Sunset Speaker Series: Cougar Coexistence
Organizer: Dungeness River Nature Center
Organizer Email: info@DungenessRiverCenter.org
Organizer Phone: 360-681-4076
Organizer Website: https://DungenessRiverCenter.org/
The Sunset Speaker Series is back! Join us outside the Cedar Hat Classroom for an evening of learning and connection. We will have chairs set-up in the field, but you are welcome to bring your own camp chairs as well.
Please RSVP to secure a spot! There is a $5 suggested donation to support future educational programs.
Register here
Friday, July 17 at 7 PM
Cougar Coexistence: How Panthera is finding solutions for backyard conflict
Elsa Heath, Senior Field Technician for Panthera on the Olympic Cougar Project will be speaking about how their team has been working to reduce human-cougar conflict in a backyard setting right here on the Peninsula. She will share a background on the Olympic Cougar Project, findings to-date and how the team is actively working to find coexistence strategies that work for Cougars and People. Join us for an informative evening learning about these large cats!
Elsa Heath joined the Olympic Cougar Project in 2023 after several years of wildlife research across the country. Elsa has worked with a plethora of species from rattlesnakes to Pygmy Rabbits and Coyotes to snapping turtles. When Elsa is not working, she enjoys spending her time exploring the woods or on the beach with her dog.
A female cougar nicknamed Genevieve stands behind her nearly one year old kitten on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. In this landscape, high-definition remote cameras and GPS collars provide a window into the secret world of cougars, unveiling where the species travels and why, what they eat, how they raise their young, interactions between pumas and bobcats and how the species navigates through a mosaic of human-dominated lands.
Upcoming talks:
Friday, July 31 at 7 PM
All About Salmon
Nate Roberts, Stewardship Coordinator with North Olympic Salmon Coalition, will discuss Pacific salmon and the significance of salmon as a keystone species to both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
Friday, Aug 14 at 7 PM
A Glimpse of Sxʷčkʷíyəŋ, a S’Klallam village at Washington Harbor
David Brownell, Executive Director of the North Olympic History Center, will discuss the history of Sxʷčkʷíyəŋ, a 600+ year old S’Klallam village from which Sequim derives its name.
*Note: if you signed up for this talk through the People, Place, and Time Lecture Series, you do not need to sign up again.
Friday, Aug 28 at 7 PM
Ice Age glacial landforms on the Olympic Peninsula and Western Washington
Dann May, professor at Peninsula College, will explore how alpine glaciers and the last continental ice sheet shaped the Olympic Peninsula.