Schedule outline below - full bios will be available soon!
Throughout the summer, we invite guest speakers to share their expertise in the field and through evening presentations. You may want to time your visit at Camp Denali or North Face Lodge to coincide with one of our Special Emphasis Series sessions. Our regular program of guided hiking occurs simultaneously.
Return to our 2019 Special Emphasis Series schedule.
Scott Weidensaul is the author of more than two dozen critically acclaimed books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Living on the Wind, about migratory birds; Of A Feather: A Brief History of American Birding; The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery and Endurance in Early America; and Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean. His writing has appeared in a host of publications, and he is a contributing editor to Audubon magazine and a columnist for Bird Watcher's Digest.
A native of the Pennsylvania Appalachians, Mr. Weidensaul’s passion is birds, especially bird migration. A longtime bird bander, he directs a major research project tracking the migration of saw-whet owls, and is part of a continental effort to learn why more and more western hummingbirds are wintering in the East. He is a cofounder of Project SNOWstorm, an ambitious effort to learn more about snowy owl migration. Mr. Weidensaul is a frequent visitor to Alaska, where his work has taken him into almost every corner of the state, including Denali, where he helps direct Critical Connections, a study of the park's migrant birds.
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Field trips will focus on Denali’s remarkable breeding birds, which will have just returned from wintering areas as far-flung as Asia, Africa and South America. Bird watchers of all skill levels should find these outings rewarding.
Mr. Weidensaul’s two evening presentations will explore the wonders and dynamics of bird migration, and a light-hearted look at his field research – a lifetime spent, as he says, "messing around with birds for fun and science."
A lover of wilderness, Debbie is a 45-year Alaskan who has explored the Arctic and other wild places for decades. Alaska’s wilderness and its rich diversity of wildlife are the inspiration for her many nature books for adults and children. She enjoys partnering with scientists to gain a deeper understanding of the natural world, then weaving that important knowledge into her narratives.
As a teacher, Debbie has traveled extensively to schools throughout the country sharing her books and stories about Alaska’s natural world and its people. A wilderness advocate, she is a co-founder of the Alaska Wilderness League, a national organization whose sole mission is to protect Alaska’s wilderness, including some of the wildest and most beautiful places on the planet.
She currently lives on a wild island in Sitka where salmon and humpback whales are in the front yard, and the Tongass National Forest is in the back yard. In earlier years, Debbie lived in the remote Gwich’in community of Arctic Village as a teacher, and in Fairbanks where her two daughters inspired her to create children’s books.
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Debbie’s first evening presentation will be a journey through Alaska’s wilderness to learn how Debbie and many others have worked to raise their voices to protect threatened places in Alaska, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the National Petroleum Reserve, and the Tongass and Chugach National Forests. The second evening, Debbie will talk about Inspiring youth to appreciate and better understand Alaska’s natural world. She will share some of the research stories behind her 15 nonfiction picture books for children such as Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights, A Caribou Journey, Survival at 40 Below, and Grizzly Bears of Alaska.
James Edward Mills is a freelance journalist who specializes in telling stories about outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving, and practices of sustainable living. He has worked in the outdoor industry since 1989 as a guide, outfitter, independent sales representative, writer, and photographer. He is the author of the new book “The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors” and the co-writer/co-producer of the documentary film “An American Ascent”. James has written for the Wisconsin State Journal, Madison Magazine, and Wisconsin Trails. He is currently a contributor to several outdoor-focused print and online publications such as National Geographic Adventure, Rock & Ice, Alpinist, SUP, Elevation Outdoors, Women’s Adventure, the Clymb, Park Advocate, High Country News, Land & People, Outside Magazine and The Guardian.
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The nation’s wild places——from national and state parks to national forests, preserves, and wilderness areas——belong to all Americans. But not all of us use these resources equally. Minority populations are much less likely to seek recreation, adventure, and solace in our wilderness spaces. Bridging the so-called “adventure gap” requires role models who can inspire the uninitiated to experience and enjoy wild places. As our country grows increasingly multicultural, our natural legacy will need the devotion of people of all races and ethnicities to steward its care.
Through two presentations, Mills will illuminate how outreach and advocacy programs aim to transcend the adventure gap. Illustrated with original photographs and videos this exciting conversation shares the often-forgotten heritage and legacy of non-white adventurers and explorers who helped shape the creation of the National Park System and the modern conservation movement. Contemporary examples of activists working to inspire a new generation of conservation advocates include the story of Charlie Crenshaw, the first African-American to summit Denali in 1964, and Expedition Denali, an African-American team that attempted the mountain in 2013.
Jon Waterman has worked as a wilderness guide and as a Denali Mountaineer Ranger, exploring—in boats, by foot, or on dogsleds—remote places and many of the 61 national parks. He has received many grants from the National Geographic Society Expeditions Council, and his award-winning writing and photography have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers. He has also written 14 books on adventure and the environment, including the National Geographic Atlas of the National Parks (November 2019) and Chasing Denali (November 2018). He lives in Carbondale, Colorado.
