Brushwood Center announces next Speakers Series events

What do the vast mountains of Bolivia, the remote wilderness of Ecuador, and the wildlife corridors of the Chicago region have in common?

The answer is Nora Bynum, director of the Science Action Center at the Field Museum. She will be a guest speaker April 17, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Brushwood Center, 21850 N. Riverwoods Road, Riverwoods.

She will discuss her team's work at the Field Museum on the biological and social importance of conservation.

Through this new partnership with the Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, northern Illinois residents now have a chance to hear about this work through a new speaker series titled "The Field Museum at Brushwood Center." Attendees will have a chance to hear about environmental and cultural issues that impact the region and world.

Bynum will share the work she and her team are doing in the Andes-Amazon region of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, working with partners to link wildlife corridors that benefit nature and inner-city neighborhoods, including projects in the remote wilderness of the tropics.

There, scientists from the Science Action Center worked over the past 15 years with governments to protect close to 34 million acres of forests.

The first in this series was presented in January by Mark Bouman, program director at the center, to standing room only. Brushwood Center Speaker Series is $5 per event.

Next in the Field Museum at Brushwood Center Speaker Series:

• Sunday, July 16, 1-3 p.m.: Diana (Tita) Alvira, social conservation program manager of the Keller Science Action Center at The Field Museum, will present her work on "Community Well-Being and Conservation in South America."

Alvira is part of an interdisciplinary team of biologists and social scientists dedicated to translating museum science into action for conservation and quality of life of local people.

She will talk about the Andes-Amazon region and the cooperative conservation efforts underway to support sustainable livelihoods and local well-being. Learn more about the complex link between healthy forests and the well-being those who live in and around them.

• Sunday, Oct. 16, 1 to 3 p.m.: Nigel Pitman presents "The Chicago 40: Forty iconic species that every Chicagoan (including you!) should know."

Pitman is an ecologist and conservationist with a special interest in South American forests. His research focuses on Amazonian tree ecology, but he has also worked on the endemic floras of Ecuador and Peru, long-term trends in Amazonian animal abundances, and extinction risks in South American plants.

He has been working with the museum's rapid inventory team since 2001. He currently coordinates the conservation tools program in the Museum's Keller Science Action Center.

The speakers series is presented in partnership with the Field Museum.

To get on the mailing list for more information about upcoming events, or to register for programs, go to www.BrushwoodCenter.org or call (847) 968-3344.