December 2008 Evening Programs at Rocky Mountain National Park

Date: December 4, 2008
Contact: Kyle Patterson, 970-586-1363

Saturday, December 6, 7:00 p.m. - Bighorn Showdowns
One of the most exciting wildlife rituals is the annual rutting season of the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. In this program, filmmaker Leon Lorenz takes viewers to the wilderness in Jasper National Park to film the bighorn sheep’s unique behaviors. He also takes you into Cadomin, Alberta where some of the largest rams live. Eighteen month old yearlings display a "catch me if you can" attitude on cliffs, as they literally run circles around the mature rams which are in pursuit of the ewes. Their agility and youthful energy make for very exciting chases. See rams being rolled over, knocked down mountains, coyotes interacting with a herd of sheep and much more.

This film is the first of its kind to cover all the behaviors of the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep throughout the rutting season. It brings out the strength, finesse and majestic beauty of these animals.

Saturday, December 13, 7:00 p.m. - Potential Effects of a Novel Soil Layer on Ecosystem Responses to Increased Nitrogen Deposition in Rocky Mountain National Park
Loch Vale Watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park is an important ecological site that has informed current understanding of how nitrogen deposition and saturation affects ecosystems in the park. Studies have shown that increased nitrogen air pollution has acidified soils and adjacent waterways and has led to increased concentrations of inorganic nitrogen, a pollutant, within the ecosystem. In 2007, a new soil layer was discovered in a nitrogen saturation plot in Loch Vale. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of the soil layer and to investigate if it had any effects on retention or release of nitrogen from the soil. Join Sabrina Kleinman to learn more about the initial findings.

After working for a number of years in molecular biology as a research assistant, Sabrina switched careers and entered a graduate program at Northern Arizona where she began work on a degree in Forest Ecology. In the summer of 2008, Sabrina received the Justine and Leslie Bailey Fellowship from Rocky Mountain Nature Association. Through her project in the park, she had the privilege of working with Jill Baron PhD, who has been doing research at Loch Vale for over twenty years. Sabrina also had the opportunity to work with the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory.

There will be no programs on Saturday, December 20 and Saturday, December 27. All evening programs are on Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center in Rocky Mountain National Park. They are free and open to the public. For more information about Rocky Mountain National Park, please call the park’s information office at [phone].