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Through stunning images and story Jon will take his audiences with him, encapsulating a lifetime’s worth of adventures among the animals and wilderness of the 61 parks, showcasing his work in the first-ever Atlas of the National Parks. His central expertise happens to be on Denali, a peak he first attempted as a Boy Scout in 1976, and returned to many times, including a summit on the day of 60th birthday in 2016; along the way, he shares the mystery of the most unbelievable feat in mountaineering, claimed by the 1910 Sourdoughs of Denali.
Mary Pipher graduated in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1969 and received her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska in Clinical Psychology in 1977. She has worked most of her life as a therapist and she has taught at the University of Nebraska and Nebraska Wesleyan University. She was a Rockefeller Scholar in Residence at Bellagio and has received two American Psychological Association Presidential Citations, one of which she returned to protest psychologists’ involvement in enhanced interrogations at Guantanamo. She is the author of ten books including Reviving Ophelia and her latest Women Rowing North. Four of her books have been New York Times best sellers. She is a contributing writer for the New York Times.
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In her evening presentation, Pipher will discuss how the natural world affects humans-- teens and older people, but also young children and all of us. We know that nature has beneficial effects on emotional, spiritual and physical health. It also helps with healing, learning and overall happiness levels. Green space is good. Alaska is good cubed.
One of Alaska’s best-known artists, Kesler Woodward is equally well known for his work as an art historian and curator. Mr. Woodward served as Curator of Visual Arts at the Alaska State Museum and as Artistic Director of the Visual Arts Center of Alaska before moving to Fairbanks in 1981. He taught for two decades at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks before retiring in 2000 to paint full time.
Mr. Woodward’s paintings, depicting scenes from Hudson Bay in Arctic Canada to the Bering Strait region of Russian Siberia, are included in all major public art collections in Alaska and in museum, corporate, and private collections. In 2002, he served as Denali National Park’s first Artist-in-Residence.
He has published six books on Alaskan art, including the first comprehensive survey of the fine arts in Alaska, Painting in the North. In 2004, Woodward received the Alaska Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, and in 2012 received the Rasmuson Foundation Distinguished Alaskan Artist Fellowship.
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Evening programs will explore the key role artists played in the rise of the conservation movement in America and the establishment of virtually all of America’s first national parks; artists’ depictions of Alaska and the circumpolar North; and contemporary artists’ images of Denali and environs. He will be available to work with any guests interested in working on their own paintings and drawings of the Denali region.
Amy Gulick is an award-winning nature photographer and writer, and a Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers. Her images and stories have been featured in Outdoor Photographer, National Wildlife, Audubon and other publications.
Her new book, The Salmon Way: An Alaska State of Mind, celebrates the relationships among salmon and people in Alaska. Her first book, Salmon in the Trees: Life in Alaska’s Tongass Rain Forest, is the recipient of an Independent Publisher Book Award. Her work in Alaska has received numerous honors including the Daniel Housberg Wilderness Image Award from the Alaska Conservation Foundation and the Voice of the Wild Award from the Alaska Wilderness League.
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In today’s world, many people are disconnected from nature and its importance to humanity. Gulick uses her photography and writing to help people understand why wild lands, biodiversity, and intact ecosystems matter to all of us, regardless of where we live. Her evening discussions will focus on the universal concepts of ecology and sense of place. Her first presentation highlights the remarkable connection between salmon and forests in Southeast Alaska, and why this connection is important to people and wildlife both locally and globally. Her second presentation builds on the first, and explores the relationships between people and salmon throughout Alaska—places you’ve perhaps visited during your Alaska travels.
*There is an additional $75/night workshop fee for guests who book our photography workshop.
Dr. Neal Brown worked for NASA in the 1960s, where his interest in auroral phenomena was first sparked. At the time, the aurora was linked to understanding the earth’s atmospheric makeup, a key factor in spacecraft travel. Brown went on to direct the University of Alaska’s Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, one of the nation’s busiest space research facilities and the world’s only university-owned rocket range. In 1995, he retired from his faculty position in the Physics Department and Geophysical Institute at the University. Neal was brought back to be Director of the NASA-sponsored Alaska Space Grant Program, a position he served in from 2002 through 2008. Brown is a consummate teacher and has been featured on PBS, the Discovery Channel, and Good Morning America. 2020 marks his 35th year as a Special Emphasis Series speaker at Camp Denali.
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Brown’s evening lectures will explore the aurora, its myths and science, sun dogs, noctilucent clouds, and other atmospheric phenomena. Hands-on instructional aids and displays will illustrate many of the discussed scientific concepts. By early September, clear nights are finally dark enough to view the aurora. Join Neal in his enthusiasm for the north country’s mystical night skies!
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