Ecologist guest speaker at Audubon meeting

Freshwater ecologist Tom Bansak will be the guest speaker at Flathead Audubon’s Monday, May 9, potluck meeting at the Gateway Community Room.

Bansak, associate director of the University of Montana's Flathead Lake Biological Station, will talk about Flathead Lake ecology in the context of the dramatic changes to Flathead Lake’s food web due to introduced and invasive species, and the role that fisheries management has played. Starting at FLBS in 1996 as a graduate student studying river ecology on the Middle Fork Flathead, Bansak has since conducted ecological and water quality investigations around Northwest Montana, led research activities on large, pristine salmon rivers in northern British Columbia and southeast Alaska, constructed environmental sensor networks, and been active in the battle against Aquatic Invasive Species.

Flathead Audubon’s May potluck and silent auction is back this year and will be held in Room 26 on the east side of Gateway Community Center Mall in Kalispell. The doors open at 5 p.m. with the potluck dinner at 6 p.m. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. There will not be a virtual component to this meeting due to the number of activities occurring. Bring your own plates, utensils, and cups. There is no sink to wash dishes. Proceeds from the silent auction benefit the conservation education program. Officers and board members will also be elected. For more information, go to www.flatheadaudubon.org. The program is free and open to the public.