2023 Special Emphasis Series
Throughout the summer, we invite specialists to share their expertise with our guests and staff, both in the field on excursions and through evening presentations. Consider timing your visit to coincide with one of our Special Emphasis Series speakers. Our regular program of guided hiking occurs simultaneously.
Scott Weidensaul is the author of nearly 30 critically acclaimed books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist "Living on the Wind" and his latest, the New York Times bestseller "A World on the Wing." Scott is a contributing editor for Audubon and writes for a variety of other publications, including BWD and Living Bird, and is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society.
An active field researcher and longtime bird bander focusing on bird migration, 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. Scott is a frequent visitor to Alaska for more than 40 years, 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. A native of Pennsylvania, he and his wife Amy now live in New Hampshire.
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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.
David Sibley, son of ornithologist Fred Sibley, began seriously watching and drawing birds in 1969, at age seven. Since 1980, David has traveled throughout North America in search of birds, both on his own and as a leader of birdwatching tours. This intensive travel and bird study culminated in the publication of his comprehensive guide to bird identification, The Sibley Guide to Birds, in 2000 and the completely updated second edition in 2014. Other books include a companion volume The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior in 2001; Sibley's Birding Basics – an introduction to bird identification – in 2002; and the Sibley Field Guides to Eastern and Western birds second edition in 2016.
In 2009 he completed a fully illustrated guide to the identification of North American Trees – The Sibley Guide to Trees. He is the recipient of the Roger Tory Peterson Award for lifetime achievement from the American Birding Association and the Linnaean Society of New York’s Eisenmann Medal. David lives in Deerfield, Massachusetts, where he continues to study and draw birds and trees.
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Birding, like any nature study, is all about observation, and real observation involves more than just watching. It means asking questions, making comparisons, finding connections. Art, sketching, writing, photography, and more are all great ways to slow down and make discoveries. David is looking forward to exploring the birds and the environment of Denali, and hopes that all participants, birders and non-birders, will come away with heightened curiosity, and a deeper understanding of the natural world.
In one evening program David will talk about his own development as a naturalist and artist, especially the importance of field sketching as a method of study. David’s second talk is about the psychology of perception and how it can lead, and mislead, our efforts to identify birds.
June 26-29
“Uvaŋa atiġa Asikłuk. Ataataga Sanguk. Aanaga Aileen. My Iñupiaq name is Asikłuk, which means ‘bad boy.’ My white-fox name is Sean Topkok. I am Iñupiaq, Sámi, Kven, Irish, and Norwegian.” Dr. Topkok is an Associate Professor for the Indigenous Studies graduate programs at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies. His family is from Teller, Alaska, and are Qawiaraġmiut (people of the Kawerak). Dr. Topkok’s research interests include multicultural and Indigenous education, decolonization and Indigenist methods and methodologies, working with communities to help them document their cultural heritages, and community well-being.
“Uvaŋa atiġa Ahnaughuq. My Iñupiaq name is Ahnaughuq, which means ‘Little Girl.’ I’m named after my paternal Ahna (grandmother) Katherine Koiyuk (Eningowuk) Barr of Shishmaref. My white-fox name is Amy Topkok.” Mrs. Topkok was born in Kotzebue, Alaska. Her parents are Delano Nanauq and Minnie Saumik Barr of Shishmaref and Noatak, Alaska. She is full-blooded Iñupiaq, and she speaks fluent Norwegian, little Iñupiaq, and grew up with English. Amy is currently in the Indigenous Studies Ph.D. program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her research interests are looking at Iñupiaq skin-sewing from a woman’s perspective through a family and regional approach related to cultural identity and values; and personal interests include skin-sewing, making atikłut (plural for atikłuk, Iñupiaq regalia), berry picking and making homemade berry jam, and drawing.
Asikłuk and Ahnaughuq are the leaders of the Pavva Iñupiaq Dancers in Fairbanks, Alaska, along with their three sons, Akukqasuq, Saaŋiaq Masuġnaat, and Aqituaq, and their tutik (grandson) Sanguk. Together they have presented Alaska Native dance, culture, and research locally in Fairbanks, statewide in Alaska, nationwide, and internationally.
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Asikłuk and Ahnaughuq will share two evening programs. One evening they’ll discuss how indigenous values are being incorporated into public education in Alaska. Indigenous Peoples have lived their cultural values for thousands of years. Examples of teaching through Indigenous values will be shared as place-based education. A second program will share some Iñupiaq stories and dance. The Iñupiat continue to celebrate their cultural heritage through stories and dances. This presentation will share some of the unipqaat (legend stories) and sayuun (motion dances).
