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Close-up of clear creek water tumbling over moss-covered rocks in a small cascade.

April 2021 E Newsletter

Director’s Letters ·
Apr 2021
· Ian Billick

A Quiz...

My quiz of the month—name this environmental feature! Its moods range from raging in the spring to placid and calm in the fall. It is 1450 miles long. It starts in La Poudre Pass Lake west of Fort Collins, but if we can make a reasonable argument that much of the journey starts in the valleys above Gothic. It supports $1.4 trillion in annual economic activity and 16 million jobs in the American southwest. It is the Colorado River!  The Gunnison River, which formally starts when Gothic’s East River and the Taylor River come together in Almont, provides 40% of the water in the Colorado River.
Science Stories ·
Apr 2021

Dream Streams

One of our long-term RMBL scientists has submerged herself in research on streams for nearly 50 years. Dr. Barbara (Bobbi) Peckarsky came to RMBL in 1974 as a graduate student and took an aquatic ecology class from the late Dr. Stan Dodson and his wife Ginny of the University of Wisconsin. After getting her feet wet with field station research, she was smitten. RMBL has been her summer home ever since.

After earning her PhD at University of Wisconsin, Bobbi spent 26 years as a professor at Cornell University and then became an honorary fellow and adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin. Now she’s retired but far from unoccupied. A senior investigator at RMBL, she mentors students from high school to graduate school.

Her work has always been about streams. She originally was interested in predator-prey interactions between stoneflies (predators) and mayflies (prey) and soon became a recognized expert in the field.

 

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