Gunnison students win state award for wildfire mitigation project

Gunnison High School students Elizabeth Klingsmith and Janey Mugglestone earned second place last week in Colorado’s RISE Challenge — a competition that invites students to design action projects aimed at increasing their community’s resilience to natural hazards. The duo received a $900 prize for their submission, and shared their work this past weekend at Colorado’s inaugural Youth Climate Summit.

For their winning project, Klingsmith and Mugglestone will lead a pine beetle mitigation initiative in Crested Butte on May 22 with their classmates from two earth and space science classes taught by GHS teacher Krystal Brown. The students are collaborating with the Crested Butte Land Trust and the Colorado State Forest Service to treat beetle-infested areas near the Upper Loop trail. The U.S. Forest Service plans to support education efforts before students head to the field. Pine beetle outbreaks contribute to tree death during drought, which increases wildfire risk — an increasing concern in the region.

“As we approach wildfire season, it's more important than ever to enact fire prevention strategies throughout the Gunnison Valley,” Klingsmith said. “Our project has allowed us to act upon the concern of beetle kill in our mountain forests and advocate for the land we love." 

The students secured a mini-grant from Earth Force — the nonprofit that facilitates the RISE Challenge — as well as from the Hazard Education, Awareness and Resilience Task (HEART) Force, based at the University of Colorado Boulder. The funding helped purchase verbenone packets, a pheromone used to deter beetle infestations.

“By installing verbenone, I feel like my classmates and I are making a meaningful contribution to the lodgepole pine ecosystems in Crested Butte — ecosystems that deserve attention and preservation in the face of climate change,” Mugglestone said.

The RISE Challenge and HEART Force are unique in their emphasis on student-led solutions to real-world problems, developed in collaboration with local community leaders. GHS has been participating in these programs for five years, thanks in part to strong support from County Emergency Manager Scott Morrill and the leadership of Brown at GHS. 

(Katya Schloesser is the HEART Force Program Manager, and education and engagement team co-lead at the Center for Education, Engagement and Evaluation at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at CU Boulder. She works remotely from Gunnison and specializes in supporting rural science teachers with climate resilience and civic engagement curricula.)