Look out your window in the Roaring Fork Valley and much of what you see is rangeland. On April 2, 6-8 pm you are invited to learn about the remarkable story of these landscapes and the people who have called them home for generations.
Rangelands cover nearly half of the Earth's unfrozen surface, supporting incredible biodiversity, storing carbon, producing food, and sustaining the lives of hundreds of millions of people, from Colorado ranchers to nomadic herders on the Mongolian steppe. Despite their vastness, these ecosystems are among the most overlooked on Earth; that’s beginning to change. At the urging of over 102 nations, the United Nations has designated 2026 as the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, and two local rangeland specialists are bringing that global call back home to Carbondale.
Films From Around the Globe
The April 2nd event will feature a curated selection of short films from around the world - screened to support the UN’s International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. Each film provides a view into landscapes and ways of life that few of us ever see, broadening our understanding of the people and land that feed the world.
Special Presentations by Two Remarkable Voices
Dr. Maria Fernández-Giménez | Retired Professor of Rangeland Ecology & Management, Colorado State University
Dr. Fernández-Giménez has spent more than three decades studying pastoral communities in the American West, Spain, and Mongolia — where she was among the first Western scientists to conduct field research after the country’s transition from Communism. Her contributions have been recognized at the highest levels: in 2016, Mongolia awarded her the Order of the Polar Star — the country’s highest civilian honor for foreign nationals, previously bestowed upon Hillary Clinton and John McCain. With over 100 peer-reviewed publications, she offers rare depth to the story of the world’s pastoralists.
Meriwether Hardie | Explorer, Storyteller & Author
Some people study the land. Meriwether Hardie lives it. After growing up on a family farm in Vermont, she spent a year as an environmental journalism fellow with Bill McKibben — then bought a horse for $200 in Argentina and rode from Patagonia to Bolivia on horseback, voice recorder in hand, to report on indigenous communities caught between tradition and modernity. In 2025, she traded that trail for the dirt roads of the rural American West. She is now writing a book on the future of Western working lands, drawn from conversations at the end of those driveways — with ranchers, Indigenous families, and conservationists navigating change.
Locally Rooted, Globally Connected
The event is organized by Sami Dinar, a local rangeland management specialist, and Retta Bruegger of CSU Extension — both of whom are deeply involved in the rangelands and agricultural communities of the Roaring Fork Valley.
