Last Chance Audubon Society
Promoting understanding, respect, and enjoyment of birds and the natural world
through education, habitat protection and environment advocacy.

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NATURAL HISTORY LECTURE SERIES

Every March LCAS sponsors a lecture series on a topic of general interest. The theme for this year's Natural History Lecture Series is Yellowstone National Park. Chapter board members and organizers of the annual March series are Don Skaar and Brian Shovers. Yellowstone National Park is home to world class natural area and Don and Brian have enlisted four prominent experts on Yellowstone to share their knowledge with the Helena community. The Fee for the lectures is $5 per lecture or $15 for the lecture series; additional donations are welcome to defray speaker expenses. Every Tuesday in February 28 through March 20 the public is invited to St Paul's Methodist Church at the corner of Cruse Ave and Lawrence Ave to hear talks about Yellowstone National Park.

February 28, 2012
Scott McMillion - "Grizzlies in Yellowstone"

Scott McMillion is a journalist and author from Livingston. For 20 years, he covered Yellowstone National Park for the Bozeman Chronicle, focusing much of his work on controversies and issues surrounding bison, wolves and grizzly bears. His deep interest in grizzly bears, and the sometimes difficult job of living and recreating among them, led him to write Mark of the Grizzly in 1998. Now, after 16 printings and sales of more than 100,000 copies, he has thoroughly revised, updated and expanded the book, adding several new chapters and addressing the new science, research methods and population dynamics of grizzly bears in North America.

March 6, 2012
H. Wayne Phillips - "The Wildflowers of Yellowstone"

H. Wayne Phillips, formerly a Forest Service ecologist, is now devoting much of his time to teaching and writing about the flora of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. He has taught botany/wildflower classes at the Yellowstone Institute since 1982. He is past president of the Montana Native Plant Society. Wayne has written three field guide books: Central Rocky Mountain Wildflowers, Falcon Press, 1999; Northern Rocky Mountain Wildflowers, The Globe-Pequot Press, 2001; and The Plants of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Mountain Press, 2003.

March 13, 2012
Terry McEneaney - "Yellowstone and Beyond----An Ornithologist's View of the Ecology, Conservation, and Management of Yellowstone Birds"

Terry McEneaney is the retired ornithologist of Yellowstone National Park. He has worked all over Montana (e.g., Red Rock Lakes NWR, C.M. Russell NWR, Garnet Ghost Town) and has lived in 13 towns in Montana. He is the author of three books (Birds of Yellowstone, Birding Montana, and Uncommon Loon) and many popular and scientific articles. His specialty is field biology, and he has been studying birds for over five decades. In his spare time he is a guide for the world bird tour company, Field Guides Inc. (Austin, Texas). The rest of the time he plays and travels and counts his lucky charms.

March 20, 2012
Henry Heasler - "Yellowstone's Dynamic Geology: Volcanic History of Yellowstone, and Current Geologic and Hydrothermal Activity'

Dr. Heasler's research interests are in geothermal systems and terrestrial heat transport. Since Dr. Heasler became the Park Geologist for Yellowstone National Park in 2002, he has worked with scientists to improve monitoring the Yellowstone volcano. The primary focus of Dr. Heasler's work in Yellowstone involves protection of the park's world-unique geothermal features. He supervises the scientific geothermal monitoring effort that includes satellite and airborne thermal infrared remote sensing, temperature studies, chemical studies, and hydrologic studies.