February 16, 2004
UCSC cosponsors lecture series on Alaskas
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
By Jennifer McNulty
Home to polar bears, caribou, and red fox, the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge is a 19-million-acre treasure that is often called the crown
jewel in the U.S. refuge system.
Every year, polar bears come to the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge to den and give birth. The refuge's wildlife includes 36
fish species, 36 land mammals, nine marine mammals, and more than
160 migratory and resident bird species. Photo:
Kennan Ward/grizzlyden.com |
In collaboration with the Santa Cruz City Museum of Natural History,
the UCSC Environmental Studies Department is bringing four experts on
the refuge to Santa
Cruz to participate in a series of public lectures and events entitled,
Endangered Treasure: Our Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The museum is also sponsoring an exhibit on alternative energy called,
Whats the Alternative? Sustainable Energy Solutions.
Dennis Takahashi Kelso, assistant professor of environmental studies
and coholder of the Pepper-Giberson Chair in Environmental Studies,
is a former commissioner of environmental conservation in Alaska and
instructor of the UCSC Alaska
field course.
He invited four Alaskans to participate in the lecture series, which
begins February 25 with a talk by Stanley Senner, executive director
of Audubon Alaska. Senners talk, Energy and Environment
in Americas Arctic, will take place in the Louden Nelson
Community Center Auditorium at 7 p.m. Admission is $7 for museum members/$10
for nonmembers.
As the Bush administration revives efforts to open the refuge
to oil exploration, the museums timing for this exhibit couldnt
be better, said Kelso. The Environmental Studies Department
is pleased to collaborate with the museum to bring this important information
to the public. The exhibit is part of the Smithsonian Museums
traveling exhibit.
In addition to the lectures, wildlife photographer Kennan Ward (UCSC
80) will host a slide show of his work in Alaska on March 6 at
7 p.m. at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz. Admission is $12-18. Tickets
for all events are available at the Santa Cruz City Museum of Natural
History, 1305 East Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz. For more information,
visit the museum web site
or call (831) 420-6115.
UCSC is sponsoring the participation of Peter Van Tuyn, former litigation
director with Trustees for Alaska, who will discuss Drill and
Fill
or
Wild for Your Child: The Fate of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, on April 12 at 7 p.m. in the Louden Nelson Community
Center Auditorium; admission is $7 for museum members/$10 for nonmembers.
The campus is also sponsoring a talk on April 21 by Bob Childers (UCSC
72), a longtime advocate of subsistence rights for native Alaskans,
and Trimble Gilbert, a resident and former chief of Arctic Village on
the border of the refuge. They will discuss Arctic Environment
and Native Issues: A Conversation, at 7 p.m. in the Harvey West
Clubhouse; admission is $7 for museum members/$10 for nonmembers. All
four Alaskan visitors will also deliver guest lectures in environmental
studies classes on campus.
In addition, other events include:
A free community forum on Sustainable Energy Incentives
& Barriers: Why Arent We There Yet? will be held March
17 at the Harvey West Clubhouse at 7 p.m. Speakers include Thomas Wittman,
operations assistant at the UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable
Food Systems.
Joe Jordan of the NASA Ames Research Center will discuss Saving
the World with Sky Power on April 1 at the Santa Cruz City Museum
of Natural History at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $7 for museum members/$10
nonmembers.
April 10 will feature a Solar Demo Day for Families
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the museum.
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