This past October, RMBL closed on an 8,271 square foot former hostel at 615 Teocalli Avenue in Crested Butte. The three floors offer a large ground floor living room for scientific collaborations and community discussions, second floor bedrooms for scientists to use year-round and staff to use as offices in winter, a third floor with two different two-bedroom apartments for staff and scientists, and revenue-generating services like an industrial kitchen, a laundromat, and space for retreats to enhance funding for RMBL science. Already, this space has allowed us to host scientific discussions from the RMBL-Western Colorado University engineering partnership, staff planning for our 2028 Centennial, a multi-night board retreat, and visits from community leaders and nonprofit partners dreaming of new connections with RMBL. In this interview, I talk with three RMBL leaders about the needs for and visionary possibilities of our new space in Crested Butte.  

JH: Please introduce yourself and share what initially brought you to RMBL. 

DB: I’m Dan Blumstein, outgoing board president. I first came to study marmots with Ken Armitage and later inherited the Marmot Project, which has been an incredible honor. It’s now the second-longest study of individually marked mammals in the world. 

JD: I’m Jennifer Darnell, board chair. I’ve been coming to this area since the early 1970s and am now a full-time Crested Butte resident. I’m a retired neuroscientist and molecular biologist. My connection to RMBL began almost 30 years ago through my children’s participation in summer programs. More recently, my youngest did summer research here.  

JB: I’m Jeni Blacklock, Executive Director. I’ve been here almost a year. What brought me to RMBL was pure curiosity. I’d lived in the valley for five years, started an education program in Gunnison, and learned about RMBL through partnerships. I wanted to better understand this world-class field station in our backyard. It’s one of the most studied ecosystems in the world, and you could spend a lifetime learning from the scientists and educators here. 

JH : What is RMBL 365 and what excites you most about it? 

DB: For me, RMBL 365 embeds us more deeply in the local community and allows us to support scholarship and education year-round. Gothic is hard to access in winter, so this opens opportunities for workshops, think tanks, and K–12 partnerships. It also helps people who don’t make it to Gothic understand who we are. In a practical sense, it solves some housing and office challenges, but the real excitement is the expanded programming. 

JD: I agree. RMBL 365 captures the shift from a largely seasonal operation to a year-round presence. Research, meetings, community gatherings, and education no longer have to be compressed into summer. It directly advances RMBL’s core mission. 

JB: What excites me most is having a year-round presence in town and the expansion it enables. There’s tremendous enthusiasm for field courses, Maymester programs for colleges, and experiential education with Western and other partners. These transformative experiences are at the heart of RMBL, and RMBL 365 lets us reach more students statewide and beyond. 

We’re beginning to imagine a Crested Butte campus of experiential learning, where people come not just for the outdoors, but for intellectual life—science, arts, books, and dialogue. 

JD: Jeni, I love that vision of Crested Butte as a campus—arts at the Center for the Arts, science at RMBL. 

JH: Me too, Jen, and I’ll add literature at Townie Books. In fact, RMBL 365 inspired us to develop a “RMBL Reads” program with Townie Books, with books nominated by the RMBL membership, followed by monthly book clubs at RMBL 365. RMBL 365 pushes us to see the Gunnison Basin community as an intellectual ecosystem, with RMBL having a distinctive niche. We are talking with the Public Policy Forum about another intersection; we hope to reach out to others like the Majestic Theater, as Paul CaraDonna and Mark Dorf already held a packed RMBL event on the RMBL Art-Science Exchange in the Majestic last summer.  

DB: Yes, studying nature teaches you that symbiosis is everywhere. Seeing RMBL as a part of the community, not apart from it, benefits everyone. 

JD: We’ve been working to diversify funding sources for years. RMBL 365 creates new partnerships and revenue streams—meetings, convenings, collaborations, in addition to the apartments, laundromat, and community kitchen—that directly support research, which remains central to our mission. 

JH : So the building itself functions as a donor. How do we balance revenue generation with less profitable but mission-driven activities? 

DB: We need to grow out of societal divestment from science. Supporting science and supporting education are deeply synergistic. When done well, they illuminate and reinforce each other. We’ve done this with undergraduate and high school programs already. RMBL 365 lets us expand that approach at a critical moment for science in the U.S. 

