Linda S. Hamilton "Conserving Colorado" Awards
The purpose of the Hamilton Award is to facilitate undergraduate research and discovery in the field of conservation biology. The award pays for a monthly stipend (typically for 2 months) for a student as they conduct field work to study a species or ecosystem in Colorado. The student works directly with a CNHP biologist to develop a project that addresses a species or ecosystem that CNHP has identified as needing conservation information. If the student is an honors student, this project can be used as the subject of his/her thesis. The student gets hands-on experience designing, executing, and analyzing a field-based research project on a rare plant, animal, or ecosystem in Colorado. CNHP obtains new data on a species or ecosystems that are poorly understood in Colorado.
Past Successes:
- Kira Paik and Toryn Walton studied the spatial distribution and characteristics of little brown bat day roosts and maternity roosts in the Yampa Valley of Colorado.
- Blaise Newman studied Preble’s meadow jumping mouse microhabitat use in Boulder County, Colorado.
- Tristan Kubik documented the first known mutualism between the hops blue butterfly and multiple ant species. In 2017, he submitted his manuscript to Entomological News (Facultative myrmecophily in the hops blue butterfly, Celastrina humulus.)
- Rachel Maison studied hops blue butterfly (Celastrina humulus) occupancy at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
- Callie Puntenney studied hops blue butterfly occupancy and published her study in Journal of Insect Conservation (Patch occupancy and habitat of the hops azure (Celastrina humulus), a rare North American endemic butterfly: insights for monitoring and conservation). 2018
