Every summer, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Darrin Fresh Water Institute and the Historical Society of Bolton co-host a series of free presentations on the natural and cultural history of Lake George and the Adirondacks.

This year’s series is especially diverse and its presenters are widely recognized for their expertise, said David G. Diehl, the Fresh Water Institute’s site manager and the organizer of the series.

On July 11, Betsy Lowe, the former DEC Region Five director who was a founder of the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, will recount the story of how that museum of natural history came into being.

Jamie Brown, who was appointed the Lake George Land Conservancy’s executive director in late 2014, will speak on July 18 about the cooperative effort of the Conservancy, a landowner, the Town of Bolton, local businesses and individual citizens to preserve the Pinnacle. Prior to leading the Conservancy, Brown was the Director of Land Protection for Ducks Unlimited. He has a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Maine, a law degree from Seton Hall and a Bachelors Degree from Boston University.

On July 25. Dr. Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer will present “Scientific Research on Lake George: A Retrospective and Opportunities for the Future.” A professor of biology at RPI, Nierzwicki-Bauer was director of the Darrin Fresh Water Institute for 23 years. Her team’s 30-Year Study of Lake George was a landmark, documenting a number of changes in the lake’s chemistry and serving as a foundation for the Jefferson Project. She has also led research studies on the lake’s invasive aquatic species, not only to understand them but to keep them from endangering the lake’s ecosystem.

Kenyon Simpson, a master trainer for the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, will offer “A Look at Some Classic Adirondack Deer Guns, circa 1820-1920s.” Simpson is a retired Bolton Central School teacher who has delivered lectures in this series in the past on topics such as the life and work of Wilson A. Bentley, who spent his life studying and photographing snowflakes at his farm near Jericho, Vermont.

Tony Hall, the editor of the Lake George Mirror since 1998, will deliver August 8’s talk, this one on “Change and Continuity in Country Journalism: Sixty Years in the Adirondacks.” His father, Rob Hall, brought his family to the Adirondacks in 1956 to publish small weekly papers. Hall will discuss the lessons he has distilled from both his own and his father’s experience.

Dr. Charles Boylen, a past director and associate director of the Darrin Fresh Water Institute in Bolton Landing as well as a professor emeritus at RPI, will present a talk on a non-scientific topic on August 15: “The Penny Postcard and Lake George: What Visitors Sent Home.”

“Lost Ski Areas of the Southern Adirondacks” will be the topic on August 22. The presenter will be Jeremy Davis, a meteorologist by profession who has written four books on early ski areas in New Hampshire, Vermont, the Lake George area and the northern Adirondacks. In his book, Lost Ski Areas of the Southern Adirondacks, Davis writes about ski areas in Bolton, Lake George and Warrensburg, in addition to approximately 30 others spread throughout the Adirondack Park.

The series will conclude on August 29 with “On Assignment: A Science Journalist’s Adventures from the Adirondacks to Africa” by Lake George summer resident Cheryl Lyn Dybas. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, BioScience, Canadian Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, and National Wildlife among many other publications. She is also a contributing writer for Oceanography magazine. A featured speaker on science journalism and conservation biology at many institutions, Dybas serves on committees and boards for several scientific societies, among them: the Ecological Society of America and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography.

All lectures are held in the lodge at the Darrin Fresh Water Institute, which is located on Route 9N in Bolton Landing, Lectures start at 7 pm and are open to the public. The series is made possible with financial support from the Knapp Fund.

Photos from above: Kenyon Simpson at Black Bass Antiques in Bolton Landing, Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer, and Jamie Brown courtesy of Lake George Mirror.

A version of this story was first published in the Lake George Mirror.