A University of Wyoming professor who studies the behavior, ecology, and evolution of crossbills will be speaking at the Goodstein Foundation Library on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m.

Craig W. Benkman, professor and Robert B. Berry Distinguished Chair in Ecology at UW, will share the results of his current research. “Much of my research has focused on linking resource availability to various aspects of behavior, ecology, and evolution. We (Benkman and his research team at UW) mostly study crossbills because we can quantify resource availability in the wild and we can bring food resources into the laboratory where we can ask meaningful questions with captive crossbills,” he said.

“One of my current projects addresses whether and how a coevolutionary arms race between crossbills and lodgepole pine is causing crossbills to speciate, and another project is evaluating the conditions favoring coevolution and the overall importance of coevolution in the adaptive radiation of crossbills,” Benkman noted.

“Craig’s work is at the cutting edge of evolutionary studies combining both field observation and experimental approaches to address important questions about how coevolution occurs and how important it is in creating biodiversity,” said Scott Seville, associate dean in the UW Outreach School, Wyoming INBRE program coordinator, and professor of zoology and physiology at the University of Wyoming/Casper College Center.

Light refreshments will be served at the presentation, which is free and open to the public.

Lisa S. Icenogle
Editor/News Coordinator
Casper College
125 College Dr.
Casper, WY 82601
307-268-2372
800-442-2963, ext. 2372
Cell: 307-333-3166
Fax: 307-268-2237

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The Casper College Honors Program is sponsoring a presentation on trophy game hunting entitled: “The Trouble with Trophy Hunting: Leopold, Pinchot and the Ethics of Buffalo Hunting in the 21st Century,” by Alex Simon, Ph.D. The free presentation will take place on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.

“(Aldo) Leopold (noted that) the motives of the hunter who slaughters for pleasure and the trophy hunter are not significantly different. The primary motive of the former is the satisfaction they derive from killing; whereas, the latter kills in order to display the body parts of the slain animal as tangible evidence of their hunting skills,” Simon wrote in his essay “Leopold, Pinchot, Marx, and the Ethics of Buffalo Hunting.”

Following his employment as a faculty member at Casper College in 2002, Simon worked as a professor in Alaska and is currently a professor of sociology at Utah Valley State University.

A question and answer session will follow the free presentation, which will be held in the Wheeler Auditorium, Room 103, located in the Wold Physical Science Center on the Casper College campus.

Lisa S. Icenogle
Editor/News Coordinator
Casper College
125 College Dr.
Casper, WY 82601
307-268-2372
800-442-2963, ext. 2372
Cell: 307-333-3166
Fax: 307-268-2237

Follow us on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/caspercollegeadmissions

December 1, 2011 6:30 p.m.

Two films will be shown on December 1. “A Working Forest: It’s Future with Fire, People and Wildlife” is hosted by conservationist and keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, Chuck Leavell. Next, the short film “Ora E. Anderson: The Soul of the Woods” follows 93 year-old Anderson as he gives viewers a tour of his Appalachian tree farm and nature preserve.
 
On December 8 at 6:30 p.m. we will show the 80-minute film “Play Again,” investigating the consequences of a childhood removed from nature. At a time when children spend more time in the virtual world than the natural world, Play Again unplugs a group of media savvy teens and takes them on their first wilderness adventure, documenting the wonder that comes from time spent in nature.   The series will continue with screenings on Thursdays, December 15, and 29 at 6:30pm in the Crawford Room.
 
On December 15 at 6:30 p.m. several short films will be shown. “Seeing Red: TreeFight’s First Year” was partially funded by prize money from the State of Wyoming’s inaugural Short Film Contest in 2008. The film follows the new organization TreeFight in its quest to preserve the white bark pine of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Other films to be shown include “Disturbance” about fire management and ecology in the Northern Rockies, “Death of a Forest” about the threat of pine beetles to forests nationwide, and “The New Frontier” about ranchers helping to improve land and forest health.  The series will conclude with a final screening Thursday, December 29 at 6:30pm in the Crawford Room.
 
Wyoming Forests and the Mountain Pine Beetle  – December 19, 2011 6:30 p.m.  Mountain Pine Beetles have recently decimated a number of forests throughout the United States. How are the forests of Wyoming faring? Learn more at the Natrona County Public Library, Monday, December 19 at 6:30 p.m. in the Crawford room.  Bryan Anderson of the Wyoming State Forestry Division will talk about causes of the recent epidemic of Mountain Pine Beetle activity, implications of the infestations on forest, wildfire, wildlife and recreational management, and possible courses for managing the future of our forests.
 
The final screening will be held December 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the Crawford room. We will watch “Into the Inferno: The Science of Fire,” a short film that considers past forest management in California and how it could be feeding today’s flames. A second film, “Climbing Redwood Giants,” reveals the little-explored environment of the California redwoods using high-tech aerial laser surveys and breathtaking imagery.

Call 577-READ ext. 2 for more details.

Nicholle Gerharter, Reference Librarian, Natrona County Public Library, 307 E. 2nd St., Casper, WY 82601, 307-237-4935, www.natronacountylibrary.org

Special open house celebration to highlight new additions

An open house will be held November 18, 2011 at the Werner Wildlife Museum to celebrate the newest additions to the museum: a prairie falcon, golden eagle, and bald eagle. Two versions of the open house will be held, one from 1 to 3 p.m. and another one from 4 to 7 p.m.

The afternoon open house is geared for school groups, and homeschoolers, and will feature educational activities created by the Casper College museum studies students. The 4 to 7 p.m. open house is geared toward all ages, according to Valerie Innella, museum studies instructor.

