A Leadership Journey in the National Parks & the Urgent Need for a Unified Vision of Conservation
–
McGowan MG100McGowan Building
411 Pacific St
Monterey, CA 93940 View in Campus Map
Free
Open to the Public
Conservation would be more successful, sustainable, and equitable if the work were more collaborative, embracing and partnering with organizations that focus on, for example, environmental justice, science, history, and human health. Now that America is facing another anti-environmental administration, more prepared (and vengeful) than the last, that call for collective action may again be urgent.
A Leadership Journey in the National Parks & the Urgent Need for a Unified Vision of Conservation
Speaker: Jonathan B. Jarvis, author, retired Director of the National Park Service, and Executive Director of UC Berkeley’s Institute for Parks, People, and Diversity.
Thursday, March 27th, 2025
6:00pm to 7:30pm Pacific Time
In-person event
About the Topic
In the aftermath of the 2016 national election, Jonathan B. Jarvis and co-author Gary Machlis began work on a small book in anticipation of the incoming Trump administration’s expected assault on a generation of conservation accomplishments. The Future of Conservation in America: A Chart for Rough Water (University of Chicago Press, 2018) both sounded the alarm and proposed what we thought might be effective responses by the conservation movement. Their most essential recommendation was that conservation would be more successful, sustainable, and equitable if the work were more collaborative, embracing and partnering with organizations that focus on, for example, environmental justice, science, history, and human health. Now that America is facing another anti-environmental administration, more prepared (and vengeful) than the last, that call for collective action may again be urgent. In this talk, Jonathan will revisit and expand upon the need for a new and unified vision of conservation in America, as well as discussing his journey from National Park Service Ranger to Director.
About the Speaker
Jonathan B. Jarvis served as the eighteenth director of the National Park Service, serving from 2009 to 2017. He served for forty years with the NPS as ranger, biologist, and park superintendent in eight national parks. He is the co-author of National Parks Forever: Fifty Years of Fighting and a Case for Independence (University of Chicago Press, 2022) and co-author of The Future of Conservation in America: A Chart for Rough Water (University of Chicago Press, 2018). After his retirement from the National Park Service in 2017, Jonathan was appointed that same year as the executive director of UC Berkeley’s Institute for Parks, People, and Diversity.
Recommended Reading
- The Urgent Need for a Unified Vision of Conservation, op-ed by Jonathan B. Jarvis and Gary Machlis in Parks Stewardship Forum, issue 41(1), published January 15, 2025.
Location: McGowan Building, Room 100
The McGowan Building is located at 411 Pacific Street, Monterey, CA, 93940, on the campus of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Attendees should enter through the glass doors from Pacific Street (those on left), and the MG100 is located inside to the left. View the campus map.
About the Hosts
Dr. Megan McKenna is faculty for the Environmental Policy and Management master’s degree program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Her course, Environmental Leadership, is main motivation for inviting this speaker and we are so fortunate that she opened this lecture up to the public. Dr. McKenna also directs the The California Coast and Climate Semester program (funder for this speaker), bringing undergraduate students from Middlebury College, Vermont and other east coast liberal arts colleges to the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey. Students focus on climate change, coastal resilience, and environmental justice while enrolling in master’s level classes and earning credit toward their undergraduate degrees.
The Center for the Blue Economy is a research center at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, that provides economic and policy analysis to support the development of a robust and equitable blue economy for the 21st century. The Center uses the World Bank’s definition of the Blue Economy: the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health. We must maintain ocean health to maintain human health, economic health, and the health of the planet. Climate change is linked, inextricably, to a healthy ocean. Consider joining our movement for Ocean Climate Action Now. Consider joining our Center for the Blue Economy Newsletter List (3-4x per year by email).
Questions
Contact Rachel Christopherson at the Center for the Blue Economy at cbe@miis.edu or (831) 647-4183.