KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Parker McMullen Bushman
Making the Outdoors Welcoming Spaces for All People

Parker McMullen Bushman is the Colorado State University Director of Extension for the City and County of Denver. Her background in the education, conservation, outdoor recreation, and interpretive fields spans over 23+ years. She has a Master of Natural Resources from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, with a focus in Environmental Education and Interpretation. Parker has a passion for equity and inclusion in conservation and the outdoors. Her interest in justice, accessibility, and equity issues developed from her personal experiences facing the unequal representation of people of color in nonprofit and environmental organizations. Parker tackles these complex issues by addressing them through head on activism and education. In Colorado she works with environmental organizations to aid them in building a culturally diverse and culturally competent organizations that are representative of the populations that they hope to reach and serve. Parker brings this focus on inclusion to her work at Denver Extension, as she works cooperatively to collaborate with communities in research-based programming that is attuned to Denver and enhanced by partners, and campus- and community-based expertise and resources.

Parker believes in the importance of community-based environmental education programs to empower local community members to take an active role in sustainable development of their communities while protecting their environmental resources. In addition to Parker’s role at Colorado State University Extension she is also the Founder of an DEI Consulting Firm called Ecoinclusive, the creator of KWEEN werk, and the co-founder of Inclusive Journeys. You can read more about Parker on her website here.