Science Distilled: Protecting the desert

Greater than all of us is the environment that sustains life, offers its beauty, and has worth beyond any dollar value we could place on it. But if our reverence for nature does not acknowledge the care taken by the present and past stewards of the places we live, work, and play, our celebration lacks a heartbeat.

This event brings together a group of these stewards, who bring their talents in storytelling, science, organizing, and educating to the topic of protecting the desert. As we mark Earth Day this year, we explore Indigenous and Western perspectives on preservation of species such as the Lahontan cutthroat trout and the Las Vegas bearpoppy, as well as sacred sites such as Pyramid Lake and the Colorado River system. Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have ancestral roots in the deserts of the Great Basin and Southwest.  What does it take to acknowledge this important place on the land and in history?

Join Science Distilled for a watch party of Surviving: The Story of the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout and a panel of talented experts as we discuss the beauty of our landscapes, the importance of wildlife, and big questions related to recognizing Indigenous homelands today.

This virtual edition of Science Distilled will be hosted via Zoom. To make sure you don’t miss it, we encourage you to register to attend.

Featured speakers Autumn Harry is a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Northern Nevada. She has specialty areas in Geography and Environmental Science. Autumn is an organizer, activist, and was the producer of the film Surviving.Ka-Voka Jackson, a member of the Hualapai Tribe, is an ecologist with a focus on ecological restoration, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and water quality. Ka-Voka graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with her MS in ecology in 2019 and now currently serves as a Restoration Projects Manager for the Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council in Oregon.Dan Mosley is a graduate of the University of Nevada Reno (1974-1980) and has served with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe for many years, working primarily in the environmental, water quality, and fishery programs. Dan currently serves as the Executive Director for Pyramid Lake Fisheries.Tiffany Pereira is an Assistant Research Scientist and Scientific Illustrator at the Desert Research Institute. She specializes in the flora and fauna of the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts, with a focus on rare plant ecology.  She is also passionate about scientific communication and presenting data in a diverse and approachable way.Ruben Kimmelman graduated from the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, where the featured film, “Surviving,” served as his thesis project. He has worked at NPR and Outside Magazine after graduating, and is currently a bartender in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico and searching for his next project.

The Las Vegas Science & Technology Festival is proudly presented by the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. All Festival events are virtual, FREE, and open to the public.