Audubon presenter explores "The Grandeur of Glacier"

Denny Olson shares "The Grandeur of Glacier National Park" during Mission Mountain Audubon's next community program at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 26, in the Polson Library Meeting Room.

Olson's training as a biologist and geologist – as well as teaching natural history for nearly 50 years in the north woods and the mountain west – has made him uniquely qualified to explain Glacier's geological and ecological wonders.

Indeed, Olson will share relatively unknown stories of creatures from bog and fen, including tailed frogs, fire-adapted species, wolverines and grizzlies. 

Of course, he'll also share stories both oddball and spectacular about Glacier Park's birds. Unfortunately, many of these species are in danger of disappearing in the next 50 to 100 years, along with Pikas, arctic plants, White-tailed ptarmigans, Black swifts and endemic stoneflies. He will also talk about what humans can do to prevent that.

Olson has spent 27 years teaching in Road Scholars programs and at the Glacier Institute, as well as training rangers, teachers and students in Glacier Park. He has a master's in zoology and his thesis on loons led to a census technique that’s still used in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

He has recently retired from serving as Flathead Audubon's Conservation Educator. He’s also a published author of several books, a local television personality (Critterman), and possibly one of the world's greatest bird vocalists.

Everyone is welcome to the free presentation.