CFGV and Western Colorado University TICtalks, recorded live in the University Center Theatre at Western Colorado University on September 28, 2023: Jonathan is the Director of MS in Ecology and Professor of Environment and Sustainability at Western Colorado University. He specializes in the study and conservation of plant communities and landscapes in the southern Rocky Mountains. Recently, Jonathan has been channeling his efforts into pioneering research focused on enhancing the ecological resilience of landscapes through strategic forest management. He leads insightful studies into the complex transformations forests undergo due to climate fluctuations and wildfires, and investigates the critical roles of forest residuals and refugia in supporting species conservation and fostering forest resilience. Moreover, he promotes the use of prescribed fires as an effective tool to fortify forests against potential future wildfires, showcasing a forward-thinking approach to environmental stewardship. Jonathan offers a diverse range of courses and facilitates senior seminars that cover various topics such as Biogeography, Ethnobotany, and Landscape Ecology.

CFGV and Western Colorado University TICtalks, recorded live in the University Center Theatre at Western Colorado University on September 28, 2023: Anna is a Western Colorado University graduate of the Master of Environmental Management program. She is a range technician for the United States Forest Service and has previously worked as a podcast producer and reporter for the Gunnison Country Times. She hosted and produced the podcast series “Wildish” published by High Country News. It explores the controversial and complicated world of wild horses and burros roaming the Western United States.

CFGV and Western Colorado University TICtalks, recorded live in the University Center Theatre at Western Colorado University on September 28, 2023: James is Director of the Indigenous Lands Program at Trees, Water & People. James engages and works with U.S. Tribal Nations in the American Southwest on efforts centered around community-based, Tribal-led stewardship projects that create economic and environmental development opportunities. In his role, James provides much needed insight and experience on working with Tribal governments that uphold traditional ethics of governance and leadership, while also respecting Tribal sovereignty. His deep rooted experiences and cultural values strengthens TWP’s approach in building honest, working relationships with Tribes and promoting cross-cultural values of large landscape conservation. James is currently a first-year student in the Masters in Environmental Management (MEM) program at Western Colorado University, where he plans to enhance his knowledge and skills to tackle socio-environmental challenges and issues.

CFGV and Western Colorado University TICtalks, recorded live in the University Center Theatre at Western Colorado University on September 28, 2023: Quincy grew up in Connecticut on the edges of suburbia and farmland, with a deep connection to the rolling fields and the horses that inhabited them. She completed her BFA in Literature at Colby Sawyer College in the lakes region of New Hampshire, and then was drawn to the unique lifestyle and completely western landscape that is Gunnison Colorado. She is excited to honor that lifestyle and landscape with the written word through the Woman of the Land project.

CFGV TICtalk recorded live in the Black Box Theatre at the Gunnison Arts Center on July 31, 2023: George Sibley is a freelance writer and retired educator who has lived in the Upper Gunnison River valley most of the time since 1966 – in Crested Butte, in Gothic, in Gunnison (except for a few years in Crawford and then Ft. Collins.)  Writing is the thread that runs through his life: as owner/editor of a  newspaper in Crested Butte he realized that journalism is more interesting when you can write about things that could or should happen as well as what has happened, and he found himself collaborating with a number of local people making new things happen: the Crested Butte Arts Festival, the Crested Butte Mountain Theater, the Crested Butte-Gothic 4th of July half-marathon, and the end-of-winter Flauschink festival, all still happening. In Crawford, George wrote the centennial pageant and started the theater program that continues today. After returning to Gunnison in 1988, he worked a dual job for two decades at Western Colorado University teaching writing, journalism and environmental studies; and organizing and running community-interaction conferences. Following his retirement from Western, George served on the board of the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy for 13 years, and on the Gunnison Basin Roundtable (working on the Colorado Water Plan). He currently is working on a blog – www.sibleysrivers.com. His books include Water Wranglers; Dragons in Paradise (essays on contemporary mountain life), Long Horn & Short Tales (Crawford area history); Part of a Winter (memoir of years in Gothic and Crested Butte); and essays which have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, Technology Illustrated, High Country News, Colorado Central and the Mountain Gazette.

