Conservation History

The Conservation Lecture Series

Writers, Scientists, Filmmakers, Conservationists, Historians Speak to the Public at NCTC

The National Conservation Training Center invites prominent conservationists, writers, historians, scientists, filmmakers, and educators to discuss their work to a broad and interested public. All talks are held at the Byrd Auditorium at the National Conservation Training Center.  No tickets or reservations are required, the public is encouraged to attend. If you would like more information on the speaker series contact: Mark Madison, (304) 876-7276, mark_madison@fws.gov.

Cristina Eisenberg

Author, Conservation Biologist 

The Wolf's Tooth: Keystone Predators, Trophic Cascades, and Biodiversity

Thursday April 19, 2012 at 7:00 pm

The Wolf's Tooth Cover
In The Wolf's Tooth, scientist and author Cristina Eisenberg explores the concept of "trophic cascades" and the role of top predators in regulating ecosystems. Her fascinating and wide-ranging work provides clear explanations of the science surrounding keystone predators and considers how this notion can help provide practical solutions for restoring ecosystem health and functioning. Eisenberg examines both general concepts and specific issues, sharing accounts from her own fieldwork to illustrate and bring to life the ideas she presents. She considers how resource managers can use knowledge about trophic cascades to guide recovery efforts, including how this science can be applied to move forward the bold vision of rewilding the North American continent. In the end, the author provides her own recommendations for local and landscape-scale applications of what has been learned about interactive food webs. Cristina Eisenberg is a conservation biologist at Oregon State University, College of Forestry, and Boone and Crockett Fellow who studies how wolves affect forest ecosystems throughout the West. The presentation is free and open to the public. No tickets or reservations are required. It is part of a monthly series of "NCTC Conservation Lectures” held at the National Conservation Training Center. For more information please contact Mark Madison at (304) 876-7276 or mark_madison@fws.gov or check out our web page at: http://nctc.fws.gov/history/publiclectures.html

John Hartig

Author, Fish and Wildife Service Refuge Manager  

Burning Rivers: Revival of Four Urban Industrial Rivers That Caught Fire

Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 7:00 pm

Hartig describes four urban-industrial rivers in North America that were so polluted they have in the past actually caught fire. Their condition then is described, as is the work taken to restore them to 'health'. This book is an encouraging and instructive account of how man's destructive effect on the environment can be overcome. Former Professor of Environmental Management and Sustainable Development at Wayne State University, John Hartig has authored and co-authored over 100 publications on the Great Lakes ecosystem.  His currently the manager of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge

Scott Weidensaul

Author, Ornithologist 

Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds

Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 7:00 pm

Bird migration is the world's only true unifying natural phenomenon, stitching the continents together in a way that even the great weather systems fail to do. Scott Weidensaul follows awesome kettles of hawks over the Mexican coastal plains, bar-tailed godwits that hitchhike on gale winds 7,000 miles nonstop across the Pacific from Alaska to New Zealand, and myriad songbirds whose numbers have dwindled so dramatically in recent decades. Migration paths form an elaborate global web that shows serious signs of fraying, and Weidensaul delves into the tragedies of habitat degradation and deforestation with an urgency that brings to life the vast problems these miraculous migrants now face. Living on the Wind is a magisterial work of nature writing.

Author and naturalist Scott Weidensaul has written more than two dozen books on natural history, including Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; The Ghost with Trembling Wings, about the search for species that may or may not be extinct; and Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding. His newest book, The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery and Endurance in Early America, will be published in February 2012.

Weidensaul lectures widely on wildlife and environmental topics, and is an active field researcher, specializing in birds of prey and hummingbirds. He lives in the Appalachians of eastern Pennsylvania, the heart of the old colonial frontier.

 

Michael Grunwald

Time Correspondent and Author

The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise

Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 7:00 pm

The Everglades was once reviled as a liquid wasteland, and Americans dreamed of draining it. Now it is revered as a national treasure, and Americans have launched the largest environmental project in history to try to save it. The Swamp is the stunning story of the destruction and possible resurrection of the Everglades, the saga of man's abuse of nature in southern Florida and his unprecedented efforts to make amends. Michael Grunwald, a prize-winning journalist for Time magazine, takes readers on a riveting journey from the Ice Ages to the present, illuminating the natural, social and political history of one of America's most beguiling but least understood patches of land.

Michael Grunwald has been a senior national correspondent for TIME Magazine since July 2007. He has won the George Polk Award for national reporting, the Worth Bingham Prize for investigative reporting, the Society of Environmental Journalists award for in-depth reporting, and many other honors. After graduating from Harvard College in 1992, Mike worked as a reporter for The Boston Globe. In July 1998, he joined the national staff of The Washington Post, where he served as an investigative reporter, New York bureau chief and Outlook essayist; he also wrote the Post’s lead news story on the September 11 attacks. At TIME, he has written cover stories on topics ranging from biofuels to California to the future of the Republican Party. Mike has also contributed to The New Republic, Slate, Foreign Policy and other publications. Michael is the featured author and moderator during June and July for America's WILD READ, a lively on-line discussion about books and essays that communicate conservation through stories and cultivates visions, thoughts, and wild ideas for conservation in action going forward.

The presentation is free and open to the public. No tickets or reservations are required. It is part of a monthly “Conservation Lecture Series” held at the National Conservation Training Center. For more information please contact Mark Madison at (304) 876-7276 or mark_madison@fws.gov or visit the lecture series web page at: nctc.fws.gov/history/publiclectures.html

 

American Conservation Film Festival

Filmmakers, Films, and Discussions

November 1-4, 2012

 

 


Last updated: May 1, 2012