, Water, and Well-Being: Mindful Birding Along Fountain Creek (At Fountain Creek Nature Center)
- 101 Introduction to Fly Fishing (At Anglers Covey)