Communication and Publications

Wild and Working Lands Film Festival

The Wild and Working Lands Film Festival explores the intricate connections between humans and the landscapes where we dwell, work, and play. We are especially interested in films that inspire audiences to better understand our current world and work toward a future where people and natural environments prosper together. 

Learn more →

A Youth Vision for 2030: Imagining Wyoming's Future

In partnership with the Wyoming Humanities Council, Wyoming 2030, the Wyoming Afterschool Alliance, and the UW Creative Writing Program, the Ruckelshaus Institute holds a writing a multimedia narrative contest that asks young people in Wyoming to imagine life in 2030 if all of their dreams for the state came true. Three winners and seven honorable mentions are published in an inaugural anthology, available online and in print. 

Learn more →

Deer 139

The Ruckelshaus Institute and the Monteith Shop produced a feature-length documentary film titled "Deer 139." Using adventure and humor as the hook, the film shares new scientific understanding about how mule deer interact with their landscapes that is being generated in the Monteith Shop, a research lab in the Haub School.

Learn more →

WY Open Spaces Initiative 

The Wyoming Open Spaces Initiative is a long-term project designed to support working landscapes for agriculture, wildlife, and sustainable communities through applied research, information, education, and community-based decision making. The initiative is a collaborative effort of the Ruckelshaus Institute, the Wyoming Geographic Information Center, the Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics, the Department of Geography, University of Wyoming Extension, and the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database. 

Learn more →

Natural Resource Condition Assessments

The Ruckelshaus Institute and the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database recently completed a multi-year process of creating Natural Resource Condition Assessments for four western National Park Service units: Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Scotts Bluff National Monument, and Badlands National Park. The NRCAs assess current conditions for important natural resources, identify data gaps, and describe factors influencing park resource conditions. By synthesizing and contextualizing the best available science on everything from air and water quality to plant and animal populations, the reports provide park managers and the public with information to plan for the future of our nation’s parks.

Fort Laramie National Historic Site NRCA →
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument NRCA →
Scotts Bluff National Monument NRCA →
Badlands National Park NRCA →

Ruckelshaus Institute Communication Fellowship

The Ruckelshaus Institute Communication Fellowship is a semester-long program that gives artists the opportunity to collaborate with Ruckelshaus Institute editors, writers, researchers, and scientists, to develop new content that promotes the appreciation and understanding of scientific research and environment and natural resource scholarship, and its application to public audiences.

Learn more →

Pole Mountain Road System Videos

As part of a project to help the Laramie Ranger District of the Medicine Bow National Forest solicit public input on their road planning process for the Pole Mountain Unit, we scripted, shot, edited, and published five short videos. These show Forest Service staff members describing how the road system on this popular forest unit interacts with the surrounding ecosystem, and lets them describe in their own voices the types of public input they were looking for. This was just one piece of the larger project, which included Ruckelshaus Institute Collaborative Solutions staff organizing and hosting four public meetings and using other tools to gather public input to inform the road planning process.

Learn more →

Watch on YouTube →

Sage Grouse Fence Marker Outreach Materials

The Medicine Bow Conservation District contracted the Ruckelshaus Institute to produce a poster and brochure to raise awareness and help landowners and conservation groups create inexpensive fence markers to reduce sage grouse mortality.

Learn more →

Energy Mitigation Initiative

Energy has long been the cornerstone of Wyoming’s economy. Also important to the Wyoming way of life are iconic wildlife species that contribute recreational, economic, and aesthetic values to the state. The Ruckelshaus Institute is synthesizing and evaluating current wildlife mitigation practices to better understand the range of mitigation options available and is contributing to a better understanding of mitigation options, successes, and challenges.

Learn more →

Our Future Forests: Beyond Bark Beetles

The Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests contracted the Ruckelshaus Institute to produce public outreach materials that would help forest visitors understand the bark beetle outbreak. In partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, we produced ten short films exploring how the bark beetle outbreak affects fire, water, recreation, and other aspects of the forest. We also hosted public meetings to inform the public about bark beetle issues and published an annotated bibliography of bark beetle research, which we distributed to forest managers in the Rocky Mountain region.

Learn more →