Listening to the Land is a winter speaker series offered January through May and organized by the North Coast Land Conservancy and the Necanicum Watershed Council, in partnership with the Seaside Public Library. Join Seaside geologist Tom Horning as he kicks off the 2016 season, which will focus on water. “The Geology of Water” talk will take you on an imaginary tour of our shoreline through time, as seawater squished sediments into the rock that now forms our horizon, and…

Rain plus trees equals rainforest, right? Not really wrong, says naturalist Neal Maine, but that equation doesn’t begin to capture the complex interactions among air and water and leaf and soil and microorganisms and all the other elements required to create a functioning temperate rainforest. Join Maine for a conversation in words and images about the forest native to this coast in a presentation titled “How to See a Rainforest.” To begin to understand our rainforest you need to do…

The unusual mix of plants found in Gearhart’s Butterfield Fen is no accident. It begins with water: falling from clouds and ultimately percolating up through layers of sediment. It took hundreds of years to create the fen. And like everything else in the coastal landscape, it is in constant, slow flux. Join field ecologist Kathleen Sayce tracking the course of water in the Clatsop Plains—rain, rivers, dune swale lakes, fens, and more—in a presentation titled “Into the Fens: Exploring Clatsop…

Join the Friends of the Seaside Library as they welcome award-winning conservation biologist Thor Hanson, author of The Triumph of Seeds. From the tropical rain forest to the frozen arctic tundra to our morning breakfast table, seeds are everywhere, ubiquitous yet easy to overlook. However, as Thor Hanson reveals in Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, & Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History, seeds are more than just the vessels for future plants. Indeed, they are…

Things happen in the near-shore ocean off Oregon that don’t happen everywhere else in the Eastern North Pacific, along the path of the California Current. Life abounds—as do challenges, some of them perennial and some of them specific to this moment in Earth’s history. Join marine ecologist Kirsten Grorud-Colvert, PhD, for a wide-ranging talk about the sea beside us in a presentation titled “Into the Deep: Exploring Oregon’s Ocean” at the Seaside Public Library. It is the final program in…

The Friends of the Seaside Library host Rex and Keiko Ziak who will discuss "The Final Chapter of World War II: Peace and Reconciliation". Pearl Harbor survivor Ed Johann will also be in attendance. This event accompanies the photographic exhibit of images from the Obon Society depicting the story of the Yosegaki Hinomaru (Good Luck Flag) on display May 25-June 30, 2016. Before sending their young men to serve in the military during World War II, Japanese families prepared small flags signed by family…

The Seaside Library will host author Tim Palmer as part of their Writers at Work series. Tim will discuss his book, Field Guide to Oregon Rivers beginning at 7:00pm. Despite its watery reputation, Oregon has lacked a field guide for the many celebrated rivers and streams—that is, until now.  Tim Palmer, preeminent river conservationist, photographer, and author, has assembled the “Field Guide to Oregon Rivers,” a thorough reference profiling 120 waterways throughout the state. The rivers range from the Alsea…

The Seaside Library invites budding artists to enroll in “Drawing Skulls: Real and Imagined” with local artist and illustrator, Dorota Haber-Lehigh. This workshop, sponsored by the Friends of the Seaside Library,  will occur on Saturday, October 29, 2016, at 1:00 pm. Topics covered include the techniques of proportional enlargement and bilateral symmetry to draw human and mammal skulls.  While specimens of bird and animal skulls will be available, participants are encouraged to bring their own images of animal anatomy for…

Join marine ecologist Florence Sullivan for Listening to the Land: Inside Gray Whales. Sullivan will discuss the use of new research techniques to expand what we know about these and other marine mammals: what they eat and how they forage, for example, as well as how ocean noise—natural and human-caused—affects their behavior and overall health. Listening to the Land is a monthly winter speaker series offered January - May and presented by North Coast Land Conservancy and the Necanicum Watershed…

Be a part of "The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie" with Adam Miller at the Seaside Public Library. Woody Guthrie wrote over 1,000 songs in his lifetime and his musical legacy includes political, traditional, and children’s songs, along with ballads and improvised works. Come hear Adam Miller, a renowned American folksinger and storyteller, tell Guthrie’s story through song and spoken word. The audience is encouraged to sing-along to these American classics.  

The Seaside Public Library will host "Tough Girl: An Olympian's Journey" with Carolyn Wood, a 1960 Rome Olympics Gold medal winner as a member of the U.S. women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Wood will discuss her memoir about training for and competing in the XVII Olympiad. Weaving through that story is another one that recounts her five-hundred-mile solo trek along the Camino de Santiago in 2012. Carolyn will also talk about growing up in mid-century Portland, of being a closeted athlete,…

Bring the kids for a night of food, crafts and storytime. Kids can sign up for a free library card and receive a free book (while supplies last). In collaboration with the Seaside Public Library and Clatsop County Kinder Ready.

