Conservation Series

The Zahner Lecture Series wraps up a revealing summer season with presentations on the Cherokee and their relationship to the nighttime sky and the pristine wild places within South Carolina’s Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area.

The Highlands Biological Foundation’s 2023 Zahner Conservation Lecture Series will conclude this month with a pair of programs, held at Highlands Nature Center on Thursdays at 6:00 P.M., August 3 and 10. The lectures are free and open to the public, providing an excellent opportunity for individuals to expand their knowledge and engage in important conversations about conservation.

First up, Dr. Jane M. Eastman and Dr. Brett Riggs will offer Archaeoastronomy in Southwestern North Carolina.

Sponsored by Suzanne and Don Duggan, Julie Farrow, Florence and Tom Holmes, Ruthie and Franko Oliver, Adele and Nick Scielzo, and Margaret Waters, this is an in-depth examination of the Cherokee and their understanding of the canopy of heaven. In ancient Cherokee perspective, the matters of this world, the Above World and the Beneath World intertwine, and Cherokee peoples constructed ritual landscapes to engage the beings and forces of these realms. Recent investigations in the Little Tennessee River Valley have revealed one such landscape that marks astronomical phenomena and bespeaks sophisticated systems for measuring calendrical time and the cycles central to Cherokee life. These patterns indicate complex observational sciences that guided functions of indigenous societies long before European contact.

For the final lecture, set for August 10, Interpretive Ranger/Naturalist Tim Lee, will guide his audience through South Carolina’s Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area. Sponsored by Martha and Michael Dupuis, Monte and Palmer Gaillard, and Melanie and Tom Mauldin it’s the sort of in-depth exploration that has won the Zahner Lecture Series a national audience.

Located in an area along the Blue Ridge Escarpment, the Mountain Bridge

Wilderness Area provides a habitat for a diversity of biological communities adapted for life along the Blue Ridge Escarpment. With high average rainfall, diverse topography, and miles of streams and rivers many species found there are rare within the state and some are found in few other places in the world.

Each lecture will be held at the Highlands Nature Center, located at 930 Horse Cove Road. Admission to the lectures is free, making them accessible to all members of the community. Small receptions will follow, and no registration is required.

Whether you’re a seasoned environmentalist or simply curious about the world around you, these lectures offer a valuable opportunity to expand your knowledge and contribute to the conservation dialogue.

by Luke Osteen