• June 28-30, 2010: "High-Five" Symposium: The Future of High Elevation Five Needle White Pines in Western North America, University of Montana Campus, Missoula, MT. This comprehensive symposium will present the latest research findings and approaches to managing these critical species. The symposium will be comprised of one plenary session, a number of concurrent sessions, and a al day field trip. Managers, researchers, and all others interested in high elevation ecosystems are invited to attend. Symposium sponsored by the RM-CESU, UM's College of Forestry and Conservation, and US Forest Service. Abstracts due March 1, 2010.

• February 23-24, 2010: Annual RM-CESU Park Resource Managers Meeting, Lakewood, CO. This is the NPS annual gathering of resource managers from the fourteen parks in the the RM-CESU:  Glacier, Grant-Kohrs Ranch, Little Bighorn Battlefield, Bighorn Canyon, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Fort Laramie, Devils Tower, Rocky Mountain, Sand Creek Massacre, Bent's Old Fort, Black Canyon/Curecanti, Florissant Fossil Beds, Great Sand Dunes.  This group meeting has several purposes:  to serve as an information exchange between park resource managers and the RM-CESU partners, to highlight the "big resource issues" in the parks, to announce the winners of the small projects under the RM-CESU call, and to conduct a 1/2 "training" module on a topic of interest to the Rocky Mountain park managers.

• November 4 and 5, 2009: Greater Yellowstone Area Science Agenda Workshop: Climate Change, Land Use Change, and Invasive Species as Drivers of Ecological Change in the Greater Yellowstone Area, Bozeman, MT. Climate change, land-use change, and invasions of non-native species are external drivers that threaten to dramatically alter the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA). Understanding how these drivers influence wildlands and their consequences for ecosystem management in the GYA are important challenges for scientists and managers. This workshopo will bring together topical experts, agency and NGO scientists, and managers to identify high-priority science needed over the next 10-20 years. This effort is needed to support the formulation of science agendas (a follow-up exercise) for land management agencies in the GYA. The science agendas are vision documents intended to identify critical information gaps, steer the research community toward the most important science needs of managers, and guide future funding and permitting decisions by the agencies. Sponsored by the RM-CESU, NPS, MSU and others.

• October 5, 2009: Colorado Plateau/ Desert Southwest/Rocky Mountains Joint CESU Meeting, Flagstaff, AZ. .  The joint meeting will included updates from the National CESU Office and discussions on internships and student involvement in CESU projects as well as CESU operations (Agenda).
  
  RM-CESU Business Meeting (Notes, DOI Mandates for Climate Change)
  
  The Joint CESU meeting was held conjunction with the Tenth Biennial Conference of Research on the Colorado Plateau, October 5-8. A 4-day solution-oriented conference about the most pressing conservation issues facing not only the Southwest and West, but also virtually every other region in North America. This conference provided an interdisciplinary forum to explore research and land management issues related to the biological, cultural, and economic resources of the Colorado Plateau, Southwestern United States, and Mexico. The conference included symposia, oral presentations, workshops, discussion groups, and short courses. Plenary Speaker: Paul Ehrlich - author of The Population Bomb and co-author of The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment. The three CESUs organized the following science sessions: Happy 10th Birthday to the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units, where will the next decade take us? (Tuesday, October 6 afternoon) and Ungulates and Predators in National Parks - what we can learn by comparing notes across bioregions (Wednesday, October 7 morning).
  

• December 1-3, 2008: , Whitefish, MT. The workshop to discuss managers' adaptation strategies was jointly sponsored by the RM-CESU, the University of Montana and Colorado State University.  Additional support was provided by the USFS-Rocky Mountain Research Station and the USGS-Fort Collins Science Center, and the NPS-NRPC.  There was good participation by managers and NGOs in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem , including NPS, USFS, USGS, FWS, StaClimate Change in the Crown of the Continent:
  Identifying Multi-Jurisdictional Strategieste of Montana, Blood Tribe, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia and Parks Canada.  This workshop was the first in a series of multijurisdictional climate change workshop; the next workshop will involve adaptation to climate change in grasslands ecosystems.

PAST RM-CESU ACTIVITIES

RM-CESU Project:

Culturally Scarred Trees in
Glacier National Park

Recent studies demonstrate culturally
scarred trees are indicators of prehistoric
and historic travel corridors and campsites – providing information on many aspects
of Indian society, including subsistence
patterns, technological innovations,
population movements, epidemics,
acculturation, and cultural continuity.
Read more.

