November 20, 2012
This year’s Sedona Lecture Series explores the “Furry Creatures of the Colorado Plateau,” taking the audience from mountain lions to tassel-eared squirrels, from wolves and their future to Ice Age animals.
The 2013 Sedona Lecture Series is presented by the Sedona Muses and the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. All four lectures start at 7 p.m. at the Sedona United Methodist Church, at 110 Indian Cliffs Road and Highway 179 in Sedona.
Mammoths, Glyptodonts, and Saber-Tooth Cats: The Lost World of the Ice Age in Western North America
Monday, January 14, 7:00 p.m. ~ Presented by David Gillette, Ph.D., MNA Curator of Paleontology
Mammoths entered North America from Asia and glyptodonts came from South America in the Pleistocene (Ice Age). These and other immigrants converged south of the continental glaciers to establish the great North American Ice Age fauna. Around 11,000 years ago, Ice Age mammals from the Colorado Plateau and surrounding areas encountered Clovis people, who have been blamed for the extinction of the large animals at the end of the Ice Age. Others argue that climate change caused the end-of-Pleistocene extinctions. Whatever the cause, the stage was set for the modern North American fauna, now missing the mammoths, mastodonts, glyptodonts, saber-tooth cats, camels, llamas, horses, ground sloths, giant tortoises, and many more.
David D. Gillette, Ph.D. is the Colbert Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona. His research includes dinosaurs, plesiosaurs, mammoths, glyptodonts, and many other extinct animals. At MNA his discoveries have been presented to the public in two major exhibits: Plesiosaur—Terror of the Cretaceous Seas and Therizinosaur—Mystery of the Sickle Claw Dinosaur. He is author of the popular book Seismosaurus, The Earth Shaker, editor of several technical books: Dinosaur Tracks and Traces, Vertebrate Paleontology of Utah, and about 200 technical and popular articles on paleontology, geology, biology, and science. He recently worked with the BBC in southern Arizona on the excavation of a glyptodont carapace (shell) for a documentary on climate change.
Big-Eared Squirrels of the Southwest
Monday, February 11, 7:00 p.m. ~ Presented by Sylvester Allred, Ph.D., NAU Professor of Biology, Emeritus
This presentation will focus on the natural history of tassel-eared squirrels of the Southwestern United States. These unique animals, first identified in 1851 near the San Francisco Peaks of northern Arizona, only live in ponderosa pine forests. Learn about many aspects of their lives, such as foods, nests, predators, and reproduction. Tassel-eared squirrels also play an important role for the ponderosa pines.
Sylvester Allred, a biology professor at Northern Arizona University, has dedicated his entire 27 year career to the teaching of biology with his research interest in the ecology of the tassel-eared squirrel and the ponderosa pine. Since he retired in May 2012, he has been spending his time writing children’s books about nature and is an avid photographer and hiker. He is the author of Rascal, The Tassel-Eared Squirrel, a children’s book that explores the first year of life of a tassel-eared squirrel at the Grand Canyon, and The Natural History of Tassel-Eared Squirrels, the first text on this species. This comprehensive book has an extensive literature review and list of references, and beautiful full-color photography illustrating the squirrels and their magnificent ponderosa habitat.
Mountain Lions in our Backyard: Lifeways at the Urban-Wildland Interface
Monday, March 11, 7:00 p.m. ~ Presented by David Mattson, Ph.D., Research Wildlife Biologist, USGS
Mountain lion attacks on people and pets are usually the focus of a frenzy of regional and even national media attention. There are widespread impressions that lion numbers are increasing, and that people are increasingly at risk. This talk on lions in our backyard presents a more optimistic picture of coexistence between people and lions, drawing on years of ecological and human safety research on the Colorado Plateau. Lions and people are, in fact, coexisting peacefully, largely unbeknownst to the involved people, and almost wholly because of the choices that individual lions make every day. Dr. Mattson describes the behaviors and distributions of mountain lions living on the edge of cities such as Flagstaff, Sedona, and Tusayan, highlighting the surprising lack of conflict, as well as factors that can increase the intrinsically low risk of threatening encounters or attacks. Information will also be presented on how to safely manage a close encounter with a lion on those rare occasions that they occur.
David Mattson is a research wildlife biologist and former station leader with the USGS Southwest Biological Science Center, lecturer and visiting senior scientist at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and also formerly the western field director of the MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative. Mattson received degrees in Forest Resource Management and Forest Ecology, and a doctorate in Wildlife Resource Management from the University of Idaho. Dr. Mattson has studied large carnivores for the last 30 years, focusing on cougar ecology and human-cougar interactions on the Colorado Plateau, and the conservation and behavioral ecology of grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. His work has been featured in the journal Science and has been widely presented, including papers in ecology, conservation biology, biological conservation, The Journal of Wildlife Management, the Journal of Mammalogy, and invited talks at the Smithsonian, American Museum of Natural History, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, and International Conferences on Bear Research and Management.
Mexican Wolves of the Southwest
Monday, April 8, 7:00 p.m. ~ Presented by Emily Nelson, Program Director, Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project
The Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project is dedicated to bringing back wolves and restoring ecological health in the Grand Canyon region. This presentation will provide information about the history and current status of Mexican wolves, their biology and natural history, including diet, family life, and behaviors. Also learn about their role in ecosystems of the Southwest, information on the captive breeding program and reintroduction into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, and current efforts to help them recover in the wild on the Colorado Plateau.
Emily Nelson is the program director for the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, a Southwest regional coalition working to return wolves to their historic range in the Grand Canyon region. She completed her M.S. degree at Northern Arizona University in the Department of Biological Sciences, with an emphasis in wildlife conservation biology, and a B.S. in biology, with emphasis in fish and wildlife management. Her graduate research focused on the survival success of translocated Gunnison’s prairie dogs in the Flagstaff area, and she currently serves on the board of Habitat Harmony, an organization that assists humans living in harmony with wildlife and conducts prairie dog relocations for colonies threatened by development or destruction. Over the past 10 years, Emily has worked as a field biological technician, researcher, and environmental educator with many species of mammals and birds in northern Arizona.
The lecture series is a fundraising and educational outreach program of the MNA Sedona Muses. All four lectures start at 7 p.m. at the Sedona United Methodist Church, 110 Indian Cliffs Road and Highway 179, Sedona, AZ. Tickets are $6 members/$7 nonmembers per lecture or $20 members/$25 nonmembers for the entire series. Tickets are available at 6:45 p.m. at each event or in advance at the Museum of Northern Arizona 928.774.5213 or in Sedona at 928.282.9781, Bashas’ in Sedona, or Weber’s IGA in the Village of Oak Creek. Proceeds from the Sedona Lecture Series benefit the Museum of Northern Arizona. For further information see http://www.musnaz.org/muses/index.shtml
The Museum of Northern Arizona has a long and illustrious history and evokes the very spirit of the Colorado Plateau. It serves as the gateway to understanding this region, with nine exhibit galleries revealing Native cultures, artistic traditions, and natural sciences. MNA’s four Heritage Program festivals highlight the region’s cultures and encourage communication and the exchange of ideas between visitors, educators, and artists. The Museum is located three miles north of historic downtown Flagstaff on Highway 180, scenic route to the Grand Canyon. More information about MNA is at musnaz.org or call 928.774.5213.