Free Lecture: 40 Years of Federal Endangered Species Act

Solvang Library and the Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society will host a free lecture with Peter S. Alagona on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 7:00 p.m. at the Library. The lecture will be titled: Forty Years of Endangered Species: Conflict and Conservation in California and Beyond. Following the lecture, Dr. Alagona will be signing his new book from UC Press, “After the Grizzly: Endangered Species and the Politics of Place in California.”

The landmark federal Endangered Species Act—the most powerful and comprehensive U.S. environmental law and most ambitious biological conservation statute ever enacted by any country—turned 40 in 2013. Is this anniversary a cause for celebration or despair? What have we learned during the past four decades? Why is endangered species conservation so complicated? And why do efforts to preserve endangered species often result in so much controversy? This talk will address these questions, place them in a broader historical context, and discuss some of the challenges and opportunities for biodiversity conservation in the twenty-first century.

Peter S. Alagona is an associate professor of history and environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his PhD from UCLA in 2006, and before joining the UCSB faculty worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard and Stanford universities.

The Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society has been sponsoring lectures and field trips in the greater Santa Ynez valley area for the past 14 years. More information can be found at syvnature.org.

Solvang Library, located at 1745 Mission Dr. in Solvang, is a branch of the Santa Barbara Public Library System. For questions about Solvang Library events and programs, please call 805-688-4214. For information about hours, locations, programs and services, please visit the library system’s website at www.sbplibrary.org. All Library programs are free and open to the public.