Gunnison Valley Audio Journal Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley and the Resiliency Project

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.