Do you like to draw? Like seashells? Combine the two and sign up for the workshop "Drawing Natural Objects" with Dorota Haber-Lehigh, a local artist and illustrator, at the Seaside Public Library. Dorota will present exercises to loosen the hand which will help to draw with confidence. The class will discuss light and shadow, how to shade, apply texture, and make your objects look realistic. Participants will draw sea shells using her techniques. Shells will be provided for examples, however,…

Join assistant project leader of the Salmonid Life Cycle Monitoring Project, Derek Wiley for Listening to the Land: Life in the River at the Seaside Public Library. Derek has spent the past decade researching salmon and steelhead and making estimates about their abundance and survival rates on the northern Oregon coast. He will also provide a special screening of his films documenting the freshwater life of native salmon in our region. Listening to the Land is a monthly winter speaker…

The Seaside Library Presents: Writers at Work - Conservation Project "Fish Tales: Traditions and Challenges of Seafood in Oregon" with Jennifer Burns Bright. In this conversation Jennifer, a food and travel writer, helps participants explore our relationship with the products of the sea and cultural traditions involving fishing, eating seafood, and understanding the ocean’s bounty and challenges. Through the Conversation Project, Oregon Humanities offers this program to engage community members in thoughtful, challenging conversations about ideas critical to our daily…

Join Astoria biologist Deborah Jaques for Listening to the Land: Tracking the Brown Pelican at the Seaside Public Library. Deborah will share information about the birds’ natural history and migration patterns, informed in part by results from a recent electronic tracking study. She will highlight conservation concerns such as the importance of preserving key forage fish populations. Deborah will also share photos of her experiences with these birds, including images from a December trip to the heart of the breeding…

In “A Town Called Seaside,” author and historian Gloria Linkey will be our tour guide as she takes us through Seaside’s origins as a summer resort town in the 1940s to the thriving tourist attraction the town has become today. Linkey’s research conjures up beautiful images of pre-World War II bygone days, where people walked the “Prom” in fine attire, and frequented the state-of-the-art aquarium. Families could also spend an afternoon watching Lone Ranger serials at one of Seaside’s two…

Join Kate Holleran for Listening to the Land: Dam, Beaver! Dam! at the Seaside Public Library. Kate is a senior natural resources scientist at Metro and has implemented several projects to improve the aquatic and forest habitat along Johnson Creek, on Chehalem Ridge, and on other local streams, much to the delight of beavers. She’ll talk about beaver restoration research and her own experience with beavers, exploring how her team has lured beavers back to streams and how adjacent landowners…

Join Gearhart naturalist and photographer Neal Maine for the final Listening to the Land presentation of 2017. During Listening to the Land: Wildlife, the Artist’s Eye, and You, Neal will explore how artists can connect us with the natural world and drive us to protect it. With video, still photographs, poetry and music, he will share his own journey to better understand the natural world through not just the logical left brain but the more intuitive, creative right brain. Listening…

Come to the Seaside Public Library for "Lightning in a Saddle: The Evelyn Hamilton Story" with Joe Kurmaskie. Joe will recount the untold but true story of British long distance cyclist, Evelyn Hamilton, who became a record breaking/gender bending figure in pre-World War II cycling. She was the first British woman to ride 1000 miles in seven days becoming one of Britain’s most decorated female cyclists. Joe Kurmaskie, AKA The Metal Cowboy, is an award winning journalist and travel writer.  He…

Live Music: Wes Wahrmund at the Seaside Public Library. Come enjoy an evening of solo guitar at 7pm. Wes plays classical guitar with light jazz and some original tunes.

At Listening to the Land: Exploring Conservation Forestry, Peter Hayes will share the history of Hyla Woods, a non-industrial private forest that his family manages with conservation as a driving value. He will discuss the need for working models of operations that clearly maintain and restore the land’s health and wealth while being profitable enough to the owners and workers that they will stay involved.

Listening to the Land: The Enigmatic Marbled Murrelet and Oregon's Marine Reserves with Kim Nelson, a Research Wildlife Biologist at Oregon State University. Join Kim as she shares about the Enigmatic Marbled Murrelet in Oregon. Land conservation as well as ocean-based protections, like Oregon’s five marine reserve sites, house the potential to benefit these birds greatly. This event is presented by the Necanicum Watershed Council, Seaside Public Library and Friends of Falcon Marine Reserve.

Listening to the Land: Life in the Intertidal Zone with Melissa Keyser, Program Coordinator at the Haystack Rock Awareness Program. More details will be added as they are received. This event is presented by the Necanicum Watershed Council, Seaside Public Library and Friends of Falcon Marine Reserve.