Conservationist and author Bill Weber will speak Thursday, Jan. 17 at 5:30 p.m. as part of the Kelly Adirondack Center's lecture and concert series.
Weber's talk, “Out of Africa, Into the Adirondacks: A Conservation Journey,” is free and open to the campus community and the public. Parking at the facility on St. David's Lane in Niskayuna is limited. Shuttles will leave from Old Chapel Circle at 4:45 and 5:15 p.m. and return to campus after the lecture.
Among the highlights of Weber’s 30 years in international conservation was the successful mountain gorilla tourism and community outreach program. As director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Africa Program, he helped establish more than 20 protected areas, including forest elephant and great ape habitats.
As WCS’s North America Program director, he worked on conservation efforts from Alaska to the Adirondacks. He has written dozens of articles on ecotourism and conservation. His experiences in Rwanda are described in the book, In the Kingdom of Gorillas, which he wrote with his wife, Amy Vedder.
His work has been featured in National Geographic, NPR, PBS, CNN and other media outlets. He is senior editor of African Rain Forest Ecology and Conservation.
Last spring, Union purchased the building complex from the private conservation group Protect the Adirondacks! (PROTECT) that includes the former home of the noted Adirondack conservationist Paul Schaefer (1908-1996) and a modern addition that houses the Adirondack Research Library.
The property is located on a two-acre parcel of land three miles from campus. It includes a 2,400 square-foot Dutch replica home built by Schaefer in 1934 that is used for offices and meetings. A 3,900 square-foot addition completed in 2005 houses additional offices, conference rooms and the Adirondack Research Library.
The library, which contains more than 15,000 volumes, as well as extensive collections of maps, photographs, documents and the personal papers of some of the region's foremost conservationists, was the creation of Paul Schaefer.
To learn more about the Kelly Adirondack Center, click here.