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SUNY Potsdam wilderness education students sharing stories from trek through Gila Wilderness

Posted 10/27/14

POTSDAM -- SUNY Potsdam wilderness education students who trekked through the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico for three weeks this summer will discuss their journey in a free public presentation. It …

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SUNY Potsdam wilderness education students sharing stories from trek through Gila Wilderness

Posted

POTSDAM -- SUNY Potsdam wilderness education students who trekked through the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico for three weeks this summer will discuss their journey in a free public presentation.

It will be offered on Wednesday, Oct. 29, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., in the Barrington Student Union Fireside Lounge.

Participants from the Leadership II course will discuss their adventures traversing diverse scenery-from the deep canyons of the three-forked Gila River, to the mesas in between, to the 10,000-foot peaks of the Mogollan Mountains. Students Nick Waseleski and Kelly Glascott will lead the presentation.

The students will share photos from the trip, as well as discussing the history and ecology of the Gila Wilderness. They will discuss journal entries written by pioneering ecologist Aldo Leopold when he visited the area in the early 1900s, and the impact that recent fires have had on the grassland ecology.

The 21-day expedition to the Gila Wilderness was resupplied via pack stock halfway through the journey. The group's typical days involved several carrying heavy packs over rugged terrain, gaining several thousand feet of elevation, sometimes without the benefit of a trail to follow.