Throughout the summer, we invite specialists to share their expertise daily in the field and through evening presentations.  You may want to time your visit at Camp Denali to coincide with one of our Special Emphasis Series sessions.  Our regular program of guided hiking occurs simultaneously. 

This series is available exclusively at Camp Denali.

June 4-7

In 1952, Virginia “Ginny” Wood, Morton “Woody” Wood and Celia Hunter opened the doors to their newly constructed canvas wall tents on a treeless tundra shelf north of Wonder Lake and called Camp Denali open for business.  After filing for a Trade and Manufacturing site in 1951 under the Homestead Act, their dream of operating a primitive wilderness lodge just beyond the boundary of Mt. McKinley National Park was realized.  Their old-fashioned work ethic and trial-by-fire persistence were essential assets as they homesteaded and built up their business of sharing the magnificence of Mt. McKinley National Park.  Camp Denali was maintained by their endless energy and dedication, and guided by their love of the land.  Sixty years later, their efforts and vision continue to guide us as we navigate Camp Denali’s next half century.

Join us in celebrating the rich history of Camp Denali and the people who have shaped it into the unique destination it is today.   We’ll have numerous former staff on site to share stories and images through programs and informal conversations.   It will be part reunion, part historical perspective, and a lot of fun to revisit stories from the early days through the present.   

Scott Weidensaul

Acclaimed Author, Field Researcher and Bird Enthusiast

June 8-10 & 11-14

Scott Weidensaul is the author of more than two dozen critically acclaimed books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Living on the Wind, about migratory birds; Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent’s Natural Soul; and Of A Feather: A Brief History of American Birding. His writing has appeared in a host of publications including Smithsonian, Audubon and the New York Times. His latest book is The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery and Endurance in Early America.

A native of the Pennsylvania Appalachians, where he still lives, Mr. Weidensaul’s passion is birds, especially bird migration. A longtime bird bander, he directs a major research project tracking the migration of owls, and is part of a continental effort to learn why more and more western hummingbirds are wintering in the East. Mr. Weidensaul is a frequent visitor to Alaska, where his work has taken him into almost every corner of the state, including Denali.

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Field trips will focus on Denali’s remarkable breeding birds, which will have just returned from wintering areas as far-flung as Asia, Africa and South America. Bird watchers of all skill levels should find these outings rewarding.

Mr. Weidensaul’s two evening presentations will explore the wonders and dynamics of bird migration, and a light-hearted look at his field research – a lifetime spent, as he says, "messing around with birds for sun and science."

Staff Naturalists and Guest Lecturers

June 15-17 & 18-21

The wildflowers of Denali National Park and Preserve create an extravagant, multi-colored microcosm of nature’s handiwork amidst a vast mountain landscape. Whether you are simply attracted to observation of nature’s floral displays, lured by macro photography, or drawn to plant taxonomy, we invite you to join us for Denali’s season of wildflowers.

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Naturalist staff and guest specialists will lead field trips
for botanizing and wildflower photography. We will explore marshy lowlands, boreal forest, rolling tundra hillsides, and windswept heights, discovering plants that are strategically adapted to these unique biological niches of the Far North. We will discuss the characteristics of taiga and tundra, river bar colonizers, cushion plants, and sedge tussocks, and will talk about how plants flourish despite the rigors of mountain weather, glacial terrain, permafrost, and the brief growing season.

Evening programs will explore topics such as far northern plant adaptations, pollination, the role of wildfire, traditional uses of northern plants, and how some plants provide evidence of climate change at northern latitudes.

Tony Knowles

Former Alaska Governor &  Chair of the National Park System Advisory Board

June 22-24 & 25-28

Tony Knowles is a former Governor of Alaska (1994-2002), former Mayor of Anchorage, and former Chairman of the Western Governor's Association.  He served on the Pew Oceans Commission and the National Park Second Century Commission.  While he was Governor, Alaska led the successful effort to renegotiate the Pacific Salmon Treaty for sustainable salmon, played a critical role in America's leadership for new treaties on Arctic Ocean Persistent Organic Pollutants, and worked to institute scientific and ecosystem based management of its fish and wildlife resources. Governor Knowles was a champion for Alaska Native subsistence rights and was the first Governor to recognize Alaska Tribes. He was also awarded the Public Service Award by the Child Welfare League of America for his work with children's health and public and private initiatives for prevention of child abuse.

Previously in the restaurant and property development businesses, Mr Knowles is now the President of the National Energy Policy Institute funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation.  He is a graduate of Yale University with a degree in economics.

Mr. Knowles' wife Susan, served on the Alaska Public Utilities Commission for 18 years.  They have three children.

