Ben Williamson brings a fresh youthful perspective to conservation in Greater Yellowstone and a commitment to make sure more diverse voices are reflected and heard in the ecological sciences and NGO arenas. PHOTO COURTESY OF BEN WILLIAMSON
Ben Williamson has a resume of experience
that, by itself, is impressive. This year the new arrival to Jackson Hole added
another element. As a member of the millennial generation, he assumed the helm of
the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative and became one of the youngest
people ever tapped to oversee a major regional conservation organization in
Greater Yellowstone.
Before arriving, Williamson conducted research
on rapidly disappearing whitebark pine trees in Yellowstone National Park,
directed an environmental education center with The Glacier Institute, worked
on reducing predator-livestock conflicts in northwest Montana, and facilitated
a land use dialogue in the African nation of Ghana.
Originally from Colorado, he received an
undergraduate degree from the University of Montana and then a master’s in
environmental management at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental
Studies. It was at the latter when he spent time with Susan Clark, who founded
NRCC in Jackson in 1987. Since then, NRCC has functioned as a nexus for
scientists working in myriad disciplines, all dedicated to addressing
opportunities and challenges in large landscape conservation.
Not long ago, I had an interview with Williamson
in which he shared his perspective about key conservation issues and how some
members of his generation relate to the world.
Todd Wilkinson: What
do you think separates the new emerging younger generations of thinkers from
their predecessors?
Ben Williamson: Generation
Z is growing up in a very different political moment than even me, a
millennial. I was raised in the ’90s with a collective feeling that everything
is OK, and the arc of evolution is moving onward and upward to [be] more
inclusive …
For me, this sense eroded as I came of age in
the early 2000s with our country’s endless engagement in war, the explosion of
climate change rhetoric and the 2008 recession. Suddenly, my future didn’t seem
as stable as the one America seemed to promise me. It became apparent that any
sense of stability and safety is fragile and depends on where you live and who
you are. I was also raised in tandem with the evolution of social media and
mass communication technology. My generation was introduced to this type of
technology as teenagers, so it was a learned behavior.
The current generation—as every generation
before it—are simply inheritors of the moment they occupy. Generation Z is
unique in many ways. To me, the obvious ones are they haven’t lived in a time
where even an illusion of stability is felt and they’re the first generation to
develop their sense of self completely in tandem with social media.
At my most optimistic, Generation Z is growing
up in a truly networked society, where the lines of hierarchy and power are no
longer covert. I like to think this is manifesting in a greater sense of
empathy. Maybe we see this in the Sunrise Movement or the March for Our Lives
movement. Still, I worry that chaos has become normative and I wonder what that
does for one’s conception of democracy.
T.W.: There is fear that the kind of human development which
overwhelmed nature along the Front Range of Colorado might be repeated here in
the Greater Yellowstone. Can you comment on this?
B.W.: My childhood was an education in the ever-changing quality
of landscapes. For example, within the span of one year, the irrigation ditch I
caught crawdads in was dried, filled in and built over with houses. That rate
of change fostered an inquisitive attitude: why so much change?
I then
moved to Montana, thinking if I could be in surroundings I considered more
remote, I’d find a more comfortable stability away from the rapid pace of
growth. Instead, the story I told myself grew much more complex and the
illusion of escaping quickly dissolved.
Fast
forward and I’ve found myself at NRCC, with experience working in various
environmental education and field biology positions in Montana and two years at
Yale F&ES studying management and policy. With these interests, the central
challenge of my position is, what to do with all of this?
T.W.:
How can we create a better future
together if there’s a divide between those who know what’s coming with climate
change and others who deny reality?
B.W.:
Climate science has shown by the end of the century, we’ll experience somewhere
between a 2- and 4-degree Celsius increase in temperature. The exact effects of
this are varied and speculative, but there is no doubt that this level of
temperature increase will impose very different conditions than the ones we
operate with today.
The problem is that climate science has told
the problem of climate change in a way that is nearly unsolvable from a
political perspective. To simplify it, we have science to show us what the
problem is, and we have policy to decide how to solve the problem—we’ve done a
good job with science but a poor job with policy. Susan Clark and other
scientists at NRCC are calling for a shift. As professionals in this field, we
need to up our game on learning to understand our story and use that
understanding to move us in the direction we would all like to go.
Todd Wilkinson is the founder of Bozeman-based “Mountain Journal” and is a correspondent for “National Geographic.” He’s also the author of “Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek” about famous Jackson Hole grizzly bear 399, which is available at mangelsen.com/grizzly.
We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a
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We all are familiar with using a limited palette, but do you use one? Do you know how to use a limited palette to create different color combinations? Are you tired of carrying around 15-20 different tubes when you paint plein air? Have you ever wanted to create a certain “mood” in a painting but failed? Do you create a lot of mud? Do you struggle to achieve color harmony? All these problems are addressed in John’s workbook in clear and concise language!
Based on the bestselling “Limited Palatte, Unlimited Color” workbook written by John Pototschnik, the workshop is run by Maggie Shane and Annie McCoy, accomplished landscape (acrylic) and plein air (oil) artists,exhibitors at the Big Sky Artists’ Studio & Gallery and members of the Big Sky Artists Collective.
Each student will receive a copy of “Limited Palette, Unlimited Color” to keep and take home to continue your limited palette journey. We will show you how to use the color wheel and mix your own clean mixtures to successfully create a mood for your paintings.
Each day, we will create a different limited palette color chart and paint a version of a simple landscape using John’s directives. You will then be able to go home and paint more schemes using the book for guidance.
Workshop is open to painters (oil or acrylic) of any level although students must have some basic knowledge of the medium he or she uses. Students will be provided the book ($92 value), color wheel, value scale and canvas papers to complete the daily exercises.