It’s that time of year again when our conservation community comes together to celebrate the Public Lands and Waters of Gunnison County and the work that goes into protecting them. Come and join the festivities, chat with the HCCA Board and Staff, hear an illuminating talk from Dr. John Hausdoerffer, and share a potluck dinner with our conservation community. We can’t wait to see you all!
What: HCCA Annual Meeting and Potluck
Where: Rainbow Park Pavilion, 300 Eighth Street, Crested Butte
When: Thursday September 2, 2021 5-7:30pm
Potluck: Bring a dish to share and your own plates and utensils. We will have a limited supply of wine and non-alcoholic beverages available.
Keynote Speaker - John Hausdoerffer
Among his many roles and titles, Dr. John Hausdoerffer is Director of the Master in Environmental Management program at Western Colorado University. He and his students have served as outstanding partners to HCCA in our growing stewardship program. Dr. John Hausdoerffer will be presenting on his latest book, “What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be?” Along with his previous books, “Catlin’s Lament” and “Wildness,” “What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be?” imagines how environmental health must come from and result in the healing of deep histories of social injustice and cultural trauma. “Dr. John” calls for a new ethic that views all places as part of our home, all generations of all beings as part of our scope of responsibility, and all actions as potential expressions of human care for the world.
Dr. John is the founding Dean of the Clark Family School of Environment & Sustainability and Director of the Master in Environmental Management (MEM) program at Western Colorado University. His MEM Program requires students to build resilient, and thus peaceful, communities around the world. The MEM program requires each student to complete a 600-hour on-the-ground Masters Project for a community organization anywhere globally, resulting in 25,000 hours of annual expert student work throughout Gunnison and as far as Yosemite, Yellowstone, Alaska, Mexico, Kenya, India, Costa Rica, and Colombia. Dr. John’s MEM program seeks to complete 1000 of these projects for global communities by 2040, making the Gunnison Valley a destination and hub for training agents of change, and a launchpad for sending those change agents around the world for, as he calls them, “livelihoods based on their values.”