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Michael Childers

Associate professor, Colorado State University

Author of Colorado Powder Keg: Ski Resorts and the Environmental Movement (2012, University Press of Kansas). - An environmental history of skiing in Colorado traces the recreation's rise in popularity as a way of examining major changes in public land management in the American West during the 20th and 21st centuries. I argued as more people headed to Colorado's mountains in search of thrills on the slopes, the USFS became overwhelmed by the demand and turned resort development over to the private sector. The result has been a decades-long battle between developers and environmentalists—with skiers and Colorado residents caught in the middle.

I am also a Governing Board member of CSU Public Lands History Center, and scholar of tourism and outdoor recreation currently completing a book on the history of visitor experiences in Yosemite National Park.

Experience

  • –present
    Assistant Professor of History , Colorado State University

Education

  • 2010 
    University of Nevada, Las Vegas, PhD in environmental history