Hands On Environmental Education

Your environmental education includes the potential for a paid summer internship and field work, as well as the opportunity to work in natural resource management jobs locally while completing your degree. This program at Colorado Mountain College has ongoing contracts with various federal, state and private organizations that provide field opportunities for students. Staff and student interns participate in field studies, laboratory analysis and characterization. Get your environmental education as you work outdoors — in the heart of the natural beauty of the Rocky Mountains!

Colorado Mountain College environmental education and Natural Resource Management students are also involved in:

• Evaluating non-point source pollution to the Arkansas River watershed to determine future land-use management practices
• Remedial technology
• Abandoned mine reclamation and characterization
• Drainages impacted by mine-waste and Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)
• Wetland characterization and restoration
• Watershed plan development
• Inventory of noxious weeds

The department is extensively involved with local environmental projects. Students in the Natural Resource Management program assist in the hydrologic monitoring of the California Gulch Superfund site and restoration efforts in the Lake Fork Watershed. Students who participate in these projects also have the opportunity to work with experts in the environmental field.

In addition to a strong field component, the Natural Resource Management program in collaboration with the Science and Historic Preservation programs are developing a multi-discipline facility that will house state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation and supporting equipment. The Timberline Analytical Laboratory (TAL) will be located in Room 127 in the New Discovery Academic Building. The TAL facility will contain instrumentation that will be used for chemical analysis of soil, sediment, rock, water, biologic media, and building material. The TAL facility will provide students a unique opportunity to analyze environmental samples collected from the field. These valuable laboratory skills are important for students who are interested in research within the natural sciences.

The Timberline Campus and its vicinity offer many different natural environments that enhance field instruction. Within the Leadville area, aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems include the Arkansas River, high-altitude lakes, aquifers, wetlands, and a diversity of terrestrial settings unique to the area.

The campus is located on approximately 60 acres of lodgepole forest. The area is surrounded by US Forest Service, US Bureau of Land Management lands, agricultural lands, industry, urbanization and pristine wilderness. Natural Resource Management faculty, staff, and students help evaluate environmental concerns to aid in land and water management decisions.