Picnic on the Preserve Recap 2024

---

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to our Picnic at the Preserve and joined us in welcoming the start of summer! We had a beautiful evening full of laughter, pipe cleaner fireflies, and joyful music from Ken Gentry. It was wonderful seeing new and familiar faces come together to share in a delicious farm-fresh meal thanks to Back Door Catering and our agriculture team at Rock Bottom Ranch. We even had a moose visitor at the end of the evening, who strolled right past our picnic blankets to the upper pond!

We want to extend a special thank you to our sponsor, Obermeyer Wood. We are so grateful for their support of this event year after year. 

It was a pleasure introducing you to our Naturalist team for the summer, who are gearing up to lead our many hiking tours beginning June 15th. These environmental pioneers have spent the past week and a half learning about the local ecology and history of iconic sites throughout Aspen and Snowmass. Naturalists will use storytelling and their own expansive environmental knowledge to fully immerse visitors and residents in the native landscape, instilling a sense of place and inspiration. We are confident that the impressive accolades these recent graduates already have, coupled with their experience as Naturalists, will set them up to be compassionate, knowledgeable leaders. Throughout the summer, they will be leading tours at Snowmass, Maroon Bells Crater Lake, Aspen Mountain, Ashcroft Ghost Town and Castle Creek Valley. Be sure to visit them at one of these areas this summer!

Our daily Naturalist-guided hikes along with our other community programs including birding outings, ranch experiences, toddler/caregiver classes, and more are a great way to get involved with ACES this summer. Not to mention the amazing lineup of events we have in store!

All of our programming would not be possible without your generous support as members. Through these educational experiences we are able to increase exposure across age groups to regenerative agriculture, the effects of climate change, and ecosystem dynamics.

We look forward to seeing you on one of our many upcoming adventures this summer and encourage you to invite your friends and family to get involved as well! Learn more about our membership opportunities here.

Thank you for making this event a success, we cannot wait to see you again next year!