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In his first evening program, Mr. Knowles will convey the compelling story of the interrelationship between three significant pieces of Federal legislation that "made Alaska" and have had a profound affect upon America.  The first is the Statehood Act, creating the 49th state in 1959 and, upon these newly designated state lands, developing the largest oil discovery in American history.  The second, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, is one of the great acts of social justice in America dealing with the rights of indigenous peoples.  Passage of this act was a requirement before the oil pipeline was allowed to be built.  And, finally, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is the most significant land conservation act in American history and perhaps the largest in world history.  Combined, these three pieces of legislation create an amazing story of politics, personalities, power, idealism, and economics.

Kesler Woodward

Artist, Professor of Art Emeritus, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

July 2-5 & 6-8

One of Alaska’s best-known artists, Kesler Woodward is equally well known for his work as an art historian and curator.  Mr. Woodward served a Curator of Visual Arts at the Alaska State Museum and as Artistic Director of the Visual Arts Center of Alaska before moving to Fairbanks in 1981.  He is currently Professor of Art Emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he taught for two decades before retiring in 2000.

Mr. Woodward’s paintings, depicting scenes from Hudson Bay in Arctic Canada to the Bering Strait region of Russian Siberia, are included in all major public art collections in Alaska and in museum, corporate, and private collections.  In 2002 he served as Denali National Park’s first Artist-in-Residence.  He has published six books on Alaskan art since 1990, including the first comprehensive survey of the fine arts in Alaska, Painting in the North. He has lectured on art of the circumpolar North from Alaska to Georgia, New England, and the British Museum in London.  In 2004, Woodward received the Alaska Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.

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Evening programs will explore artist’s depictions of Alaska and the circumpolar North, with a special emphasis on historical and contemporary artists’ images of Denali and environs.  Professor Woodward will discuss the way individual and societal views of the relationship of people to the land subtly but inexorably shape the way land and animals are depicted by artists of all eras.  He will also be available to work with any guests interested in working on their own paintings and drawings of the Denali region.

Ron Medel

Fisheries Program Manager, Tongass National Forest

July 16-19 & 20-22

Ron Medel, a native of the Southern California, is currently the Fisheries Program Manager for the Tongass National Forest.  As a youth, he was fortunate to live in a coastal landscape that was then only orchards and vegetable fields, with trout streams flowing freely into the Pacific.  It stands to reason that he simply followed the fish, up the coast, to study Fisheries at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.  After graduating, he went to work on several Northwest National Forests, before deciding it really could not get any better than working and living amidst the last great, natural runs of salmon of the Southeast Alaska rainforest.  

Mr. Medel follows salmon numbers all over the globe and has seen changes from what was once a wild fish majority of salmon being consumed, to the current majority of fish harvested from aquaculture farms and hatcheries.  He feels fortunate to work with and protect the habitat that supports one third of the wild salmon commercially harvested on the US West Coast, on a forest that produces nearly 80% of all the salmon produced by the National Forest system.  Moreover, he feels blessed to live a lifestyle that includes partaking in the return of the salmon each summer and fall to the waters and streams of the lush Southeast Alaska rainforest, to again feed his family and friends.

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Mr. Medel will give two talks.  The first will detail the wild salmon production and contribution from the Tongass National Forest to the annual commercial harvest of Alaska salmon.  The second will discuss wild salmon issues and the challenges to their continued survival.

Erin McKittrick, M.S. and Bretwood Higman, Ph.D.

Directors of Ground Truth Trekking

July 23-26 & 27-29

Erin McKittrick and Bretwood Higman combine adventure, science, and conservation in their work as directors of the small nonprofit Ground Truth Trekking.  They are veterans of over 7500 miles of wilderness expeditions, primarily in Alaska.  Over the past decade, this married couple has walked and rafted all over the state, from the panhandle to the arctic, including a year-long human-powered journey along the Pacific Coast.  Ms. McKittrick has a M.S. in molecular biology, while Mr. Higman has a Ph.D. in geology.  They combine their scientific training with on-the-ground stories, photos, and experiences, to inform the public about natural resource issues across Alaska.  Ms. McKittrick is also a writer, and the author of A Long Trek Home: 4,000 Miles by Boot, Raft, and Ski.

In recent years, the couple has devoted their time to exploring, researching, and educating the public about what they see as some of the biggest environmental issues in Alaska, including the potential for large scale coal development, large metal mines, and the impacts of climate change.

