Program date: May 5, 2023
Air date: May 8, 2023
From The City Club of Eugene:
From the Coast to the Valley, the Cascades to the High Desert ranges of Eastern Oregon, our state is blessed with extraordinary ecosystems that support an array of flora and fauna. Today, those ecosystems – and the life that rely on them – face a multitude of threats, including from climate change that is rapidly reshaping our environment.
We’ll welcome leaders from three local organizations doing extraordinary work around wildlife conservation, habitat preservation, and animal welfare to discuss these challenges, as well as to describe the opportunities they see for involving Oregonians young and old in efforts to preserve and protect our precious planet.
Speakers:
Kit Lacy completed a master’s degree in biology at the University of Oregon, publishing papers on social behavior and communication in Caribbean Iguanas. Kit began volunteering at Cascades Raptor Center while also teaching college biology. After a major career shift and many years at the center, she now oversees both the ambassador animal collection and rehabilitation cases at Cascades. Kit is passionate about improving the quality of life for all raptors in human care through positive reinforcement training. She is currently board president of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators (IAATE) and has served as a board member since 2013.
She presents papers on training, leads workshops and webinars, acts as a mentor to other trainers and a consultant to other facilities, and teaches ambassadors the Cascades’ criteria for selection of non-releasable raptors. She has also presented at the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council conference on age-appropriate education. Most recently she shared information with Washington rehabilitators on the Raptor Center’s reunification protocol for young raptors.
Joe Moll has been Executive Director of McKenzie River Trust since 2005. He has been a member of the Oregon Water Resources Commission since 2018. Joe began his career in conservation in the early 1990’s, working with bears and people in Montana and in Hokkaido, Japan. Since that time, he has been intrigued by a basic conundrum of those working in conservation: How best do we live in and love a place without loving it to death?
Raised in Oregon, Curator of Wildlife Jon Nelson has worked with wildlife at the High Desert Museum since 2009 and became the leader of the wildlife team in 2015. He holds a bachelor of science degree in natural resource policy from Oregon State University-Cascades and has worked as a field biologist, conducting wildlife monitoring of highway undercrossing structures, raptor lead poisoning studies in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, scavenger ecology dynamics, and carnivore surveys.
At the Museum, Jon is instrumental in connecting to the Museum’s nearly 200,000 visitors per year about what they can do to help conserve habitats and species in the High Desert region. He leads the care of more than 100 animal ambassadors at the Museum and guides both public-facing and behind-the-scenes programs.
About the City Club of Eugene:
The mission of the City Club of Eugene is to build community vision through open inquiry. The Club explores a wide range of significant local, state, and national issues and helps to formulate new approaches and solutions to problems. Membership is open to all, and Club members have a direct influence on public policy by discussing issues of concern with elected officials and other policy makers. The City Club’s mailing address is PO Box 12084, Eugene, OR 97440, and its website is cityclubofeugene.org.
Video and Broadcast
This program will be live streamed, and the videotape will be made available on the City Club of Eugene’s Facebook page and You Tube Channel, in addition to our website. It will be broadcast on Monday, May 8, 2023 at 7:00 pm, on KLCC 89.7 FM.
Contact: For more information, contact City Club of Eugene at(541) 485-7433, administrator@cityclubofeugene.org