All programs start at 7:00 pm at the Unitarian Church on Main Street in Montpelier, across from the Kellogg-Hubbard Library

A $10.00/adult, $5.00/child donation is requested for all shows.
Food and beverages will be available

Friday, February 22
Songs from Around the World: An Arctic Refuge Journey
Author Debbie Miller shares her extensive travels of the Arctic Refuge, where birds from five continents gather, connecting the world’s ecosystems. She will take us on a slideshow journey of the refuge, and the abundant wildlife she encountered.

Alaska author Debbie S. Miller has explored the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for many years. During her presentation, Miller takes her audiences on a slide show journey through the Refuge to learn about the extraordinary songbirds that arrive each spring to breed, along with the great diversity of other Arctic species. Her program is based on a two-week 75-mile trek through the Refuge where she studied songbirds that migrate to the Refuge from five continents, and encountered bears, wolves, and other Arctic wildlife. She reveals the importance of the Refuge, where nowhere is it more apparent that the ecosystems of the world are linked by birds. Examples include the Northern Wheatear from Africa, the Eastern Yellow Wagtail from Indonesia, and the tiny Yellow Warbler that migrates as far south as Bolivia. Miller explains that a bird perched in our backyard during the winter, or a flock passing overhead may represent some of these amazing Arctic travelers. For more information about Debbie's books, life in Alaska, or other programs, click here to visit her website.

Friday March 7
At Sea on the Gulf of Maine: Travels in Search of Cod, Slime Eels, and Scientific Wisdom
Hear author David Dobbs recount this bitter dispute amongst fishermen, and see slides form his travels which are “full of fascinating creatures – some of them people."

A decade ago, Montpelier author and journalist David Dobbs set out with foul weather gear, nausea medicine, and notebook to solve a puzzle he had discovered off the New England coast. There, in fishing grounds once rich in cod, the scientists and fishermen who knew the ocean best disagreed bitterly not only on how many cod remained but how to count them, where they lived, how they moved -- and ultimately, what kind of knowledge was most essential to understanding the sea. "An epistemological argument disguised as a fish fight," says Dobbs, "and full of fascinating creatures -- some of them people." Join us as Dobbs describes his travels in search of cod, slime eels, and scientific wisdom.

Friday March 21
Traveling Back in Time: Vermont's Changing Landscape
A journey through time, looking at the changing landscape of Vermont over the past 100 years, with Paul Bierman, Ph.D., from the Rubenstein School at the University of Vermont.

Using imagery, we will look back in time to see how Vermont came to look as it does today.  The photographers of Vermonters, mostly nameless and now forgotten, recorded decades of logging, farming, barren hillsides, impassably muddy roads, and floods surging down filled river channels.  Almost 14,000 of these images are collected in UVM's on-line archive, the Landscape Change Program.   Through this archive's images and stories, we'll trace the evolution of our state's landscape over the past century including the coming of the interstate and the greening of our state. For more information on the Landscape Change Program, click here.

Friday March 28
Conservation Across the Hemisphere – Protecting a Bird of Two Worlds
Hear the tales of a bird that must travel from the high peaks of New England to the broadleaf forests of Hispaniola, and the conservationist who protects them.

The Bicknell’s Thrush is one of North America’s most rare and vulnerable songbirds. Nesting only in mountaintop forests of the Northeast and wintering primarily on the island of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Bicknell’s Thrush faces numerous threats to its long-term survival. On its breeding grounds, these include acid precipitation, ski area development, communications tower construction, wind power development, mercury contamination, and climate change. The species’ limited winter habitats are under siege from deforestation, caused by human population pressures. Since 1992, Conservation Biologist Chris Rimmer has led efforts to conserve the species and these habitats on which it depends. Chris will discuss this fascinating and rare songbird, his efforts to study it in New England and the Caribbean, and how it represents a vital conservation link across international boundaries.

Friday April 4
A Polar Bear's View of Climate Change
Jackie Richter-Menge, of the Cold Regions Research Engineering Laboratory, shares what her research has revealed about global climate change in the Arctic.

This presentation will focus on recent trends in the state of the environment that polar bears call home: the Arctic. We'll discuss how ice research in this region is used to gain a historic perspective on pre- industrial climate variability, as a bellwether for current climate-related change, and a tool for predicting future change. A wide range of observations will be presented for the audience to consider as they develop their own opinions on the issue of global climate change.

For more information about these and other programs and events contact NBNC at info@northbranchnaturecenter.org

 

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