ACES Presents: The William A. Nitze Community Lecture with Mike Phillips

“Power of the Collective: Addressing the Extinction Crisis”

The sixth great extinction crisis is one of humanity’s most pressing and least attended problems. It is a clarion call for changing our relationship with Mother Earth from that of disregard and destruction to regard and restoration.  The evening’s talk will offer inspiring stories of collective action to recover imperiled species as redress for the crisis, with comments including the wolf restoration to Colorado.

About Mike: The Executive Director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund, Mike is a leader working to restore gray wolves to the Southern Rockies Ecoregion of western Colorado. Prior to his time with the Turner Endangered Species Fund, Mike served in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the leader of historic efforts to restore red wolves to the southeastern United States and gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park. From 2014 through 2020 he founded and led the successful citizen-initiated ballot measure to establish a state law that mandated reintroductions begin by December 2023.  It was the first time in history that direct democracy – voting by the people – had been used to secure a restoration mandate for an endangered species.

Read more about Mike here.

Founded in memory of William (Bill) A. Nitze, ACES’ William A. Nitze Community Lecture brings world-class changemakers, writers, scientists, and environmentalists to Aspen. As well as accepting the Elizabeth Paepcke Visionary Award at ACES’ annual summer benefit, An Evening on the Lake – the William A. Nitze Community Lecturer gives a free, public lecture open to all in our community. Made possible by the Nitze family.