July 7-9
In her role, as Arctic Landscape Director, Danielle leads the Arctic Landscape Team, a cross-functional, cross-departmental team within The Wilderness Society (TWS) working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders to develop and execute a landscape strategy that will materially advance TWS’s Strategic Framework in Alaska’s Arctic.
Danielle is of Dena’ina and Koyukon Athabascan descent and was raised in both rural and urban areas of Alaska. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from the University of Hawaii at Hilo. She began her professional career in the northern regions of Alaska, assisting in the documentation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge of polar bears. Over the last decade she worked across Alaska advocating for local and cultural subsistence rights, diversity, equity and inclusion in public policy forums and meetings, and acted as a liaison between tribes and state and federal entities.
Danielle’s passion for sustainable science and policy and working with Indigenous Alaskan communities is rooted in her cultural upbringing and ancient values of respect for all living beings and the ełnena (earth). In the role of Arctic Landscape Director, she aims to share her experience and knowledge to protect public lands for future generations. In her free time, Danielle enjoys teaching and practicing yoga, beading for her small business Dena’ina Dreams, playing with her nieces, traveling, harvesting salmon, picking berries, and spending time out on the land.
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Danielle will share about her past work experience and her current work projects along with other experiences of hiking, practicing yoga and beading.
July 10-14
Jon Waterman has worked as a wilderness guide and as a Denali mountaineering ranger, exploring—in boats, by foot, or on dogsleds—remote places and many of the 63 national parks. He has received numerous grants from the National Geographic Society Expeditions Council, a National Endowment of the Arts Literary Fellowship, and his award-winning writing and photography have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers. He has published 16 books on adventure and the environment, including four Denali titles, and is the world’s leading authority on that mountain. His most recent book, the National Geographic Atlas of the National Parks, is in its fifth printing. He lives in Carbondale, Colorado.
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Jon Waterman’s “Journeys Through Alaska” lecture is based on expeditions taken through the most spectacular parks and public lands over 45 years. Beginning with his time as a guide and ranger on Denali, Jon shares stories of his repeated backcountry travels—often working as a journalist—to Glacier Bay, Wrangell-St Elias, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He will also share insights from his most recent 2022 journey documenting climate change while walking across the Brooks Range and boating through Gates of the Arctic, into Noatak National Preserve and out along the Chukchi Sea to Cape Krusenstern.
Jon’s “Sourdoughs!” lecture revolves around his observations and adventures from mountaineering on Denali, North America’s highest mountain (based on his book Chasing Denali: The Sourdoughs, Cheechakos and Frauds Behind the Most Unbelievable Feat in Mountaineering.) Jon will share how mountaineering began on Denali in 1910, when four miners carried a 25-pound, 14-foot flagpole up the roof of the continent while wearing sheet metal crampons, and swinging coal shovels, hatchets, and pike poles to balance their way up the mountain. Was their expedition a success or a hoax?
Jessica Rykken began her career in entomology as a graduate student in Vermont where an elective class in Invertebrate Zoology led her to collect and identify more than 9,000 ground beetles for a final project. She hasn’t looked back. For the past 17 years, Jessica has been conducting insect inventories and research in national parks across the U.S., from Boston Harbor Islands to Gates of the Arctic. She has been working in Alaskan parks, including Denali, since 2012, focusing primarily on pollinators. Northern pollinators include a wealth of bumble bees, and Jessica has worked hard to get the public excited about these charismatic and supremely well-adapted insects, including the production of Alaska’s first illustrated field guide to bumble bees.
Jessica shares her passion and knowledge about Alaska’s “microwilderness” through writing popular articles, creating engaging outreach media, and leading educational activities such as bioblitzes, field seminars for adults, and programs for Alaska Native youth through the Murie Science and Learning Center.
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Denali’s microwilderness is easy and fun to explore, although the diminutive size of most of its denizens requires us to refocus and bring a different level of awareness to our surroundings. Nets, magnifiers, and keen observation will reveal the world crawling at our feet and buzzing through the wildflowers. E.O. Wilson famously quipped that insects are “the little things that run the world,” and we will strive to make connections between the insects that we observe and the plants and other animals that depend on them in Denali.
One of Jessica’s evening presentations will focus on northern pollinators and the threats they face with climate change. The other will discuss some of the “pesky” northern insects that capture our attention, such as biting flies and bark beetles, and will explore the important roles they play in Alaska’s wild ecosystems
July 28-30
July 31- August 3
George Bumann (rhymes with ‘human’) is a professional sculptor living with his wife, young son, and black Labrador Hobbes, at Yellowstone Park’s northern entrance in Gardiner, Montana. A life-long observer of nature, George holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in wildlife ecology and has worked in the fields of wildlife research, taxidermy, back-country guiding, environmental consulting and has taught art and natural history programs for youth, adult, and university audiences for over three decades.
