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imperiled species from extinction. Defenders of Wildlife is a national conservation organization dedicated to safeguarding biodiversity by protecting wildlife and habitat conservation. Clark’s lecture focused on recent threats to the ESA.

Clark spent the beginning of her lecture discussing the tremendous biodiversity loss currently taking place on Earth and some of the consequences of its loss. “[The ESA] is the strongest environmental Federal law that currently exists, one that ideally possesses enough

clout to slow biodiversity loss through the protective measures it authorizes,” Clark stated. Despite this, the ESA has faced intense political opposition in recent years, with challenges to remove key provisions and halt additions to the endangered species list. According to Clark, the solution to protecting biodiversity and wildlife must include two things: first, scientists, legislators, and environmental groups must find a way to collaborate in order to develop and uphold effective protection laws. Clark emphasized the importance of Defenders of Wildlife in maintaining influence in government; environmental organizations with a strong political presence ensure that environmental issues are prioritized in legislation. Second, conservation groups need to figure out a way to appeal to the public to generate support, by bringing the issues into a frame the public can understand. Public support depends on placing issues in the right context, and for Defenders of Wildlife and other environmental groups, this is a critical step in changing perspectives both inside and out of the political environment.

In addition to the public presentation and discussion, Clark met many students in small groups throughout her stay. She visited two classes (Public Lands and Oceans Management with Professor AJ Schneller and Environmental Sociology with Professor Rik Scarce), went on a hike through the North Woods with top students from both ES and Government, and led a question and answer session about advanced studies and career paths with other students. Students appreciated the opportunity to talk to Dr. Clark. As one student commented, following the question and answer session, “the main highlight was actually speaking to Ms. Clark about my career plans and hearing her feedback. It was both inspirational and insightful.” It was, as voiced by another student, “an amazing opportunity to get to sit and discuss my future and gain some advice from someone so high up in the field.”

This writer, who is a member of the Conservation Corps, was lucky enough to attend both the walk with Tom Wessels and his lecture. To follow a trail that one has walked so many times before"and to be stopped and taught something about a type of tree or the cause of the topography of the land, is both fascinating and humbling. One student said “I feel like I am so much smarter after only one hour in the woods with Tom!” We learned how to tell if a tree was alive or dead when it fell, the reason some trees grow sideways at a right angle and then straight up again, and the history of the North Woods landscape. Because there is exposed bedrock, few old growth trees, and relatively smooth slopes, Wessels was able to see that the forest was once pasture land.

Those who were not able to join Wessels in the woods were invited to his lecture in Skidmore’s Filene Auditorium. Wessels showed slides of photos he had taken throughout his career to illustrate what he looks for and finds in a landscape. Focusing primarily on the history of the New England region, Wessels discussed the effects of overgrazing on the land and the way that nature finds a way to heal itself and reverse the effects of human impact. He explained to the audience how to discern the purpose of a stone wall: if there are rocks the size of potatoes within the wall, then the area inside was once a crop field, and if not, it was a pasture. Simple things that an average person might not think about became clues to history when Wessels explained their significance.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, current president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife and former director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, visited Skidmore this past October as part of the Carr Lecture Series. In a public lecture entitled “The Policy Environment,” Clark discussed her experience working at the intersection of science and policy, specifically as one of the nation’s experts on The Endangered Species Act (ESA), which was designed to keep critically "