Colorado students keep busy this spring

The Western State Colorado University Student Chapter is rapidly approaching the end of an unnaturally mild and dry winter in Gunnison and has had a successful first half of the spring semester.

First, they had the opportunity to send a large and active representative group of students to the Colorado Chapter of The Wildlife Society’s annual meeting, where they were able to sit in on amazing talks and meet many wonderful Colorado biologists.

They’ve also put on a handful of early semester events in an effort to pull students out of their mid-winter hibernations: an evening of plant propagation in their greenhouse, a wildlife biology-themed Jeopardy event and a day trip to observe sandhill cranes in their stopover migration habitat at the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge.

Student chapter members are looking forward to finishing out the school year strong, with many more amazing and beneficial student chapter-hosted events. Their events include meeting and networking with local U.S. Forest Service biologists about potential internship opportunities. They’ll also be joined by Defenders of Wildlife for a campus-wide talk and film viewing.

The student chapter also is pleased to continue its involvement with the Sisk-a-dee watchable wildlife program as Gunnison sage-grouse lek monitors later this spring. Finally, they’re looking forward to a spring trail race as a fundraising event for the student chapter in order to facilitate more great events.

A version of this article originally appeared in the Colorado Chapter of The Wildlife Society’s March 2018 newsletter, which also includes photos of student chapter members.