The Ruckelshaus Institute, a division of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming, advances the understanding and resolution of complex environmental and natural resources challenges in the Mountain West. We support stakeholder-driven solutions to environmental challenges by conducting and communicating relevant research and promoting collaborative decision making.
Our collaborative solutions work supports natural resource stakeholders, policy makers, and managers in making decisions about the future through trainings, forums, and decision-making support services. Learn more
Ruckelshaus Institute outreach bridges science and policy to the people using it on the ground. Briefs, primers, and more support decisions and management for complex natural resource issues. Learn more
We convene conferences and forums that bring together stakeholders and decision-makers around natural resource issues that are important to the future of Wyoming and the West. Learn more
This program addresses the needs of landowners by drawing on expertise and interdisciplinary collaborations across natural resource management, rangeland ecology, business and finance, law, decision-making, collaborative processes, and other fields. Learn more
The goal of the Casper Community Trail Charrette is to bring together community members with land managers and owners to share ideas and discuss priorities for trails in and surrounding Casper. It is not a place where decisions are made, it's just a planning exercise. The charrette will focus on summer and shoulder season non-motorized recreation, specifically Rim Rock, Fremont/Alcova, and Sedar/Yesness/Casper College. Attendees have two-time blocks to choose from. Both time blocks will provide the same information and opportunity to submit input, as well as free pizza and drinks.
Communities across the West are racing to embrace outdoor recreation and tourism as an up-and-coming industry. This means figuring out how to reap economic and quality-of-life rewards while avoiding pitfalls such as trash, crowds, and too many seasonal, low-wage service jobs. Issue 12 of Western Confluence explores both these challenges and opportunities, with a focus on sustainable outdoor recreation and tourism as told by professional journalists, as well as students, staff, and faculty at the University of Wyoming.
In response to public outcry about the Bureau of Land Management's Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Rock Springs Field Office in southwestern Wyoming, Governor Mark Gordon formed a task force representing diverse interests and charged with developing recommendations for revising the RMP to meet the interests of Wyoming stakeholders.
The task force incorporated public input from a series of interactive workshops organized by the University of Wyoming and held November 17 and 18, 2023.
A summary of public input from the workshops, the task force's final comment letter to the BLM, and other related documents are available to view and download.
William D. Ruckelshaus came to UW in 1993 at the invitation of U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson to serve as founding chairman on the board of a new institute dedicated to collaborative problem solving for natural resource challenges. He was a proponent of bringing together diverse stakeholders—different kinds of people who would be affected by any management or policy decision—to engage in civil discourse about desired outcomes for natural resource challenges. The goal was to build inclusive, lasting decisions that could avoid future litigation.
More on William D. Ruckelshaus and the history of the Institute.
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University of Wyoming
Bim Kendall House
804 E Fremont St
Laramie, WY 82072
Phone: (307) 766-5080
Fax: (307) 766-5099
Email: haub.school@uwyo.edu
