The Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Department will hold the first Kuebeck Forum on Nature and
Environment Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Simpson Building, 1291 Conneaut Ave.
The speaker is Jim McCormac, author and lecturer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. He will
present "Wild Ohio: The Best of our Natural Heritage."
Based on a 2009 book authored by McCormac, with imagery by Gary Meszaros, this program is a photographic
journey through the best remaining places for natural resources in the Buckeye State. From southern
haunts bordering the Ohio River to lakeshore habitats buffering Lake Erie, Ohio is filled with wild
landscapes. The program will look at some of the creatures and plants that make these sites so special,
and the global role Ohio plays in conservation.
McCormac has spent most of his career, up until 2004, as a botanist with the Ohio Department of Natural
Resources, and currently works for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. He was inaugural president of the Ohio
Ornithological Society, and served for seven years as secretary of the Ohio Bird Records Committee.
McCormac was the 2009 recipient of the Ludlow Griscom award, given annually by the American Birding
Association to individuals who have made significant regional contributions to ornithology. He is author
of Birds of Ohio (Lone Pine 2004); The Great Lakes Nature Guide (Lone Pine 2009); and Wild Ohio: The
Best of Our Natural Heritage (Kent State University Press 2009). The latter won the 2010 Ohioana Book
award. McCormac writes a column, Nature, for the Columbus Dispatch, and has authored or co-authored over
100 scientific and popular articles in a variety of publications.
He is at work on a book about wood-warblers.
Advance tickets are $10 per person, payable through the Bowling Green Parks and Recreation website,
www.bgohio.org, or by phone at 419-354-6223. Tickets may also be purchased at the door.
Admission includes pre- and post-event refreshments. Attendees are invited to join the speaker for a
question and answer session immediately following the presentation.