• November 13- 14, 2009: 17th Arctic Conference, INSTAAR- Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO.

• November 5 - 6, 2009: Montana Chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology: 2nd Annual Research Symposium, University of Montana, Missoula, MT. The meeting is organized around the theme of applying science to real world conservation problems, policy decisions, and educational outreach.  This will be a great opportunity to share your research and learn about cutting edge conservation science in Montana and the U.S. Northern Rockies / Transboundary region. 

• October 27 & 28, 2009: Restoring the West Conference 2009, Utah State University, Logan UT.  The theme of this year's Restoring the West Conference is sustainability of Great Basin landscapes from peaks to valleys, with an emphasis on forest, sagebrush steppe, and riparian ecosystems. Unifying themes include the causes and consequences of historic changes in community composition and structure, the effects of ongoing climate change, the importance of the water cycle or ecohydrology, and wildlife considerations. 

• October 26-30, 2009: Strategic Management of Invasive Species in the Southwest Workshop, Phoenix, AZ. In collaboration with the Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program, Montana State University's Center for Invasive Plant Management will offer a five-day workshop on invasive species management in desert ecosystems for natural resource managers on military installations. A limited number of personnel from agencies and organizations will be invited to participate as well.

• October 1-2, 2009: Montana AWRA/River Center Conference, Missoula MT.  This is a joint conference of the MT AWRA and the University of Montana's River Center. The abstract submission site is for everyone who wishes to present at this conference, as there will be no separate River Center conference this year. There will be a conference-related field trip the afternoon of September 30.

November 6-13, 2009: 9th World Wilderness Congress: Symposium on Science and Stewardship to Protect and Sustain Wilderness Values, Mérida, Mexico.

November 30-December 4, 2009: 4th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress: Fire as a global process, Savannah, Georgia

January 17-21, 2010: Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA. The meeing will include the session: "Ways of Knowing: Traditional Knowledge as Key Insight for Dealing with Environmental Change"

February 7-19, 2010: Society for Range Management and Weed Science Society of America, Denver, CO.  Learn how to Manage for Invasive Species, Open Spaces, Sustainable Livestock Production, Drought, and Conservation of our Natural Resources. 

February 8 - 12, 2010: 43rd Annual Meeting of the Montana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, Bozeman, MT. The theme of the meeting is Linkages across Landscapes: The Ecological Role of Fish in Montana

April 25-29, 2010: National Water Quality Monitoring Council (NWQMC) Seventh National Monitoring Conference - Monitoring From the Summit to the Sea, Denver, CO. The conference will focus on the many facets of water quality and water quantity monitoring for improved understanding, protection, and restoration of our natural resources and communities. It will also provide a unique forum for water practitioners from all backgrounds - including governmental organizations, volunteers, academia, watershed and environmental groups and the private sector - to exchange information, develop skills, and foster collaboration and coordination. USGS, EPA, NOAA, and state scientists and others will showcase new findings on the quality of the Nation's streams and groundwater, and highlight recent innovations and cutting-edge tools in water-quality monitoring, assessment, and reporting. The conference's location in Denver, Colorado will also provide a forum to showcase western water monitoring issues, including sustainable water management, effects of wildfires, and efforts to evaluate the effects of climate change on water quality, quantity, and aquatic ecosystems.

June 7-10, 2010: MTNCLIM 2010 Mountain Climate Research Conference, Blue River, OR. The MTNCLIM research conferences are sponsored by the Consortium for Integrated Climate Research on Western Mountains (CIRMOUNT), and are dedicated to mountain climate sciences and effects of climate variability on ecosystems, natural resources, and conservation in western North American mountains. MTNCLIM conferences feature invited and contributed talks, poster sessions, and working-group sessions. A post-conference workshop for natural-resource managers is held to address implications of climate variability and climate change in conservation and resource management.

July 3-7, 2010: 24th International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB), the 2010 meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Submission deadline for abstracts: January 20, 2010

UM offers online wilderness management course in the fall
RECM/FOR 407 Management of Recreation Resources (3 credits Undergraduate) /RECM/FOR 562 Managing Recreation Resources in Wilderness Settings (3 credits Graduate) offered online this fall through the University of Montana’s Wilderness Management Distance Education Program.  Dr. Kari Gunderson will lead a facilitated discussion group online with guest instructors.  The course allows students to access the lesson materials and the discussion group at their own convenience. RECM/FOR 407 and RECM/FOR 562 deals with the people aspect of wilderness by focusing on managing wilderness for visitor use and enjoyment, and by representing ways to solve problems associated with visitors' expectations and their impacts.The course will run October 5, 2009 thru January 24, 2010.  Registration deadline is Wednesday, September 30th, 2009For more information Click here!