According to Kelsey Deus, Werner Wildlife Museum curator and biology instructor, the three mounts were transferred to the Werner from Scottsbluff National Monument in Scottsbluff, Neb.

“Obtaining any eagle specimen is quite difficult due to a standing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director’s Order 69, which mandates that all eagle parts and carcasses be sent to a national repository. From that repository, the parts are distributed to Native Americans for religious practices and art. Only after all Native American requests are filled, can eagles be distributed for academic purposes. The number of requests from Native Americans for eagles and eagle parts far exceeds the availability, and museums across the country have a difficult time getting specimens for display for educational purposes,” Deus explained.

In April of this year, Deus submitted an application to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife for an eagle exhibition permit on behalf of the Werner Wildlife Museum. “Senator John Barrasso’s office submitted a Congressional Inquiry letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife office to support our application. Shortly after receiving the application and the letter from Senator Barrasso’s office, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver contacted me with an offer to transfer the mounts from the Scottsbluff National Monument to the Werner Wildlife Museum. Since the mounts were preserved through taxidermy prior to the enactment of Director’s Order 69, they are exempt from the order, and are now on display at the Werner with permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife,” Deus said.

The exhibit, which features the three new specimens is entitled “Wyoming Birds that Bite Back,” and was curated by students enrolled in the fall semester museum studies class at Casper College. In addition to preparing for the open house, and working on a number of other specimens in the museum’s collection, the students created several educational activities for visitors in the museum and educators’ classrooms to foster learning more about birds and their habitats.

Along with the new additions to the Werner, the open house will also feature tours, refreshments, and a collection of works inspired by the museum’s collection – ceramic pieces created by Casper College advanced ceramics students, and two wire sculptures created by a metal art student at the school.

Both open houses are free and open to the public. The Werner Wildlife Museum is located at 405 E. 15th next to the Casper Family YMCA.

Contact: Lisa S. Pearce Icenogle
307-268-2372
icenogle@caspercollege.edu

ACCLAIMED AUTHOR TO SPEAK AT UW/CC CENTER, November 15

Mark Jenkins, a field staff writer for National Geographic Magazine and the writer-in-residence at the University of Wyoming, will present “Guns, Gorillas, and Laptops: How We are all Unwittingly Connected” at the University of Wyoming/Casper College (UW/CC) Center on November 15 at 7 p.m. in the Wold Physical Science Center, Room 103.

Jenkins will take the audience deep into the world of one of the most endangered species on Earth, Africa’s mountain gorilla, in war-torn eastern Congo. Through award-winning photography, he will unveil a dangerous journey into Virunga National Park to determine who has been killing the large primates. His presentation will provide a lens into the resource war underway in Eastern Congo, the broad impacts the 20-year conflict has had on people and the environment, and how these issues affect the everyday lives of people in the West. In this story, we learn how everyone is intimately connected to the Congo’s extraordinary mountain gorillas, and how their fate is the fate of humanity itself.

Jenkins has been published in more than 50 national and international magazines and newspapers. He has been interviewed by “Anderson Cooper 360,” “Good Morning America,” “The Crier Report,” CNN, PBS, BBC, and NPR. In 2009, Jenkins won the National Magazine Award for his story “Who Murdered the Mountain Gorillas?” printed in National Geographic Magazine.

Part of the International Studies Scholars Lecture Series, Jenkins’ presentation is sponsored by the University of Wyoming International Studies Program, the UW/CC Center, Casper College, and the Wyoming Humanities Council.

Media Contacts:
Lisa S. Pearce Icenogle, 307-268-2372
Tammi Hanshaw, 307-268-3756

RENOWNED GALAPAGOS EXPERT TO SPEAK AT CASPER COLLEGE on Monday, Nov. 14

Goodstein Galapagos display to be unveiled

Renowned Galapagos expert, Greg Estes, will be at Casper College on Monday, Nov. 14 to speak on “Darwin and Galapagos.” The presentation will begin at 7 p.m. following the unveiling of the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health Darwin exhibit: “Rewriting the Book of Nature: Charles Darwin and the Rise of Evolutionary Theory at 5:30 p.m.

“We are thrilled to have someone of Greg’s caliber come to Casper College to speak on Darwin and the Galapagos,” said Will Robinson, Casper College biology instructor.

Estes first arrived in Galapagos in 1982 leading the Cambridge Darwin Centenary Galapagos Expedition to conduct research on the feeding ecology of marine iguanas. For the past few years he and his wife Thalia have been retracing Darwin’s footsteps through Galapagos using information from Darwin’s original notebooks and manuscripts of the famous voyage. Their research was published in “Notes and Records of the Royal Society,“ September 2000 and was the basis of their book “Darwin in Galapagos: Footsteps to a New World,” published by Princeton University Press in 2009. He is a licensed naturalist guide of the Galapagos National Park Service works as naturalist and expeditions leader in the islands.

The unveiling and reception will take place in the Goodstein Foundation Library from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Estes will sign copies of “Darwin in Galapagos: Footsteps to a New World,” and hors d’ oeuvres and refreshments will be served. His presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in the Roberts Commons Ballroom and will be followed by light refreshments. Both events are free and open to the public.

Estes talk is sponsored by the Goodstein Foundation Library, the Casper College Biology Department, the University of Wyoming/Casper College Center, Wyoming INBRE, and Casper College.

Contact: Lisa S. Pearce Icenogle
307-268-2372
icenogle@caspercollege.edu

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