Noted biologist to speak at Sierra Club spring banquet
Dr. Chad Hanson will serve as the keynote speaker at the Sierra Club Kern-Kaweah Chapter’s spring banquet on April 27.
Hanson, a research biologist and director of the John Muir Project of the Earth Island Institute in Kennedy Meadows, Calif., will lead a talk on “The Most Misunderstood Tree on Earth: The Fire-Dependent Giant Sequoia and Its Struggle to Survive Our Love.”
“Chad Hanson is an outstanding advocate for our treasured local forests and sequoia groves,” said Carla Cloer, director of the Sequoia Task Force. “His professional training, impeccable research and ability to communicate complex scientific information to the general public is remarkable.”
Hanson, who holds a doctorate in ecology from UC Davis, has focused his research on fire ecology in conifer forest ecosystems. He is also a member of the Sierra Club’s national board of directors.
In his more than 45 scientific studies and articles in peer-reviewed journals, Dr. Hanson has covered topics such as forest and fire ecology, natural postfire restoration recovery and carbon sequestration, carbon flux in woodland fires, current forest fire patterns and the impact to wildlife caused by logging. In a 2022 podcast, he expressed concerns about forest management, especially in the logging of trees.
“Most of the time on national forest lands and certainly on private timberlands, thinning is an industrial logging operation (where) most of the trees are being killed and removed including many mature and even old growth trees,” he said.
The New York Times has described Hanson as being on “the cutting edge of ecological research.” His most recent book is “Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate.”
Chapter Chair Stephen Montgomery said, “Chad Hanson is as well-practiced and particularly effective at speaking truth to power. Politicians and bureaucrats would do us all a favor to heed what he has to share. We cordially invite members and the public to our dinner and engaging program.”
The banquet includes a social hour at 4:30 p.m., followed by a buffet dinner, chapter awards and Hanson’s address starting at 5:45 p.m. April 27.
It will be held in the Liberty Hall at Hodel’s Country Dining, 5917 Knudsen Drive.
Cost is $35. Reservations are due by Monday, April 22, by texting Joyce at joymonty@me.com.