FOR 562 Managing Recreation Resources in Wilderness Settings (3 credits Graduate) counts toward UM’s Online Graduate Certificate in Wilderness Management.  To learn more about the graduate certificate, visit this web link.

Survey of Natural Resources Distance Learning Courses at RM-CESU Partner Institutions

• Department of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) is seeking environmental research and development proposals in response to its Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Core Solicitation and
  SERDP Exploratory Development (SEED) Solicitation. Projects will be selected through a competitive selection process. Details for both federal and non-federal submissions are available on the SERDP web site under Funding Opportunities. For the Core Solicitation, pre-proposals from the non-federal sector must be submitted by Thursday, January 7, 2010. Federal proposals are due Thursday, March 11, 2010, through the appropriate SERDP Executive Working Group (EWG) member.
  

• Montana Noxious Weed Trust Fund grant program was established by the 1985 Montana Legislature to provide funding for the development and implementation of weed management programs; provide for research and development of innovative weed management techniques, including biological control; and to support educational and other research projects that benefit Montana citizens. The grant program is designed to assist counties, local communities, researchers, and educators in their efforts to solve a variety of weed problems in Montana. Proposals due December 1, 2009. 

• The National Park Foundation offers exciting grant opportunities including their Building Common Ground Grants Program (December 11, 2009) and America's Best Idea Grants Program (December 4, 2009). To learn more, click here.

• Directory of Federal Grant-Making Programs for Environmentally- Related Education The directory is designed to help meet the needs of the environmental education community for easily accessible and reasonably comprehensive information about federal funding programs. 

• Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant The program contributes to the Foundation's overall mission to support basic research in anthropology and to ensure that the discipline continues to be a source of vibrant and significant work that furthers our understanding of humanity's cultural and biological origins, development, and variation. The Foundation supports research that demonstrates a clear link to anthropological theory and debates, and promises to make a solid contribution to advancing these ideas. There is no preference for any methodology, research location, or subfield. The Foundation particularly welcomes proposals that employ a comparative perspective, can generate innovative approaches or ideas, and/or integrate two or more subfields. Maximum funding available $15,000. Application deadlines are May 1and November 1. Final decisions are made six months later. 

• Wildlife Conservation Society Research Fellowship Program (annual deadlines: March 15 and September 15) The RFP is a small grants program designed to build capacity for the next generation of conservationists through supporting individual field research projects that have a clear application to the conservation of threatened wildlife and wildlife habitat. We seek projects that are based on sound and innovative conservation science and that encourage practices in conservation that can contribute to sustainable development. Most of the grantees are professional conservationists from the country of research and/or post-graduates pursuing a higher degree. The RFP supports field research in Africa, Asia, and Latin America regardless of the nationality of the applicant. In addition, the RFP accepts applications from Native Americans (US) and First Nation Peoples (Canada) who intend to conduct work on native lands on issues of direct relevance to wildlife. Grants are for up to $25,000 dollars, and are for no longer than one year. The average grant is $10,500.

• Research Fellowship at Rocky Mountain National Park
  Each year the Rocky Mountain Nature Association and Rocky Mountain National Park co-sponsor a research fellowship opportunity for one graduate level student to spend three to four months conducting research in Rocky Mountain National Park. Housing , $5,000 stipend and $3,000 for expenses related to research in the Park. (annual deadline: February 1)

• Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service Listing of competitive grants and cooperative projects.

• Conservation Trust grants from the National Geographic Society The objective of the Conservation Trust is to support conservation activities around the world as they fit within the mission of the National Geographic Society. The trust will fund projects that contribute significantly to the preservation and sustainable use of the Earth's biological, cultural, and historical resources.
  (open deadlines)

• Western National Parks Association Grants Grants awarded to institutions and individuals for research in National Parks. (September 1st deadline). Grant funding is limited to $7500 per project.

• GRANTS.GOV The Federal government now requires all requests for proposals be listed on-line at http://www.grants.gov. There are instructions on line of how to search for specific topic areas (environment, natural resources, energy) and for specific agencies, e.g. National Science Foundation, Department of the Interior, etc.