MIC Lecture Series
2024 MIC Lecture Series
Join us Thursdays at 5pm at the Moab Information Center for our free lecture series!
July 25 | Soundscapes by Robert Anderson
Beep! Tweet! Sounds are all around us and play an important role in our experience with the landscape. The National Park Service is beginning to understand the relationship between sound and the inherited resources within the park. By preserving the natural sound, we all can enjoy our natural wonders a little more.
August 1 | Our Time in the Parks by Rhodes Smartt
Embark on a journey of introspection within our national parks. What is time, and why does it hold significance in our lives? Join Ranger Rhodes as he navigates these questions, unraveling the diverse perspectives through which we perceive time. Explore how these insights shape our appreciation, conservation efforts, and management strategies for our beloved public lands.
August 8 | Wilderness: A Colonialism Idea by Robert Anderson
Join Ranger Robby as he discusses Wilderness how it is a Euro-centric idea, stemming from Colonialism. He’ll discuss how indigenous stories and ideas are rooted within the landscape and how removing the human element via the Wilderness Act is racist and excluding the native voice.
August 29 | Climate Change in Utah’s Red Rock Desert: Impacts on Plants, Soils and the Water Cycle by Anna Knight
Moab is located in a global warming hotspot – Grand County, UT, is the second-fasted warming county in the contiguous United States, according to a 2019 analysis by the Washington Post. Anna Knight, ecologist with the US Geological Survey, will explain what climate models predict for the future of southeast Utah, how the changing climate is impacting dryland plants and biological soil crusts, and how changes in desert ecosystems may impact mountain snowpack’s in the region.
Check Out Videos from Previous Lectures!
“Torry in the Land of Arches” by Lisa Horstman
Lisa Horstman discusses the story of developing the characters in her book “Torry in the Land of Arches.”
“Public Lands: Where, Why, and How?” by Walt Dabney
National Park Ranger and Superintendent and Texas State Parks Director, Walt Dabney answers these, and more, questions: Where did our Public Lands come from? Why do the western states have lots and other states almost none? How were states formed? What does the Constitution say about these lands? What was the effect of the Homestead Act and the Railroad Act? How were National Parks and Forests established? Why are these lands held “in common”, so important to us today? These and other questions and past and current issues are addressed in this hour long presentation.
“Tiny Fossils and the Big Picture: Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs” by Brian Davis
Every kid knows that dinosaurs were the biggest, fiercest, and most inspiring creatures to ever have walked the earth, but they are only part of the story. The ancient world was a diverse and vibrant place, and dinosaurs lived alongside a cast that included the earliest mammals. Come and learn what our ancestors were like and what their tiny fossils reveal about their lives. While most survived by scurrying between the feet of dinosaurs, others swam, glided, and even had dinosaurs for lunch!
“Ecological Interactions between Mountain Goats and American Pikas” by Mallory Sandoval Lambert
Mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) and American pikas (Ochotona princeps) are naturally co-occurring across most of their overlapping distributions in western N. America. The southern limit of the natural range of mountain goats is in Idaho, whereas American pikas occur naturally as far south as New Mexico. However, the mountain goat range has been extended southwards with the establishment of translocated subpopulations in Utah and Colorado. These mountain goats now share habitat with pikas, providing an opportunity to study potential ecological interactions between these two alpine specialists near the southern limits of their current ranges. Join Mallory Sandoval Lambert as she talks about how her research is exploring this previously unstudied system through field-based experimentation, with a focus on the La Sal Mountains in southern Utah.
“Geologic History of Canyonlands” by Rhodes Smartt
Have you ever wondered how Canyonlands was formed? National Park ranger and geologist Rhodes Smartt will take us on a journey through the geologic history of Canyonlands National Park. He will discuss the geology of the greater Colorado Plateau area and the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands and how it’s unique geology led to uranium mining.
“Common Southwest Native Plants” by Jennifer M. Bousselot
Native plants are often overlooked as viable options that can provide many benefits to pollinators and people alike. Discover the basics of native plant gardening – selection, care, and cultural requirements. Join Jennifer Bousselot, Assistant Professor in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Colorado State University and co-author of the Colorado Native Plant Society published 3rd edition of Common Southwestern Native Plants, as she discusses this important topic.
“Fear! Creepy Crawly Creatures of Canyonlands” by Devon Dunajski
Join Ranger Devon for a talk about all the things that scare us. Moab is in the heart of a vast desert wilderness. The sparseness of the landscape allows our imagination to run wild with “what-if” scenarios, from spider bites to predators creeping up on us in the canyons. However, the organisms that scare us the most have an important role in the desert ecosystem. Can a little bit of understanding of the critters that give us the creepy crawlies change our perspective?
“Guzzlers 101″ by Jon Blanc
Guzzlers are a type of water development that provides water for wildlife. They are a tool to mitigate negative impacts, habitat fragmentation and loss, drought, and human disturbance. Providing water improves occupied habitats and reduces the need to move to other areas seeking water. The BLM Moab Field Office Wildlife Program helps maintain more than 40 guzzlers that benefit bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope. Jon discusses the importance of guzzlers, how they are built, and more.