August 2025 Newsletter
the power of PLACE
Director's Letter
Dear RMBL Community,
This summer, the impact of RMBL was felt more deeply than ever. Our scientists continued to break new ground in understanding climate change, biodiversity, and ecosystem dynamics. Their work reaches far beyond the valley and informs global conversations about our planet’s future. We welcomed a new generation of students and early-career researchers whose passion and curiosity give us great hope for the decades to come. We also strengthened connections among disciplines, institutions, and people, linking scientific processes with the public in meaningful and lasting ways…
Ian Billick | PhD
Executive Director, RMBL
sciencestories
Water’s Great Escape
This summer, Dr. Ian Breckheimer has been busy with CHESS — not the game but the Colorado Headwaters Ecological Spectroscopy Study, a project funded by NASA with help from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. It combines new remote sensing technology with field measurements to understand how plants and ecosystems in the upper Gunnison Basin are responding to drought and climate change. But more than their responses, scientists want to know the consequences…
Education Stories – August 2025
Cultivating Curiosity:
“What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.” – Aristotle
This summer at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) has shown, more than ever, that learning is not confined to a classroom; it happens best when people are immersed in the environment and actively engage with science. Thousands of visitors traveled to Gothic in 2025, each bringing their curiosity and leaving with a deeper understanding of high-altitude ecosystems. Thanks to our Visitor Center team and docents, those moments of discovery became lasting connections…
Voices of RMBL – August 2025
Stories from RMBL Alumni
I started the essay that got me into college with the line I never thought I would say this, but voles changed my life. It’s true – learning about montane voles from Dr. Rosemary Smith in RMBL’s high school program set me on the course I’m on today. But it would be more accurate to say that RMBL changed my life. The animals, the plants, the mountains –
but also the scientists, the course instructors, and the other students…