They live and work in a yurt in the 300 person village of Seldovia, Alaska, on the tip of the Kenai Peninsula, with their two young children.  They are continuing to explore and learn with little ones in tow.  They recently completed a a 300-mile, month-long expedition along Alaska's Northwest Arctic coast with their toddler, and are planning a two month journey on the Malaspina Glacier to explore rapid climate change in fall 2011.

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As Asian demand for fossil fuels grows, new mine proposals are springing up, threatening wildlife, rivers, and human neighbors. Little known to most, Alaska actually has a huge proportion of the worlds coal deposits, hidden beneath remote wilderness from Cook Inlet to the Arctic.  Drawing from the stories and experiences of their wilderness journeys, Erin and Hig will present two slideshow programs, one exploring Alaska's coal country and the potential for development, and the other exploring the dramatic impacts of climate change on the landscape and people of the state.

Nancy Lord

Environmental writer, former Alaska Writer Laureate

August 10-12 & 13-16

Nancy Lord, from Homer, Alaska, is the author of eight books; her two most recent titles are Rock, Water, Wild: An Alaskan Life (2009) and Early Warming: Crisis and Response in the Climate-Changed North (2011).  Ms. Lord’s work is informed by a deep connection to northern landscapes and cultures.  As a commercial salmon fisherman for twenty-five years (now retired) and later as a naturalist and historian on adventure cruise ships, she takes a particular interest in coastal Alaska and the sustainability of its resources and communities.

Ms. Lord, who teaches creative writing part-time for the University of Alaska, was Alaska’s Writer Laureate from 2008-2010.  In 2010 she participated in Denali Park’s Artists-in-Residence Program, only the second writer to be invited to do so.  She also has a long history of activism with Alaska conservation issues and organizations and currently chairs the board of the Alaska Conservation Foundation.  Among her favorite activities are beachcombing and berry picking.

For more information, see www.nancylord.alaskawriters.com.

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Ms. Lord will give two talks. In the first she’ll present images and some of the research she did for her book Early Warming, related to how communities in rural Alaska and the Canadian Northwest are coping with and adapting to climate change.  In the other she’ll share some of her experience and short excerpts of writing from her ten days in Denali as a writer in the park’s Artists-in-Residence Program. 

Ralph A. Clevenger

Professional Nature Photographer

August 27-30 & August 31-September 2

Ralph Clevenger holds degrees in both zoology and photography and is a senior faculty member at the prestigious Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, CA.  He has followed his passion for the natural world by specializing in photography and video projects of wilderness travel, natural landscapes, wildlife and undersea subjects.  He has photographed assignments and led workshops around the world and this will be his seventh trip to Alaska. 

Mr. Clevenger’s new book, Photographing Nature, features many images from Denali. Some of his clients include MacGillivray-Freeman Films, The Nature Conservancy, California State Parks, National Science Foundation, and the National Park Service.  His publication credits include Audubon, Islands, Oceans, Outside, Orion Nature Quarterly, National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, Terre Sauvage, Nature’s Best, National Geographic Books, Smithsonian Books, and Sierra Club Books.  Mr. Clevenger’s stock images are represented worldwide by Corbis Images.

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Fieldwork and two evening presentations will explore ways to improve one’s photography, learning to see beyond preconceptions and translating visual impressions into creative images.  Mr. Clevenger will emphasize the importance of pushing your boundaries to create an opportunity for new ways of seeing. And he realizes that understanding those complex cameras and flashes is critical to capturing great images, so bring it on.

*Please note that an additional program fee of $75/night is charged to each Autumn Nature Photography Workshop participant. The workshop is limited to 10 participants.

Dr. Neal Brown

Former Director of Alaska Space Grant Program and Poker Flat Research Range, and Science Enthusiast

September 3-6 & 7-9

After receiving a B.A. in physics from Washington State University in 1961, Neal Brown worked for NASA, where his interest in auroral phenomena was first sparked. At the time, the aurora was linked to understanding the earth’s atmospheric makeup, a key factor in spacecraft travel.

Dr. Brown went on to receive an M.S. and a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.  He also directed its Poker Flat Research Range from 1971 through 1989. Poker Flat is one of the nation’s busiest space research facilities and the world’s only university-owned rocket range. In 2008, he retired from his faculty position in the Physics Department and Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Dr. Brown is a consummate teacher and has been featured on PBS, the Discovery Channel, and Good Morning America.

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Dr. Brown’s evening lectures will explore the aurora, its myths and science, sun dogs, noctilucent clouds, and other atmospheric phenomena. Hands-on instructional aids and displays will illustrate many of the discussed scientific concepts.

By early September, clear nights are finally dark enough to view the aurora. Join Dr. Brown in his enthusiasm for the north country’s mystical night skies!