Sustainable Harvests:
Foraging a Greener Economy for the Colorado Plateau

 
The Colorado Plateau is among North America’s top eco-regions in its plant, animal and cultural diversity, yet these assets have not yet translated into a sustainable community economy. Sadly, about one quarter of all Colorado Plateau residents live below the poverty level, almost double the national rate.

Many of these people are involved in a “hidden economy” involving local foraging of wild foods and medicinal plants, basketry materials, fuel wood and animal-forage activities that seldom surface in official economic statistics. This hidden economy is based upon the traditional ecological knowledge of our region’s diverse cultures, and yet its participants are still not being economically rewarded when they carefully and considerately harvest the products of an herb or a tree in ways that sustain and regenerate these resources.

The goal of this lecture series is to explore ways in which sustainable harvesters can add value to their products by the way they harvest and manage the natural resources on which they depend, and to find consumers willing to pay extra for such sustainable harvests.

Lecture Series Overview

Lecture Series Outcome: the Action Plan

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