Return of the Wild: A Lewis and Clark Wildlife Resurvey

Two hundred and twenty years after Lewis and Clark documented the animals of the west in their journals, we retraced their route with camera traps to find out what we lost, what’s still there, and what it took to save America’s wildlife. Dr. Roland Kays, head of the Biodiversity Research Lab at NCMNS and professor at NC State University, will share the story of his team’s expedition across the United States in this special lecture event. Doors open at 6:30PM. The lecture begins in the WRAL 3D Theater at 7PM. This event is free and open to the public. About Return of the Wild Lewis and Clark’s journals are the oldest wildlife survey of North America we have. Two men writing down every animal they encountered, most of which they’d never seen before. Last summer Dr. Roland Kays led a team retracing their route from Pittsburgh to the Pacific, stopping along the route to set camera traps, drag boats up the same rivers, and talk with the tribal colleges, ranchers, and biologists who live there now. Some of what the explorers described is gone. Some of it is standing in people’s backyards. The difference between those two lists is thanks to national parks and refuges, state wildlife agencies, tribal nations getting their land and their animals back, and a century of publicly funded science keeping track of it all. Come hear which animals made it, which ones didn’t, and how close we came to losing it all. About Dr. Roland Kays Roland Kays is a scientist, author, podcaster, and YouTuber, with a broad interest in ecology and conservation, especially of mammals. He seeks out questions that are scientifically interesting but also have real-world relevance through educational or conservation value. He is an expert in using new technologies to study free-ranging animals, especially to track their movement with telemetry, GPS, and remote camera traps. He combines this high-tech work with traditional methods, collecting data through new field work and studies of museum collections.