On September 27, students from
Central Wyoming College teamed with personnel from the University of Wyoming to
conduct microbial research through soil testing in connection with the Eastern
Shoshone Bison Restoration Project on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
The
sampling is funded by EPSCoR, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive
Research, which fulfills the mandate of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to
promote scientific progress nationwide. The goals of Wyoming EPSCoR are to
facilitate the building of research educational infrastructure, to increase the
diversity of participants in STEM fields—science, technology, engineering and
mathematics—and to administer awards to increase national research
competitiveness. EPSCoR also provides
funding at CWC for the Interdisciplinary Climate Change Expedition (ICCE),
which conducts cutting-edge research in environmental studies and archaeology
on the Dinwoody Glacier, as well as independent research projects by students
at the college’s Alpine Science Institute.
The microbial research project, using cutting-edge techniques
including DNA sequencing and computational modeling, will help scientists learn
the distribution and ecological consequences of microbes, a valuable approach
to understanding the environmental effects of the reintroduction of bison in
Fremont County.
Dr. Tarissa
Spoonhunter, instructor of American Indian Studies at CWC, coordinated the
activity, which began with a meeting of participants at the CWC Intertribal
Education and Community Center.
Dr. Brad Tyndall, CWC president, welcomed the group and applauded the success
of the restoration program, followed by a presentation by Jason Baldes,
representing the Eastern Shoshone tribe and the National Wildlife Federation,
on the bison reintroduction effort, which aims to restore a herd of wild
buffalo to reservation lands.
Historically, bison have had cultural, economic and spiritual
significance to the tribe, and today about three dozen animals comprise the
local population, on tribal lands east of Riverton.
The reintroduction of bison will
affect the microbial composition of the soil, possibly leading to changes in
the plant community on the site, perhaps the re-appearance of once-common
indigenous species. According to
University of Wyoming EPSCoR, a $20 million grant from the NSF “will allow us
to conduct microbial research at a scale that isn’t taking place anywhere else
on the planet. Once we know what organisms are there, including their genetic
capacity, we can figure out how we can make use of them”.
Upon arrival at the site, Baldes
supervised a group of middle school students from Arapahoe in an activity
designed to teach awareness of the project.
At the same time, CWC students were engaged in actual soil testing at bison wallows throughout the study area, using protocols developed by the
University of Wyoming research team, which oversaw the effort.
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| CWC Student, Cassie Weed, CWC Environmental Science/GIST |
Jacki Klancher, CWC professor of
environmental science and health, and director of the Alpine Science Institute,
commented, “This project is yet another example of the great partnership CWC
enjoys with UW and EPSCoR. It gives our
students another valuable tool to use in their own research efforts, and we may
well incorporate the techniques learned today in our ongoing studies of glacial
change on Dinwoody Glacier. In addition
to the Interdisciplinary Climate Change Expedition, ASI students have been very
active in other independent and collaborative scientific studies that have been
supported by EPSCoR, and have presented the results of their research at
symposia not only in Wyoming, but throughout the world.”
