GCRT Funding Year: 2013-2014

Biodiversity Case Studies

This GCRT drew on expertise from several disciplines to identify, author, field test, refine, and make available for curriculum incorporation, a new series of case studies focused on biodiversity, conservation and management within sustainable communities. Case studies will focus on areas including the connections between cattle and sustainable communities, sustainability issues with STEM education, conservation biology, protected lands management and sustainable communities, and others. These case studies will offer educators and community leaders a useful framework for engaging audiences of all ages and backgrounds in active and interactive explorations of complex content with the intent to promote deeper understanding.

Sustainable Affordable Housing

The purpose of this GCRT was to identify ways to expand the use of non-traditional building materials into highly efficient homes in an effort to reduce the demand for the virgin natural resources typically used in construction. This group looked at the role culture may play in material selection and use from a Native American perspective.

Headwaters Initiative

This GCRT targeted critical headwater regions of the world, which pose major 21st Century sustainability issues where the intersection of humanity and biodiversity is confronted by rapidly changing environmental and climatic conditions. A scoping exercise was undertaken to identify signature headwater regions and the challenges associated with these areas as critical sources of water. We developed a demonstration project focusing on the Cache la Poudre headwater region building on many existing efforts to assess and protect this important local resource. Integral to this was the bringing together of stakeholders and focus groups to discuss mechanisms for adaptation to changing climatic conditions.

Sustainable African Ecosystems and Societies under Global Change

SoGES GCRT funding provided the opportunity to bring the PIs and the team together to accomplish the following goals: 1) address state of knowledge and current intra-CSU collegiate participation on biodiversity, conservation and management (BCM) issues in Africa, 2) explore research and education opportunities including innovative ways to address the issues and innovative management solutions to solve problems, 3) develop a CSU center or institute to facilitate this cross-college initiative.

Urban Lab & LENSES

The purpose of this GCRT was to create a collaborative Urban Lab to enhance the sustainability and biodiversity of the urban areas between campus and Old Town, Fort Collins using the LENSES regenerative framework.

Conservation Development

This GCRT’s mission was to synthesize data on the practice of Conservation Development (CD), to evaluate the outcomes of CD, and to engage with practitioners to inform the design of future development and land conservation. They defined CD as an approach to the design, construction and stewardship of a development that achieves functional protection of natural resources while also providing social and economic benefits to human communities. The GCRT was comprised of 30 collaborators from four universities, five government agencies and conservation organizations, and 12 departments and five colleges at CSU. The ecologists, geographers, sociologists, planners, and experts in conservation finance, real estate, and landscape design on the team gave them the breadth of expertise necessary to advance the frontier of Conservation Development.

Colorado State University

Sustainability