Harlow Seminar Series Begins at UW-NPS Research Station June 22

Cutthroat conservation is the topic of the first Harlow Summer Seminar Thursday, June 22, at the renovated University of Wyoming-National Park Service (UW-NPS) Research Station. The facility is located at the AMK Ranch in Grand Teton National Park.

Annika Walters, an assistant professor and assistant leader of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at UW, will present “Cutthroat trout conservation: challenges and opportunities.” The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with a barbecue, followed by the 6:30 p.m. seminar. The events are free and open to the public, although a $10 donation is suggested.

Cutthroat trout play key ecological and economic roles in Wyoming, providing food resources for aquatic, terrestrial and avian predators, and supporting a world-renowned recreational fishery.

“In many areas, cutthroat trout populations have been declining due to habitat degradation and hybridization with rainbow trout,” Walters says. “Climate change may further threaten cutthroat trout persistence.”

She will discuss some of the challenges and opportunities in cutthroat trout conservation through examples from research conducted in the North Fork Shoshone and Upper Snake watersheds.

“Cutthroat trout conservation will benefit from emerging tools and partnerships, in addition to the species’ innate ability to adapt and persist,” Walters says.

The research station, a cooperative effort between UW and the NPS for the past 66 years, supports research in Grand Teton National Park and surrounding areas. The research station is located on the AMK Ranch historic district on a peninsula extending into Jackson Lake near Leeks Marina.

The UW-NPS Research Station provides a base for university faculty members and government scientists from around the world to conduct research in the diverse aquatic and terrestrial environments of Grand Teton National Park and the greater Yellowstone area.

Formerly called the AMK Ranch Talk Series, the Harlow Summer Seminar Series is named after retired UW Department of Zoology and Physiology Professor Hank Harlow, who helped make the UW-NPS Research Station a significant center for research and community outreach. Harlow began the popular weekly public seminars during the summer months.