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It’s been a week since we kicked off the 2024 Colorado Forest Collaboratives Summit, and I’ve already been reminiscing about the great time I had getting to see and learn from some of the most inspiring folks in Colorado! We’ll have lots of follow-ups coming soon, but in the meantime I am excited to share a few of my favorite photos from the event.
~Katie McGrath Novak, Coordinator, Colorado Forest Collaboratives Network
Photos taken by Katie McGrath Novak, unless otherwise noted.
Our pre-Summit social is one of my favorite parts of the week, as it’s the first time I get to see most attendees in person and mingle in an informal setting. This photo captures the festive, yet cozy feeling that I get at the social – and highlights the beauty of this year’s venue at 11th Street Station!
This year’s social stood out to me as I felt like I was walking into a room full of friends rather than a work event. I can’t thank everyone in the Colorado Forest Collaboratives Network enough for making this part of my job so easy!
Photo credit: John Sanderson
We kicked off the main portion of Summit with an introduction featuring a welcome to La Plata County from Commissioner Clyde Church (above). As he shared stories of success and inspiration from southwest Colorado, he unexpectedly whipped out a hard hat and put it on, noting that this is the attire he feels most comfortable in!
Other highlights from the welcome session, not pictured above, include Alex Handloff’s ‘tone-setting’ presentation where he encouraged us all to get to know each other as whole people, rather than only knowing one another as job titles and project partners, and a land acknowledgement generously shared by James Calabaza.
This year’s Summit kicked off with a few optional add-ons, including an interpretive hike, mountain bike ride, and this training from Gemara Gifford, “Opportunities and Barriers for Engagement with Tribal Nations as Sovereign Partners in Forest Collaboratives”.
Gemara started off the training with a Mentimeter question, “How are you feeling today in 1 emoji?” and the responses made me chuckle! In case you can’t see them in the photo, they read:
😊, 🥰, 🌻, overwhelmed, 😴, urpee, 👍, 😌, 😃, excited, 🤠, 🤓, 🌲, 🫠, explorative, ☀️, 🤔, good, 🥳, and 🤯
I appreciated the honesty and the wide range of emotions heading into a jam-packed couple of days!
One of the pieces of feedback that we heard loud and clear after our 2023 event was that one of the most valuable parts of Summit is getting to know one another, and that we should be sure to include plenty of interactive activities and time for informal networking. This photo shows people engaging in small groups during our final activity of the day, where we had people write recommendations for agency leadership on notecards and discuss.
Photo credit: Josh Braun
This year’s optional add-ons included an interpretive hike and a mountain bike for those arriving in Durango a little early. I didn’t have a chance to attend the hike or bike, but the photos I saw showed all smiles from participants!
I’m very grateful to Courtney Young, Josh Braun, Alison Lerch, Alex Handloff, and Anthony Culpepper for coming up with the idea to add these fun activities and taking the lead on making them happen!
For one activity, we handed out puzzle pieces and asked attendees to draw three things they value about forests and/or collaboration. Then, we pieced the pictures together to build a picture of the many values in the room.
I am always a sucker for arts and crafts, but even moreso, I loved seeing the range of values that unite the 100+ Summit attendees!
I was incredibly lucky to have a large and active Summit planning team this year to help make this event possible. HUGE thanks go out to Josh Braun, Esther Duke, Clarissa Dukeminier, Alex Handloff, Ch’aska Huayhuaca, Aaron Kimple, Alison Lerch, Danny Margoles, Adam Moore, Becca Samulski, Priscila Santos Urteaga, Roxie Stricker, Estevan Vega, Lo Williams, and Scott Woods.
One very vital member of the planning team was Priscila Santos Urteaga, a senior at Colorado State University and our 2024 Summit Planning Intern. Above, Priscila explained an activity to the group.
After a long day of meetings, we of course celebrated with a happy hour! We couldn’t have asked for better weather and a more beautiful location at Fort Lewis College.
Photo credit: Audrey Miles-Cherney
This year we launched our first ever Summit Student Professional Development Award program! The competitive program awarded registration and travel scholarships to four students (two from Fort Lewis College + two from Colorado State University), and matched each student with a mentor to meet with at Summit.
The photo above shows our Center for Collaborative Conservation team with the two Colorado State University awardees.
Left to right: John Sanderson (Center for Collaborative Conservation Director), Ally Lee (scholarship recipient), Priscila Santos Urteaga (Summit Planning Intern), Hanna Chafey (scholarship recipient), and me (Katie McGrath Novak).
Not pictured: our two awesome Fort Lewis College Scholarship Recipients, Sean Cook and Leah Wesley!
Photo credit: John Sanderson
Summit wrapped up with a field trip highlighting success stories from Falls Creek Ranch, Falls Creek Conservation Area, and all across southwest Colorado.
These were just a few of the many photos and stories I could share from this year’s Summit. Stay tuned, as we’ll share a detailed summary in the next few weeks.
It was so great to see everyone; thanks to all our speakers, planning team members, sponsors, and attendees for making this year’s Summit possible!
Thanks to our 2024 Summit sponsors!