JH : That synergy is already emerging. Even when scientists aren’t filling the building, mission-aligned partners—like the Center for the Arts—are eager to use the space, knowing their support ultimately funds science.  

DB: And importantly, the Center for the Arts shares a commitment to science. That makes this synergy even stronger. The “Survival Festival” this coming March brings art, science, and music together to think about winter survival and how we get through it. That kind of interdisciplinary gathering is right up our alley, and hopefully something the community enjoys while drawing interesting people here. 

JH : Good point, as the Cooperative Futures Institute, behind the Survival Festival, has already approached us about hosting a retreat for their staff and our leadership at RMBL 365 before the event. 

But isn’t there a risk in building such a rich RMBL presence in Crested Butte? I have already heard some in the RMBL community worry that 365 could distract from Gothic. How can RMBL 365 complement rather than distract from what happens in Gothic? 

JD: I’m glad you used the word “complement.” No one wants to change Gothic or its culture—we want to support it. We’re not moving lectures out of the billy barr community center into town. RMBL 365 also gives us a chance to strengthen financial stability and revenue to support Gothic, which needs maintenance even if we don’t want to change it. I hope the two campuses support each other that way. 

DB: We’ve long had other properties where people could stay, but what 365 does is solve real housing and access problems. It provides staff housing and overflow researcher housing for people who don’t need to live in Gothic. Many researchers work across the valley, come for short periods, or don’t want the Gothic lifestyle—and that’s fine. They’re still contributing intellectually and scientifically to our mission. 

We haven’t been able to provide enough beds in recent years. Instrumentally, 365 helps solve this problem. But I want to think beyond infrastructure—beds, labs, offices—and consider how we could increase intellectual impact through interdisciplinary think tanks and workshops. The most rewarding parts of my career have been these small, intensive meetings where we solve problems and write papers. For these endeavors, 365 is centrally located, easy to access, and available year-round—something Gothic can’t provide. 

JB: I’ll add a few specifics. Gothic’s capacity is around 180 people, and RMBL 365 adds 32 more beds, including (we hope) ADA-accessible options. One great example is Reed Maxwell, who was at Colorado School of Mines and is now at Princeton. When he came to our RMBL 365 event, he was excited that he could bring his family and dog. Instead of short visits, he could imagine spending months here and engaging more deeply with the community. That’s a good example of how 365 complements Gothic.  

This summer, we’ll bring different groups—undergrads, grad students, PIs—so they can envision expanding research beyond summer, hosting conferences or workshops, and continuing to grow educational and scientific opportunities year-round. The 365 vision will be co-created with the RMBL membership and community partners. 

This winter, we’re excited to share programming focused on snow science, hydrology, and community engagement—monthly speakers, RMBL Reads Book Club, and Après Science. We’re hearing incredible feedback already about the year-round presence and community presence. 

JD: Scientists share discoveries in many ways, but the small meetings—12 to 35 people—have been most valuable for my growth. They allow deep discussion, mentorship, and career-shaping connections. I look forward to RMBL 365 hosting those, as the living room is the ideal size. 

JH : A veteran RMBL scientist asked me a compelling question: in two or three sentences, what problem does RMBL 365 solve? 

DB: It addresses housing and office space problems and creates opportunities to grow beyond serious constraints, including declining federal support. 

JD: Office space, housing for current scientists, meetings and think tanks, and connection with the Gunnison Valley community for outreach and teaching. 

JB: I see three main impacts: year-round expansion for science, education, and community; providing opportunities and flexibility in uncertain times; and supporting staff sustainability and resilience through housing, office space, and mission-driven initiatives. 

RMBL 365 allows us to extend the depth of Gothic into the heart of the valley, strengthening science, education, and community connection year-round. It is a strategic investment in people, place, and possibility, positioning RMBL to meet the challenges of the next century with clarity, collaboration, and purpose. 

-Article written by RMBL Director of Story and Strategic Partnerships, Dr. John Hausdoerffer

Dr. John Hausdoerffer is RMBL’s Director of Story and Strategic Partnerships. He has authored and co-edited six books on cross-cultural environmental ethics. John is in his 25^th year as a Professor of Philosophy at Western Colorado University, where he was the founding Dean of the Clark School of Environment & Sustainability.