Brushwood Center announces Field Museum partnership

Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods has announced a new partnership that features a quarterly speaker series designed to inform northern Illinois residents on new research underway at The Field Museum.

This new partnership gives The Field Museum a chance to reach its northern neighbors while allowing Brushwood Center a chance to further the conversation on important environmental and cultural issues that affect the Chicago region and world.

"Research being done at The Field Museum by ecologists, social scientists, and educators affects us all. We're thrilled with this new partnership," said John Barrett, executive director at Brushwood Center.

"The more we explore the interconnectedness of people and nature, the better we can support environmental and social sustainability."

The Field Museum at Brushwood Center Speaker Series costs $7 per event, $5 for members of Brushwood Center.

• Saturday, Jan. 23, 1-3 p.m.: Mark J. Bouman, Chicago region program director in the Keller Science Action Center of the Division of Science and Education at The Field Museum, presents "The Field Museum and the Changing Landscape of the Chicago Region," providing a window into recent findings while also laying the foundation for upcoming talks.

Bouman oversees the museum's interdisciplinary conservation and cultural heritage work in the Chicago region. The Science Action Center's work takes a number of forms: it includes conservation, ecological restoration, environmental leadership development and stewardship, creative place-making, climate change adaptation, green infrastructure planning, and cultural heritage planning and development.

• Sunday, April 17, 1-3 p.m." Nora Bynum, Ph.D., director of the Keller Science Action Center, will present recent work and provide an overview of "Local and International Conservation Efforts," including the new national park created in Peru, partly based on the center's efforts. Their rapid inventory programs in South America during the past 15 years have led to a better understanding of the biological importance of this region and to the discovery of more than 20 species new to science.

• 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, 1-3 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.

Brushwood Center is at 21850 N. Riverwoods Road, Riverwoods. For information or to register for events, visit www.BrushwoodCenter.org or call (847) 968-3344.