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E a Ro AG MP RA

Carbondale’s weekly

community connector

k E or ID g F NS ri n I

Because every town needs a park, a library and a newspaper

Volume 10, Number 41 | November 15, 2018

10,000-foot view

Kenia Garcia, a junior at Basalt High School and an outdoor leadership student in the Buddy Program, gazes out at the landscape while listening to EcoFlight President and pilot Bruce Gordon’s lessons on environmental stewardship. Photo by Megan Tackett

Seeing is believing — in a cause By Megan Tackett Sopris Sun Staff When it comes to teaching people about the big picture regarding public lands stewardship and conservation, the EcoFlight crew believes in showing instead of telling.

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“We take different stakeholders up in the air to educate people, give people a better understanding of public lands and landscapes,” EcoFlight Program Coordinator Michael Gorman said. “And also hopefully inspire them to become more engaged once they’ve become a little more educated and have that experience with the landscape that’s unique and intimate in a way that’s different than being on the ground.” Sometimes, those stakeholders are

elected officials or conservation groups. On Tuesday, Nov. 6, they were high school students — or, as Gorman referred to them, “the next generation of public lands managers and decision makers.” It was a fitting coincidence that EcoFlight was busy touring students in the air during Election Day. “I think it’s important to share this experience with them. Just having that deeper understanding [will] hopefully

give them the confidence to speak out about what they know and what they think about these lands. It can be really powerful,” Gorman said, citing the recent undeveloped oil and gas lease cancellations in Thompson Divide as a victory for environmental grassroots efforts. “Today, they’ll get to see a little of Thompson Divide. And that’s just such a cool example of what can happen when citizens get toECO FLIGHT page 8

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18 11 15 by The Sopris Sun - Issuu