George’s work can be found in collections and exhibits throughout the United States and around the globe. His sculptures reside in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming, the Booth Museum of Western Art in Cartersville, GA, and the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. George’s art and educational outreach have been featured in publications such as the Salt Lake City Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Sacramento Bee, and on television, radio, and online through the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, and Tedx Bozeman. George is currently writing a book on the topic of animal language with Greystone Press.
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By listening to the way wild animals communicate with each other, we have the ability to enter their world. Discover how even simple sounds and gestures from our wild neighbors can convey volumes of information. Learning to observe in a new way is not only incredibly fun, but can also add immeasurably to daily life. Seeing common places from uncommon perspectives gives us a deeper sense of what it means to be truly "at home” and opens the door to experiencing new and transformative encounters with our wild neighbors.
George’s evening programs will combine art, science, and tens of thousands of hours of field observations with cutting edge science from across the globe to help you experience the more than human world in Denali, at home, or anywhere you travel in a deeper way.
Tali Lee is a professor at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire with over 20 years of experience studying plant responses to the environment including climate change factors such as increasing atmospheric CO2 and temperature, Nitrogen deposition, and altered precipitation. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota where she began her research as part of a large-scale field study at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, which is one of the longest ongoing experiments on ecosystem response to climate change. Tali’s role in this experiment has been to discover how multiple interacting environmental factors impact grassland plant function.
In collaboration with a diverse group of researchers and students on this and other projects, Tali has published over 25 scientific publications, some appearing in the notable journals Science and Nature, and some that have helped inform modeling efforts to predict future global climate change.
While Tali was an undergraduate in the late 1980s, her summer job was here at Camp Denali! During these summers not only did she become an expert dishwasher, but she also developed a profound appreciation for the landscapes of Denali and the natural world. Part of her decision to become an educator and biologist was influenced by her many interactions with staff and guests who shared a passion for learning and the natural world. Tali is excited to return to Camp Denali to once again to experience all the wonderful things this place has to offer.
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In one evening program, Tali will talk about the strategies and adaptations plants employ to survive in the challenging environments of the sub-arctic. Tali’s second talk will describe the ways we research plant responses to elevated atmospheric CO2 and the role plants are playing in the face of global environmental change.
Ronn & Marketa Murray are a husband and wife team, both in life and in business. They share a passion for many things, including photography, Northern Lights, nature, travel, and Angus, their wonderful Black Lab.
Ronn fell in love with photography in 2007 while working over the summer in California to pay his way through college. Later that year, he moved to Anchorage, Alaska, to follow his dream of becoming a professional photographer. It was then that he captured his first image of the Northern Lights and became entranced by their magic spell.
Marketa was born and raised in the Czech Republic. In 2002, she moved to Iceland and went on to manage TGI Fridays for several years. During that time she fell in love with the night sky, the Aurora, the beautiful Icelandic landscapes and photography. In 2011, she ventured to Alaska, where the two met and fell in love chasing the Aurora together. They were married a year later, beneath the majestic Aurora Borealis and have been “chasing the lights” together, ever since.
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Ronn and Marketa will be discussing the science behind the Aurora Borealis-- why and how they occur, and when and where are the best time to see them. Additionally, they'll spend an evening discussing the best way to capture the northern lights in pictures and lead a nighttime excursion to look for and photograph the aurora.
September 1-3
David W. Shaw is a Fairbanks, Alaska based writer and photographer specializing in conservation imagery, science writing, and educating others about the art of photography. He has both undergraduate and master’s degrees in wildlife biology and applies this background to create in-depth stories of the natural world.
He has written over 100 articles for publications across the world. His images and writing about science and natural history have appeared in magazines like Sierra, Living Bird, UnDark, Defenders, Ensia, Resurgence and Ecologist, Birds and Blooms, Birdwatcher’s Digest, Birdwatching, Alaska, and others. While his instructional photography articles have been published in Shutterbug, Photographic, Photo Technique, Professional Photographer, Amateur Photographer and others. Dave is also an instructor at the Digital Photography School and Expert Photography. He leads small-group, active-learning photography workshops, and natural history tours in Alaska and abroad.
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Evening programs will discuss how to create compelling images of Alaska’s landscapes and wildlife. Moving quickly beyond classic composition and camera settings, Dave will emphasize a creative and thoughtful approach to outdoor photography, focusing on how to tell the stories of the places, wildlife, and people we encounter.
*additional fee applies to photography workshop participants
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.