CFGV TICtalk recorded live in the Black Box Theatre at the Gunnison Arts Center on July 31, 2023: Colorado-born Ronda Connaway’s time in the Gunnison Valley – to which she came in 1994 – has been marked by public service and community activism. She was a founder, and board member, of Habitat for Humanity, served on many Health & Human Service Department committees and task forces, was a founder of the Gunnison Congregational Church, helped start the hot meals program at Gunnison High School, and most recently retired from the Gunnison Valley Health System Board of Trustees. On that Board, she served for 12 years, including several years as Chairperson, and during that time led the Board in the design and building of the new Senior Care Center. She’s served as a STEP advisor for the Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley and was a key researcher in the recently-published Basic Needs Resource Guide for the Gunnison Valley. All of this activism here has drawn from her work elsewhere: From 1974-94 she was Professor and Dean of the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky in Lexington; she was Professor of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis; she’s been a Child Welfare Worker for the Division of Children’s Social Services in St. Louis and before that a Social Caseworker for Lutheran Children’s Services there. Ronda holds a BA in Sociology from Anderson University (Indiana), an MA with honors in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, where she also received her Doctor of Social Work degree in 1964.

CFGV TICtalk recorded live in the Black Box Theatre at the Gunnison Arts Center on July 31, 2023: Glo Cunningham has lived in Crested Butte for over 47 years. She first got involved with nonprofits in 1977 with the fight to Save Red Lady and High Country Conservation Advocates (then High Country Citizens’ Alliance). She has been a part of over 40 non-profits either through volunteering at events, on boards, being a member or helping to create or start many events and non-profits. She retired as the Executive Director of the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum after 14 years but still gives tours as well as helps with events. Glo is a past Business Woman of the Year, and has been honored to be a Red Lady, a Harvest Mother, Flauschink Queen, Zombie Queen, and Mardi Gras Queen, and last year she was selected to be a Crone for Vinotok as a symbol of a Wise Woman of the community. She is currently on the 1% for Open Space Board and the Land Preservation Board.

CFGV TICtalk recorded live in the Black Box Theatre at the Gunnison Arts Center on July 31, 2023: ​A resident of Gunnison, Colorado for almost 60 years, Doug Tredway attended local public schools and graduated from Gunnison High School. After earning a degree from the University of Northern Iowa, he returned to Gunnison to begin a career in Education and for 35 years worked as a Teacher, Coach, Principal, and finally Superintendent of the Gunnison Valley Schools. Doug and his wife Kaylonn raised their children, Jansen and Tillie, in Gunnison, and as a family, they explored the world on yearly trips abroad. They were also fortunate enough to complete three, yearlong, overseas teaching experiences during their careers. When Doug retired from the School District in 2018, he was working in the same room at Lake School where he started as a kindergarten student. His grandchildren, Ellie and Sawyer, are attending Gunnison Elementary School and are living in the same house where Doug grew up. In retirement, Doug continues to reinvent himself and pursue his passion for, travel, building, and art. He and his wife, Kaylonn, live life large, they travel widely, are involved in the community, and enjoy the many activities available to them.

CFGV debut of TICtalks, recorded live at the Center for the Arts in Crested Butte on September 13, 2022: Dr. John Hausdoerffer is an author, teacher, philosopher, and organizational founder who lives in Mt Crested Butte, CO. He has authored and edited books such as Catlin’s Lament: Indians, Manifest Destiny, and the Ethics of Nature; Wildness: Relations of People and Place; What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be?; and Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations. Dr. John has co-founded the Clark School of Environment & Sustainability, The Coldharbour Institute, The Resilience Studies Consortium, and the Mountain Resilience Coalition. He believes that being a good ancestor begins with understanding the place-based ecological bases of our identities and continues with the willingness to joyfully fight for the conditions necessary for those ecological bases to thrive. When not serving as Dean of the Clark School of Environment & Sustainability, Dr. John can be found with his daughters working on his shack above Pitkin or pursuing his daughters’ 100th consecutive month of skiing in the Elk Mountains.

CFGV debut of TICtalks, recorded live at the Center for the Arts in Crested Butte on September 13, 2022: As an award-winning developer and place maker, Jeff Hermanson has directed transformative projects for more than four decades. He’s best known as a principal partner in the restoration of Denver Union Station and the 27-year owner and steward of Larimer Square, where he created an iconic cultural institution, and at one point, the highest density of chef-driven restaurants in the country. Jeff’s ongoing collaborations with chefs and the founding of Good Food 100, a rating system for sustainable restaurants, earned him a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Colorado Restaurant Association in 2019, when he was inducted into the Colorado Food Service Hall of Fame. Jeff is currently a partner at Urban Villages, the Denver-based real estate development firm that recently broke ground on Populus, a Jeanne Gang-designed lifestyle hotel destined to be an architectural masterpiece and the first carbon positive hotel in the country. In addition to his philanthropic efforts, Jeff is devoted to creating regenerative food systems that support residents and entrepreneurial farmers in the Gunnison Valley — all part of his desire to “change the food paradigm,” enhance the vibrant restaurant scene, and support the community where he and his family reside.