Presentations

Online via Zoom

Rolf Peterson is a Research Professor at Michigan Technological University.  He led or co-led wolf and moose research in Isle Royale National Park for over 50 years.  He and his students have also conducted research on wolves and their prey in Alaska, Minnesota, mainland Michigan, and Yellowstone.  His talk on March 28 will focus on the indirect effects of wolves in the Isle Royale ecosystem.

Online via Zoom

This presentation is about how to apply the Natural Climate Solution to your landscape. Urgent action is needed to reverse biodiversity declines and mitigate climate change. Marilynn will briefly review topics covered during the October presentation including the benefits of landscaping with native plants, garden site selection and preparation. The rest of the presentation will cover grant opportunities, plant selection, garden design, installation and maintenance. When you are gardening with natives, many traditional rules do not apply, so join in to learn how to turn your landscape into a nature sanctuary.

Marilynn Torkelson is passionate about the concept of “Bringing Nature Home”. For the past 7 years, Marilynn has been the president of the Prairie Edge chapter of Wild Ones: Healing the Earth One Yard at a Time. If you want more information a great place to start is by reading Douglas Tallamy’s books Bringing Nature Home and Marilynn’s favorite, Nature’s Best Hope.

Hybrid Meeting: In person at Westwood Hills Nature Center (8300 W. Franklin Ave, St. Louis Park) and Online via Zoom

Fifteen years ago Steve Porter did a Rover presentation titled “The Kathmandu of Caving” about the 1994 Sistema Huautla cave expedition in the Sierra Mazateca mountains of Southern Mexico. The cave is the deepest in the Western Hemisphere. Exploration required hauling a thousand pounds of equipment 1353 meters (4,439 feet) vertical distance from the surface to begin the diving operation using prototype rebreathing equipment. The presentation was a slide show (still photos).  Nineteen years later, in 2013, a new attempt to establish Sistema Huautla as the world’s deepest cave retraced the 1994 expedition with newer technology and digital video equipment not available in 1994. This presentation is a video enhanced look at the challenges encountered exploring Sistema Huautla that still photos can’t convey of what is still the deepest cave in the hemisphere.

Steve started diving in 1979. By the late 80s, early 90s he had logged many deep dives on some of the most challenging shipwrecks in Lake Superior. In 1992, to reduce risks of deep diving using compressed air, he earned certifications in Advanced Nitrox and Trimix diving. In 1993 and 1994, as a member of the United States Deep Caving Team, he and other team members extended the exploration of both the longest and deepest caves in Mexico using prototype Cis-Lunar MKIV rebreathers. In 1994 he was awarded the Abe Davis Safe Cave Diving Award by the National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section. From 1996 – 2003 he served as a volunteer scuba diver with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office Water Recovery Unit. In addition to diving, he played a major role in team training, was highly instrumental in modernizing and standardizing the unit’s scuba gear, was a key contributor in compiling and writing the dive unit’s Standard Operating Guidelines Manual and secured funding through grant writing to upgrade the team’s dive gear.

Online via Zoom

Britt Forsberg (she/her/hers) is an Extension Educator with the Minnesota Master Naturalist Program. She holds a BA in Biology and Environmental Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College and an MEd in Family Education from the University of Minnesota. Within the Minnesota Master Naturalist program, Britt develops and leads advanced training opportunities that lead to volunteer service. When she’s not working, you may find her hiking with her nose to the ground to look for bees and other pollinators or wrangling her rambunctious toddler, Wren.

Online via Zoom

Christy Rounds’ relationship with Peru began over 25 years ago when she and her husband hiked the Inca Trail on their honeymoon. Since then, they’ve taken half a dozen trips to the Sacred Valley and lived in Pisac for six months. In June 2021, Christy and her two teenage daughters did the Asungate Trek, which reaches an altitude of 17,000 feet… twice. In November of 2022, she returned to spend 10 days with four Peruvian paqos (priests) at the foot of the sacred mountain of Asungate.

In this presentation, Christy will talk about:

1. The pros and cons of independent travel in Peru
2. The animistic beliefs of the indigenous people
3. How plant-based medicines are used in these cultures
4. The role of nature in the lives of the people who live in the Andes
5. The most awe-inspiring treks (as opposed to the ones that get the most views on Instagram)
6. My documentary film to be produced in September.

Christy Rounds is a 4th generation native of Two Harbors, MN, who just returned to northern Minnesota after spending most of her adult life in Michigan, Colorado, California and western New York. After graduating from Gustavus Adolphus College with a degree in International Relations with an Eastern European focus, Christy worked for an international cultural exchange organization called Friendship Ambassadors. During the Cold War, she traveled with American performing groups behind the Iron Curtain and organized trips in the U.S. for Eastern European performing groups touring the U.S. In her mid-20’s, Christy lived in Minneapolis, where she was a product manager for PUR Drinking Water systems. She joined the Minnesota Rovers, where she learned to rock climb, winter camp, and white water canoe.

After getting married in her late 20’s, Christy and her husband spent two decades running several successful business ventures in the outdoor industry. Christy has had the opportunity to travel to over thirty countries, live outside the United States for a month or longer a dozen times, hike the Inca Trail in Peru twice, and summit Aconcogua, which is the highest mountain in the western hemisphere. In December of 2022, she published her first book, Escape Bound, which is a travel memoir documenting an 18,000 mile road trip with her teenage daughter in the wake of a divorce. Christy loves running, mountain biking, cross country skiing, international travel, high altitude hiking, writing, playing piano and singing.

Online via Zoom

Each fall and spring, millions of birds migrate via the Central corridor, one of the premier flyways of North America. An average of 90,000 raptors and hundreds of thousands of other migratory birds are counted annually during the fall and spring counts conducted by Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory.  These phenomenal natural events are amazing to observe! A single day can easily yield thousands to tens of thousands in single species counts. Why do we see such huge numbers? What are we learning from these birds who fly by twice annually? This presentation will teach you about the science of migration, such as the differences between fall and spring migrations, what species are observed and when is the best time to see them, trends observed in nearly 50 years of data, as well as research and education efforts underway at Hawk Ridge.

One part educator, one part naturalist, and one part bird nerd! Margie joined the Hawk Ridge staff as a Naturalist in 2011 and currently is the Director of Education for Hawk Ridge. Providing naturalist programming for the general public furnishes many colorful and meaningful experiences with every day on the job. She loves birds, learning, and sharing the natural world with people of all ages. She also works with passerine banding at Hawk Ridge during migration and with three MAPS stations studying summer breeding birds at Hawk Ridge, Wolf Ridge, and Sugarloaf Cove. She has a BA in Biology from Bethel University, and a MA in Education from University of St. Thomas.