Naturalist Nights 2015 | Peter Aengst
Over the past two decades several pristine National Forest lands in Montana and Wyoming have faced threats from inappropriate oil and gas development. This includes the Rocky Mountain Front and North Fork Flathead watershed in Montana and the Wyoming Range south of Jackson Hole. But through a combination of forest service planning efforts, enacted withdrawal legislation, and lease buyouts, these areas — which total over two million acres — are today largely protected. This talk will present lessons learned from these high profile campaigns and include discussion on what this means for protecting Colorado’s Thompson Creek Divide.
Peter serves as the Senior Director of the Northern Rockies region for the Wilderness Society. Previously, Peter worked at the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, first as a Program Associate and later as their Mining Issues Coordinator. He has also worked in Canmore, Alberta as the Outreach and Media Coordinator for the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, a network of over a hundred Canadian and American conservation groups working to maintain habitat connectivity from the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem to the central Yukon Territory. Peter earned B.A. degrees in Geology and in Environmental Studies from Williams College and an M.S. in Natural Resource Policy from the University of Michigan.
Naturalist Nights are brought to you through a partnership between Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, Wilderness Workshop, and Roaring Fork Audubon.
