April 6, 2010

BCU to Host Award-winning Environmental Author, Journalist

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Briar Cliff University will host award-winning environmental author and journalist Richard Manning at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14, in the Saint Francis Center on the Briar Cliff campus. Sponsored by the BCU Center for Prairie Studies, this free event is open to all.

Manning’s presentation, titled Nature's Instructions for a Sustainable Future are Written in Grasslands, will elaborate on the self-sustaining characteristics of Siouxland’s once dominant ecosystem. 

“Manning will shed light on several topics of interest to Siouxlanders, such as sustaining characteristics of our local prairies,” said Brian T. Hazlett, Ph.D., professor of biology, director of environmental sciences and the Center for Prairie Studies at Briar Cliff.  “Examples include members of the pea family that pull nitrogen from the atmosphere and fertilize neighboring plants,” Dr. Hazlett said.

Locally, the author is best known for his book Grassland: The History, Biology, Politics, and Promise of the American Prairie.  His most recent book, Rewilding the West: Restoration in a Prairie Landscape, was named a finalist for the 2010 Orion Magazine Book Award. Manning also has written books on international agriculture and its environmental and social impacts, logging and mining in the Western United States, among others. 

Manning serves as a senior research associate at the National Native Children's Trauma Center based at the University of Montana.  He lives with his wife, Tracy Stone-Manning, near Lolo, Mont. 

Established in 2009 through a grant from the Gilchrist Foundation, the Center for Prairie Studies fosters campus efforts that forge an identity with our immediate environment. For more information, email prairiestudies@briarcliff.edu.

Enrollment at Briar Cliff University is over 1,100 students from 28 states. Students are educated in the Franciscan tradition of excellence in the liberal arts and career preparation in an environment of care, compassion and openness to all. For more information, please visit www.briarcliff.edu.

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