Yellowstone National Park in a Changing Climate

Date: November 19, 2009 

Location: Bozeman, Montana

Description:

Speaker

Gary Ferguson, National Geographic Author

Presentation Overview

For well over a century, twenty thousand acres of whitebark pines (and their nuts), have been center stage for grizzly bear autumn meals. Floating on a high line of granite ridges above the southeastern edge of Yellowstone, the bears would have one of their last big meals before the bears slipping off to sleep in dens at Thorofare, on the flank of Bunsen Peak, at Dunraven Pass and Eagle Creek, But now, these picnics are coming to an end, as changes in Yellowstone’s climate weaken and kill the great whitebark forests. By 2020, ninety percent of the groves will be gone. Even more worrisome, given the warming temperatures in Yellowstone, whitebark pines are unlikely to return.

And that's just one tale in a flurry of change that's remaking the face and heart of the world's first national park. Your guide to this fast-changing world is seasoned naturalist and National Geographic author Gary Ferguson, who will offer an hour-long program rich with stirring images and riveting stories.

This is the fourth lecture of a four lecture series.

Location: Bozeman Public Library, 626 East Main Street, Bozeman, Montana

Time: 7:00—8:30 pm

For more information: www.npca.org/mtchangingclimate.