Dr. Jared Beeton

Dr. Jared Beeton
Chair & Associate Professor of Environment & Sustainability

Expertise

  • Environmental geography

Education

  • PhD in Geography, University of Kansas
  • MA in Earth Sciences, University of Northern Colorado
  • BS in Park Resource Management

Contact:

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Media Contact

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About Dr. Jared Beeton

I am an environmental geographer with three major avenues of research: 1) mountain river systems and how they respond to climate change, humans, and intrinsic controls, 2) guitar tone woods and how they relate to deforestation and climate change, and 3) soils and paleoenvironmental analyses. My work is published in international journals such as Nature and Quaternary Research, in regional journals such as The San Luis Valley Historian, in popular magazines such as EARTH, and in peer-reviewed books including the 2017 New Mexico Geological Survey Guidebook. I teach courses in environmental studies, research methods, and natural resource management.


Selected Publications

(* My undergraduate students are authors; total impact factor ~50)

Johnson, B.G., Smith, J.A., and Beeton, J.M. 2023. Using a Post-Glacial Terrace Sequence to better understand Landscape Evolution and Paleohydrology in the Eastern San Juan Mountains, USA. Geomorphology, 429, 108651.

* Leeah, J., Beeton, J.M., and McCormick, P., Key Changes: Forest Management, Tonewood Substitutions, and Guitars as Flagship Artefacts, in preparation for the peer-reviewed journal Cultural Geographies.

Beeton, J.M., Saenz, C.N., and Waddell, B.J., 2020. The Geology, Ecology, and Human History of the San Luis Valley, Colorado, USA. Beeton, J.M., Saenz, N., and Waddel, B., University Press of Colorado. 501 p. 

Beeton, J.M., and Johnson, B., 2020. Geomorphology and Climate Change in the San Luis Valley. In: Geology, Ecology, and Human History of the San Luis Valley, Colorado, USA. Eds. Beeton, J.M., Saenz, N., and Waddel, B. University Press of Colorado. p. 58-80. 

Alger-Meyer, E., Beeton, J.M., Stucky, R.K., and Holen, S.R., 2019. The Pleistocene Mammalian Fauna and Paleoenvironment of Villa Grove Paleontological Site, Colorado. Denver Museum of Nature and Science Annals 8: 35p.  

*Biersack, L., Deitz, C., Hurcomb, A., Lewis, J., Pletnikoff, P., and Beeton, J.M., 2019. Pollen Analysis and Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of Wetlands in the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, San Luis Valley, Colorado. Metamorphosis, S.I., Mar. 2019. 

Johnson, B., Gillam, M., and Beeton, J.M. 2017. Glaciations of the San Juan Mountains: A review of work done since Atwood and Mather. In:  The Geology of the Ouray-Silverton Area, Karlstrom, Karl E.; Gonzales, David A.; Zimmerer, Matthew J.; Heizler, Matthew; UlmerScholle, Dana S., (eds.) 2017, 219 pages, NMGS, ISBN: 978-1-58546-104-2. 

Holen, S.R., Demere, T.A., Fisher, D.C., Fullagar, R., Paces, J.B., Jefferson, G.T., Beeton, J.M., Cerutti, R.A., Rountrey, A.N., Vescera, L., and Holen, K.A., 2017. A 130,000-year-old Archaeological Site in Southern California, Nature, v. 544, 479-483 

Selected Conference Presentations

(* My undergraduate students are authors)

*Schafer, S., Powelson, G., Beeton, J.M. 2023. Late-Holocene environmental change of the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, Southern Colorado, USA. Geological Society of America, National Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
 
Johnson, B.G., Smith, J., Beeton, J.M. 2022. A Chronosequence on post-glacial fluvial terraces in the South Fork and upper Rio Grande Rivers. Geological Society of America, National Conference, Denver, CO

*Maurer, C., Beeton, J.M., and McCormick P., 2021. Paleoenvironmental research applied to a water rights battle at the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, USA. American Association of Geographers, National Conference, Seattle, WA

*Krumm, D., Arellano, I., Redetzke, M., Potestio, J., Wedertz, B., Carpenter, H., and Beeton, J.M., 2021. Reintroduction Assessment for the San Juan lineage cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus pleuriticus) in tributaries of the Animas River, Colorado, USA. American Association of Geographers, National Conference, Seattle, WA

Beeton, J.M., 2020. Environmental Geography, Tonewoods, and Natural Resource Management in southern Colorado, USA. American Association of Geographers, National Conference, Denver, CO 

*Leeah, J., Robison, G.A., Beeton, J.M., McCormick, P., 2020. Key Changes: The Geography of Material Substitution within the Guitar Industry. American Association of Geographers, National Conference, Denver, CO 

Beeton, J.M., 2019. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Climate Change Studies in Southern Colorado using Wetlands, Geomorphology, Soils, Forestry, and Social Science. International Quaternary Congress, Dublin, Ireland 

*Biersack, L., Deitz, C., Hurcomb, A., Lewis, J., Pletnikoff, P., and Beeton, J.M. 2019. Pollen Analysis and Reconstruction of Paleoenvironments of a Wetland in Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, San Luis Valley, Colorado. American Association of Geographers, National Conference, Washington, D.C. 

Beeton, J.M. 2019. The Beetles: A story of guitars, forest management, and climate change. American Association of Geographers, National Conference, Washington, D.C. 

Beeton, J.M., and Demere, T.A., 2019. The Geomorphic Setting of the Lower Sweetwater River Basin, San Diego County, CA, USA, New Discoveries in the American Paleolithic Conference, Borrega Springs, CA 

Beeton, J.M., 2017, Late-Pleistocene and Holocene Geomorphology in the San Luis Valley of Colorado: Implications for Archaeological Research, Geological Society of America, National Conference, Seattle, WA 

*Ott, C., Beeton, J.M., Simmons, C., Ivers, K., Johnson, B.G., and Smith, J., 2017, Postglacial Paleoclimatic Fluctuations Driving Terrace Development in the Southeastern San Juan Mountains of Colorado, USA, Association of American Geographers, National Meeting, Boston, MA 

Beeton, J.M., 2016, Endangered Species, Recycled Tonewoods, and the Guitars of Jerry Garcia, Association of American Geographers, National Meeting, San Francisco, CA 

*Aspinwall, D.P., Carlson, T.P., Popelka, J.R., Jones, M.Z., Beeton, J.M., Smith, J.A., and Johnson, B.J., 2015,Methods of Reconstructing Paleoenvironments in Mountain Valleys: Dendrochronology, OSL, 14C, 10Be, and Soils on Moraines and Terraces in the Upper Rio Grande Basin, San Juan Mountains, USA, Association of American Geographers, National Meeting, Chicago, IL 

Honors and Awards

  • Nomination for Exemplary Professor
  • Nomination for Excellence in Student Engagement
  • Nomination for Excellence in Student Centered Instruction
  • Presidential Teaching Award finalist (2x)

In the news

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Jared Beeton presented his research on climate change at the quadrennial meeting of the International Quaternary Congress, in Dublin, Ireland, in July. [