Free Lecture with Ken Hickman

Saturday, May 2, 7:00 p.m.
UC Sedgwick Reserve, Tipton House
Gates open at 5:30 for those who wish to picnic outdoors before the lecture.
Seating is limited to 90; bring a flashlight for returning to the parking area in the dark.

In this photo-rich evening talk, Ken Hickman will introduce the key concepts of camera trapping, and show its value as a wildlife research and monitoring method by taking us for a photographic tour of the animals and insights captured at his study sites (and pet projects) around California, including the Santa Cruz Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Mono County, and Tehachapis. Ken has been building homemade, high-quality camera traps and assisting and conducting camera trap based wildlife studies with public and private land holders in California for over 5 years. Along the way, his camera trapping has captured more than 150 species of mammals and birds and assisted in wildlife documentation, behavioral studies, and resource management and conservation planning.

Ken Hickman is a naturalist and wildlife researcher with a specialty in camera trapping. He has a B.S. in Physics from UC Santa Barbara, 20 years experience in technology & software development, and has been building high-quality camera traps to study wildlife for over 5 years. Current and past camera trapping projects include: a Coast Rangelands Study on the San Mateo Coast to document wildlife biodiversity around seasonally grazed grasslands; ongoing wildlife monitoring with the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in the Santa Cruz Mountains; wildlife documenting with private land holders in the Tehachapi Mountains and Mono County to help inform ranch development and use of Federal improvement grants; and a 3-year survey on the Chimineas Ranch & Carrizo Plain Ecological Reserve with CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife biologists and California Academy of Sciences Mammalogist Dr. Chris Wemmer. Ken’s camera trapping photos and natural history writing can be found at: http://natureofaman.blogspot.com/

Homemade, High-quality Camera Trap. Photo credit Ken Hickman.