Director: Catherine Ortega

Catherine Ortega is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology.  Dr. Ortega received her Ph.D. in Biology from the Department of Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1991 and has worked for Fort Lewis College since 1997.  She teaches numerous courses, including (but not limited to) ornithology, wildlife management, and wetland and stream ecology.  

Dr. Ortega has a long-standing record of (1) assisting the community with enhancement and protection of natural resources, (2) initiating and coordinating large groups, such as the Southwest Wetlands Focus Area (Colorado Division of Wildlife Program) and the San Juan Watershed Woody-Invasives Initiative, (3) participation in numerous community advisory boards, (4) obtaining funds for habitat improvement projects in the community, (5) applying community-based learning in her upper-division classes.  Through her community work and outreach, she has an extensive social and professional network to draw on throughout the Four Corners Region.

Her general research interests are the effects of both natural and anthropogenic changes to the landscape on breeding bird communities.  For example, her most recent research projects include effects of livestock grazing on nesting birds, effects of gas well compressor noise on nesting birds, effects of fire and post-fire salvage logging/fuels reduction on bird communities with emphasis on Hairy Woodpeckers, and effects of drought on piñon-juniper communities.  Dr. Ortega’s research has been supported by a variety of organizations and agencies, including National Geographic Society, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Colorado Wetlands Program, Bureau of Land Management, Colorado Wildlife Heritage Foundation, National Science Foundation’s Alliance for Minority Participation, ConocoPhillips, and Fort Lewis College.

Faculty website: http://faculty.fortlewis.edu/ORTEGA_C/

BRENDA MARTIN

Dr. Brenda Martin is a visiting professor at Fort Lewis College with the SJINCR.  Since 2001, she has worked as a consultant with the City of Fort Collins’ Museum and Natural Areas Program in developing a range of successful cultural resource management programs.  These programs have included: 1) NAGPRA consultation; 2) Native American ethnographic and archaeological collections curation; 3) archaeological, historic, and ethno-historic survey and research of City-owned natural areas; and, 4) the development of exhibits, educational programs and events, films, curricula, and publications focusing on historic and contemporary American Indian cultures.  She is currently the Project Director of a National Park Service Preserve America funded Oral History and Trails project.  This project focuses on the archaeological, historic, and contemporary significance of City-owned natural areas that include the premier Paleo-Indian Lindenmeier Archaeological Site, a National Historic Landmark and Register Site representative of the Folsom culture.  

Dr. Martin received a B.A. degree in Anthropology with a minor in Archaeology and Museum Studies (1986), and an M.A. (1989) and Ph.D. (1998) in Anthropology from the University of Colorado – Boulder.  She was a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar to the Republic of Fiji in 1987 where she conducted research on the socio-economic effects of tourism on the indigenous population.  She further applied her research in the United States in Indian country, where she has also worked in the field of multicultural education having been a Program Manager with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) and the Colorado Alliance for Minority Participation (Co-AMP), the Director of Minority Students at North Dakota State University, and adjunct faculty with the Colorado State University’s Center for Applied Studies in American Ethnicity (CASAE).  Other work has included archaeological field and lab experience in the Southwest and Mountain Plains regions, along with extensive museum experience such as Director of Public Programming and Education at the University of Colorado Henderson Museum and the Director of Education and Community Programs at the former Women of the West Museum (Denver, CO), a “virtual” museum now under the auspices of the Autry National Center (Los Angeles, CA).  

With a background in program development and implementation, Dr. Martin has a long-standing reputation for successful grant writing and fundraising, program design and implementation, heritage interpretation, project management, group facilitation, and partnership building.  Selected funders have included the National Park Service, the Colorado State Historical Fund, the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities, the First Nations Eagle Staff Fund, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.