Crowdfunding a Climate-Stricken Marmot Study: Researchers Launch Public Vote

Record-low snowpack killed over 100 of 160 study marmots in Gothic, Colorado. Now researchers at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory are launching a Fat Bear Week–style public vote, opening August 24, to replace lost federal grants. The effort tests whether crowdfunding can sustain a decades-long wild mammal study facing budget cuts and climate-driven population collapse.