Nathan L. Stewart, PhD

Nathan L. Stewart, PhD

Professor, Ecosystem Science & Stewardship
970-870-4562 | nlstewart@coloradomtn.edu
Pronouns: He/Him

Location: Steamboat Springs Campus

 

Awards

• U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester's Honor Award for Innovation, Rocky Mountain Region
• 2020 Sustainability Educator of the Year, Yampa Valley Sustainability Council

Education

• Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks
• B.A. in Biology from Carleton College, MN

Ecosystem Science and Sustainability Courses

• ESS 1000, Introduction to Rocky Mountain Ecosystem Science
• BIO 3100, Ecology
• SUS 3110, Sustainability Science for Climate Action
• BIO 3400, Wildlife & Fisheries Biology
• ESS 3750, Western Water, Weather & Climate
• ESS 3775, Snows, Flows & Extremes
• ESS 3887, Wildland Fire Science & Mitigation
• BIO 4100, Conservation Biology
• SUS 4200, Climate Adaptation Plans & Policies
• ESS 4400, Watershed Science
• ESS 4750, Independent Research in Ecosystem Science
• ESS 4889, Capstone Research in Ecosystem Science

About

My approach to teaching ecosystem science and sustainability is informed by my training in ecology, conservation biology, and quantitative research in coupled human-natural systems. My research broadly focuses on ecosystem function, resilience, and restoration and combines long-term observations from field studies with experimental manipulations, remote sensing, and multivariate analyses of change. My courses strive to integrate diverse ways of knowing nature and traditional ecological knowledge and prioritize research training, field techniques, and laboratory methods with the goal of providing students with the skills and experience necessary to pursue meaningful careers in community-engaged science, natural resource stewardship, and natural climate solutions.

I am a co-founder of the Yampa Basin Rendezvous, a partnership and annual conference focusing on western water, weather, climate, and community resilience. I serve as an undergraduate summer research mentor with the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E), Scripps Institution, UC San Diego, and represent Colorado Mountain College as lead scientist on the Y-BASIN climate monitoring network. I am a member of the Board of Directors for the Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Council (RCWMC) and expert appointee on the Lands and Water Technical Working Group, Routt County Climate Action Plan (CAP).

I served as Program Director for the Rocky Mountain Land Management Internship Program, a field-based career training program collaboratively designed and co-implemented with the U.S. Forest Service, 2016-2025. I continue to lead and contribute to collaborative programs with the Natural Resource Conservation Service Colorado Snow Survey, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Colorado State Forest Service, and Colorado Parks & Wildlife with the goal of training the next generation of career professionals in ecosystem science, ecological restoration, and conservation stewardship.

I am former faculty of biology at Boston University and program co-lead with the BU Marine Semester, Calabash Caye Field Station, Belize. My prior appointments at Wellesley College, Tufts University, Columbia University’s Earth Semester, the University of Arizona’s Nyanza Project, Tanzania (National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates), and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, inform my approaches to teaching in our Bachelor of Science in Ecosystem Science and Stewardship (BS.ESS) here at Colorado Mountain College.

Select Publications

J. Wilcox, Morgan J., Wilson A., Muxworthy M., Stewart N., & Knappe E. (2024). Understanding water in the Yampa River Basin through collaborative research and community engagement. Mountain Views Chronicle, Consortium for Integrated Climate Research in Western Mountains (CIRMOUNT), 24(17), 16-19.

L. Katz, E. Knappe, F.M. Ralph, E. Sumargo, N. Stewart, M. Pan, M. Xiao, et al. (2023). Soil moisture observations in the Upper Yampa: Accomplishments and next steps. American Geophysical Union 2023, San Francisco California, December 11, 2023. H23L-1754.

Finnerty, J. R., Lord, K. S., Barbasch, T., Laman, R., Hakam, L., Perez R, Jenkins H, Fortunato BJ, Lockwood C, Bianco-Caron D, Stewart NL (2021). First report of the Southern Gulf Coast Toad (Incilius valliceps Wiegmann), Common House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus Duméril and Bibron), Schmidt's Black-Striped Snake (Coniophanes schmidti Bailey), and Cozumel Whiptail (Aspidoscelis cozumela Gadow), on Turneffe Atoll, Belize. Caribbean Herpetology, 81, 1-14.

Lee, JC, K Lesneski, K Donnellan, L DiRoberts, A Lindseth, J Okechi, SH Doshi, D Minkoff, R Branconi, ER Newmark, JS Tower, KA Tobin, NL Stewart, R Rotjan, V Disanto, & JR Finnerty (2018) Morphological and physiological differences among alternative morphs of the queen conch (Lobatus gigas) near Calabash Caye, Belize. Belize Fisheries Department, Research Permit #000064-17. Submitted November 7. 2018.

Bengtsson ZA, Kuhn KM, Battaglino AT, Li AS, Talbot MN, Wafapoor M, Atta CJ, Kowalski MB, Margolis SP, Rar EA, Burmester EM, Lesneski KC, Scavo K, Kaufman L, Stewart NL, Finnerty JR (2015). Corals of the genus Porites are a locally abundant component of the epibiont community on mangrove prop roots at Calabash Caye, Turneffe Atoll, Belize. PeerJ 3:e1811

Stewart NL, Konar B, and Tinker MT (2014). Testing the nutritional limitation and predator avoidance hypotheses for restricted sea otter habitat use in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Oecologia 177(3):645-55.

Stewart NL, Konar B, and Doroff AM (2014). The influence of habitat complexity and prey availability on sea otter resource selection in a heterogeneous environment. Bulletin of Marine Science 90:921-939.

Stewart NL and Konar B (2012). Kelp forests vs. urchin barrens: alternate stable states and their effect on prey quality in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. Journal of Marine Biology 2012:1-12.

Stewart NL and Fink A (2011). The role of structural conformation in the function of type 1 antifreeze protein. Polar Biology 5: 21-42.

Freiwald J, Stewart NL, Yates DC, and Bernardi G (2009). Isolation and characterization of nine polymorphic microsatellite loci of the kelp greenling, Hexagrammos decagrammus, a temperate reef fish. Molecular Ecology Resources 9:563-565.