Keynote Lecture Series
The Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem typically includes named lectures in honor of notable influences Aubrey L. Haines, past Yellowstone National Park historian, and A. Starker Leopold, a shaper of national park policy. A third lecture named for Yellowstone's superintendent invites an international leader in conservation to speak about some global aspect of park science and management. The goal of the named keynote speeches is to provide some broadening from the focus of the conference, and expose conference participants to a wide-ranging selection of important topics.
Aubrey L. Haines Lecture
Aubrey L. Haines (1914–2000) remains the premier historian of Yellowstone. He also participated in shaping the park’s history for nearly 60 years, from his first job as a park ranger in the late 1930s through his retirement in 1969 and in the following years, as he continued to produce important historical works from his Arizona home.
Educated in forestry and engineering, Aubrey also worked in Mount Rainier National Park and Big Hole National Battlefield, and wrote authoritative histories of both parks. But it is for his work in Yellowstone that he is best known and honored by this lecture series. The Yellowstone Story (1977) may be the single most important book ever published on the park, and his Yellowstone National Park: Its Exploration and Establishment (1974) occupies a unique position as the foremost documentary history of the park’s creation. In the 1960s, he originated the collection now known as the Yellowstone Archives, a branch of the National Archives, and gathered countless rare items, interviews, diaries, and a wealth of other materials into the park’s library and museum collection.
Invitees are encouraged to share insights, experiences, and research findings relating to their work in a variety of cultural-resource disciplines that apply to national parks and similar reserves. Speakers are distinguished figures in their specialty and are not limited to speak on a conference's subject matter.
A. Starker Leopold Lecture
A. Starker Leopold (1913–1983), ecologist, conservationist, and educator, was a primary force in the shaping of modern national park policy. As a scientist, he produced more than 100 papers and five books, including classic studies of the wildlife of Mexico and Alaska. As a teacher, he inspired generations of students in numerous ecological disciplines. As an advisor to several Secretaries of the Interior and Directors of the National Park Service, and as chairman of an Advisory Board on Wildlife Management in 1963, Starker led the parks into an era of greater concern for scientifically-based management decisions and a greater respect for the ecological processes that create and influence wildlands.
The Leopold Lecture is the "centerpiece" keynote of the conference series. Speakers are distinguished and often very prominent scholars, managers, or advocates who exemplify the Starker Leopold tradition of visionary work on behalf of science and conservation. Speakers have included Michael Soulé, founder of the field of conservation biology, and Richard Leakey, African paleontologist and conservationist. Speakers usually address important science and management questions on the larger scale of ecosystems and nations. Speakers are distinguished figures in their specialty and are not limited to speak on a conference's subject matter.
Superintendent’s International Lecture
In 1997, Yellowstone National Park celebrated its 125th anniversary with the theme, “The Best Idea America Ever Had.” The park was an idea that caught on and spread around the world, so that most nations now have established national parks or similar nature reserves. Yellowstone serves as a model in many ways, as these other nations look to learn from our successes, our failures, and our ongoing experiments in research and management of cultural and natural resources. At each Biennial Scientific Conference, the Superintendent’s International Luncheon has featured an address by a leading figure in international conservation on some global aspect of park science and management.
In recognition of the reality that the managers of Yellowstone and other long-established American national parks now learn at least as much as they teach in their dealings with other park systems, the Superintendent's International Luncheon emphasizes the global interchange of ideas and information among members of the conservation and scientific communities. Speakers are distinguished figures in their specialty and are not limited to speak on a conference's subject matter. Speakers may be either residents of other nations or authorities who have done extensive research in other nations. Canadian Tony Sinclair, a leading researcher in Serengeti ecology for decades, was a recent featured speaker in this series.
