On Feb. 25 at 7 p.m., natural history filmmaker and a co-founder of the American Conservation Film Festival, John Grabowska will present three films highlighting our’nations National Parks, from the mountains to the desert to the sea. The two-hour presentation will be in the Byrd Auditorium at the National Conservation Training Center, 698 Conservation Way. The Conservation Lecture Series is co-sponsored by The Friends of the NCTC and ACFF.

‘Crown of the Continent’ profiles the largest national park, Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias — larger than Switzerland, with higher mountains. ‘Ribbon of Sand,’ with Meryl Streep interpreting the writings of Rachel Carson, is an exaltation and elegy of the transitory barrier islands of the Outer Banks. Lastly, ‘Sky Island’ featuring Pulitzer Prize winning American Indian author, N. Scott Momaday, journeys through New Mexico’s ancient Bandelier and the spectacular Valles Caldera, an epicenter of climate change effects in the Jemez Mountains of the Desert Southwest. The orchestral scores for all three films were composed by Academy Award winner Todd Boekelheide.

John Grabowska specializes in landscape films on the American West and the Alaskan wilderness. His films win awards at festivals around the world and are broadcast nationally on PBS as prime time specials. He has lectured on natural history filmmaking at The National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution and led environmental media workshops in Argentina and Panama.

The presentation is free and open to the public. For more information please contact Mark Madison at (304) 876-7276.