Remember the flood that brought back Tulare Lake?
“Pa’ashi (Tulare Lake) Past, Present and Future” is the subject of a five-session speaker series at College of the Sequoias lecture hall, 915. S. Mooney, beginning Thursday, Jan. 16 at 5:30 p.m.
The series, hosted by River Ridge Institute, features speakers who will present their knowledge and views of Tulare Lake (Pa’ashi in the Tachi Yokuts’ language). You’ll learn how the lake came to be over 10,000 years ago (once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River), the flood that brought it back to life in 2023, and opportunities we now face for the Tulare Lake basin.
This month’s speaker is Robert Hansen, retired COS biology and ecology teacher. After 55 years spent studying the ecosystems of Central California, Hansen enjoys every opportunity to share his passion about Tulare Lake and the Tulare Lake Basin when he leads field trips, teaches classes, writes articles and makes presentations about his favorite part of the world (what he likes to refer to by its historical name, the “Tulare Valley”.)
Before his COS career, Hansen served for nine years as biologist and wildlife preserve manager with The Nature Conservancy of California. During that time, he was land steward for seven major habitat types on nearly 5,000 acres of wildlife habitat at six wildlife preserves in the Tulare Lake Basin.
Other speakers in the series are:
Feb. 13 – Robert Jeff – Tachi Yokut Tribal vice chairman
Feb. 27 – Mark Arax – author of The King of California and The Dreamt Land
March 20 – Vivian Underhill – UC Santa Cruz ethnographer and feminist scholar
April 10 – Julie Rentner – River Partners president
Parking is free on campus for these lectures, Information: info@river-ridge.net