{"id":1313733,"date":"2019-08-19T21:30:29","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T03:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=986276"},"modified":"2019-08-19T21:30:29","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T03:30:29","slug":"wilderness-workshop-welcomes-new-conservation-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/wilderness-workshop-welcomes-new-conservation-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilderness Workshop welcomes new conservation director"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Juli Slivka, Wilderness Workshop’s new conservation director.<\/strong>
Provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Juli Slivka has enjoyed public lands since she was young.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up with very outdoorsy parents, and we were always climbing 14ers, camping, skiing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were always out on the public lands, and out in the West, on the weekends and family vacations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slivka came to Carbondale\u2019s Wilderness Workshop in August, but as a Colorado native, she has loved the Roaring Fork Valley and surrounding White River National Forest for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy very first project at the Wilderness Society was working on the Roan Plateau plan, so in some ways my career started right here in this landscape,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere is a place for everything, and certainly there is space to protect wilderness, develop energy, mountain bike, conserve habitats, and everything in between\u201d \u2014 Juli Slivka, Wilderness Workshop<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

Slivka studied environmental sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before joining the Wilderness Society, where she worked in various roles for 12 years.<\/p>\n

Much of the work of the Washington D.C.-based Wilderness Society is on policy at the federal and state level, which is valuable but sometimes doesn\u2019t include the voices of local stakeholders.<\/p>\n

Now, she\u2019ll take a break from national public lands advocacy to focus on conservation in one specific location.<\/p>\n

Part of the function of local conservation is giving communities the tools and information to participate in public land decisions. Whether it\u2019s an environmental impact statement, or a range management plan (RMP), public land agencies have long and complex processes for making decisions.<\/p>\n

The Thompson Divide permanent mineral withdrawal will be part of Slivka\u2019s portfolio of issues. Currently, the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act includes language to prohibit new oil and gas leases on the Thompson Divide.<\/p>\n

The bill is working its way through Congress, and Slivka is excited to work with the various groups involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really fortunate to have landed here at a time when there is so much positive momentum behind the CORE Act,\u201d Slivka said.<\/p>\n

The history of the Thompson Divide highlights some of the challenges of balancing what local communities want out of their public lands. On the one hand, the vast majority of locals want the Thompson Divide protected, but some county leaders have questioned the wisdom in permanently restricting oil and gas development.<\/p>\n

Slivka believes local conservation groups can be truly helpful in finding the appropriate balance of multiple uses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a place for everything, and certainly there is space to protect wilderness, develop energy, mountain bike, conserve habitats and everything in between,\u201d Slivka said.<\/p>\n

Coordinating so many conflicting interests can be a challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is really just piecing it together, and ideally that\u2019s done with a lot of local input, so at the end of the day everyone has gained something and has space to do what they want to do on our public lands,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a really tough challenge, but that\u2019s where the role of local conservation groups really shines, in bringing everyone together and figuring out what the right balance is for this particular place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compared to policy advocacy work, the local conservation efforts involve a lot more community partnerships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of listening to what the community wants and coming up with a joint vision for our public lands and our environment,\u201d Slivka said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something that is really neat to see and I\u2019m exited to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slivka also will work on protecting wildlife corridors so animals can move freely, which is especially important in a changing climate.<\/p>\n

Protecting public lands and the environment is important for two reasons, she said. One is to allow people to recreate in nature, whether that\u2019s through biking, hiking, hunting, fishing or just a picnic outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a great spiritual release, she said. \u201cPeople enjoy getting out into nature, and we need to make sure some places stay wild so we can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bigger reason for conservation, Slivka said, is to preserve wilderness for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cA really important reason to do this work is so that future generations can enjoy public lands and enjoy the amazing wildlife that we have in the state, just as we have,\u201d Slivka said.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Juli Slivka, Wilderness Workshop’s new conservation director.Provided Juli Slivka has enjoyed public lands since she was young. \u201cI grew up with very outdoorsy parents, and we were always climbing 14ers, camping, skiing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were always out on the public lands, and out in the West, on the weekends and family vacations.\u201d Slivka came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1313733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 06:32:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}