“I know for a fact that we can graze livestock in the West on a sustainable basis,” says Rick Knight, a professor of wildlife conservation at Colorado State University, Ft. Collins.

Gathering in Old Town Square, approximately 1,000 residents and community leaders made the trek to CSU while march leaders sang “Lean on Me” and walked hand-in-hand.

“The comparisons with Lincoln, for me, end with the fact that they both represented Illinois, were capable leaders, and were relatively young and inexperienced when they gained the presidency,” Kyle Saunders, associate professor of political science at Colorado State University, …

Up north, Colorado State University, Fort Collins and Loveland are teaming up to remember the civil rights leader. They’re calling their event “A Time for Change.”

Institutions such as CSU and Front Range Community College and the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland have all worked together along with civic groups, businesses and nonprofits to plan events honoring King.

Their spokesperson the night of the dinner was Megan Grieve of Fort Collins, a former Miss Rodeo Colorado currently enrolled at Colorado State University.

“They know how to read the land,” said Bill Wailes, chair of the department of animal sciences at Colorado State University.

John Straayer, a political scientist at Colorado State University, said the relative freshness of Colorado’s senators shouldn’t be problematic, despite questions about how well Udall’s House experience will translate.

Northern Colorado will suffer flat job growth, higher unemployment and lagging construction in 2009, but a diverse economy and well-educated work force will help insulate the area from the recession’s worst, Colorado State University economist Martin Shields says.

The University of Colorado and Colorado State University foundations fared much better than the stock market in 2008 but couldn’t avoid sharp losses in the worst year for the Standard & Poor’s 500 since 1937.