After Dark in the Park
Special Speaker Presentations

Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m.
Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium

Park entrance fees apply
Your $1.00 donation supports park educational programs

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - "The Future of the National Park Service: Managing the Three-Legged Stool"

Established in 1916, the National Park Service approaches its Centennial year. Along with Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, one of the first parks in the system, NPS will celebrate its 100th anniversary with reflections on the past and visions for the future. What has the NPS provided for the public all these years, where does it stand today and what roles should it play in the coming century? Dr. Dwight Pitcaithley, former NPS chief historian and now New Mexico State University professor, brings 30 years of public service to his program about the Park Service's past and future. He offers thoughtful questions about supporting the National Park Service's core mission - coordinating preservation, research and education in the next hundred years.

Friends of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park co-sponsors this program. Dr. Pitcaithley's visit to the park is sponsored by the Chancellor's Office, the American Studies Department and the College of Arts and Humanities of UH-Manoa, and by the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities, with support from the "We the People" special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - "Tracking Treasures in Pacific Island Parks"

To conserve National Park treasures for future generations, it is vital to determine which natural resources now occur in these protected places and to measure how these resources are changing over time. Join Leslie HaySmith and Corbett Nash from the National Park Service's Pacific Island Network Inventory and Monitoring Program (I&M) to learn how five natural resources are monitored in Pacific island parks. This program features short videos illustrating why and how I&M keeps track of freshwater animals, seabirds, fruit bats, water quality and the climate in America's Pacific island parks. Earth Week is a fine time to learn about behind-the-scenes projects tracking precious natural treasures of the national parks in Samoa, Guam and throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - "Historic Chapters in Managing Park Resources"

In 1970, more than 15,000 wild (feral) goats were chomping and stomping through the natural resources of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Habitats of unique Hawaiian plant and animal species were under attack. With its severely degraded ecosystems, the park was considered an "ecological basket case". With dedication and ingenuity, then-Park Superintendent Bryan Harry and Chief of Resource Management Don Reeser reversed this dire situation with a grand experiment. By 1980, nearly all goats were gone from the park. Their work reaffirmed conservation values, encouraged scientific research and provided hopeful examples to land managers world-wide. Bryan Harry and Don Reeser recount triumphs, challenges and failures in natural resource management during the critical decade of the 1970s. Join these National Park Service pioneers as they share management discoveries and hands-on adventures.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - "Forty Years Ago, a Mountain Grew at Mauna Ulu"

On May 24, 1969, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists watched as fountains of lava gushed from a two mile-long fissure on Kilauea's East Rift Zone where three short eruptions had recently occurred. This new eruption continued for five years, producing Kilauea's largest lava outpouring as lava flows filled two pit craters, covered 7 miles of highway and repeatedly entered the sea. Readily accessible, the Mauna Ulu eruption moved through stages of activity later mimicked by the larger, longer and more distant Pu'u 'O'o eruption. HVO geologist Don Swanson and his assistant Jeffrey Judd, studied this eruption and now share their stories. Park ranger Jay Robinson and geologist Randy Ashley describe upcoming events marking the anniversary of the Mauna Ulu eruption.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - "A Treasury of Hawaiian Literature: Hia'iakaikapoliopele and More"

The epic saga of volcano goddess Pele and

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