Monthly Presentations

Burrowing Owl. Photo by Lou Staunton/Audubon Photography Awards.

Join us for a presentation

View Our Calendar for Upcoming Presentations

Monthly Programs

We host a public program on a bird-related topic nine months of the year. We often arrange to have local birders share their favorite birding places or experiences, biologists talk about their research, and natural resource professionals update us on wildlife and land management strategies.

**Tuesday, September 15, 6:15 pm at Hillcrest Library**
Join Staff Attorney Bryan Hurlbutt to learn about *Advocates for the West’s* efforts to protect birds and other wildlife from mining and industrial threats.
As free lawyers for the environment, *Advocates for the West* protects and defends the West’s public lands, water, fish, wildlife, and communities. The non-profit environmental law firm empowers conservation organizations, Native American Tribes, and environmental advocates through top-notch, strategic legal services, including in a decade-long fight to safeguard the Boise River watershed from the CuMo Mine Exploration Project.
The CuMo exploration site is upstream of half of Idaho’s population and threatens sensitive species such as the Great Grey Owl, American Goshawk, wolverine, and the rare plant Sacajawea’s bitterroot. Through the project, Idaho Copper hopes to find sufficient copper and molybdenum to excavate one of the largest open-pit accessible molybdenum mines in the world—all within the Boise River watershed.
Other efforts Bryan will address include *Advocates for the West’s* fight on many fronts to stop the massive open-pit cyanide leach Stibnite Gold Mine in Idaho’s South Fork Salmon River Watershed, and a large portfolio of cases to defend the imperiled Greater Sage-Grouse and their habitats across 71 million acres in the American West from threats of habitat fragmentation and industrialization.
**About Bryan Hurlbutt:**
Bryan joined Advocates for the West in September 2011 and works mostly on cases with the Idaho Conservation League. He has successfully litigated and settled numerous cases to protect Idaho's wild lands, rivers, fish, and wildlife. Bryan also oversees our program for Legal Fellows, Law Clerks, and other up-and-coming environmental lawyers. Bryan served on the board of the Environment and Natural Resources Section of the Idaho State Bar and is currently on the board of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.
Bryan grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho, studied physics at Colorado College (2004), and earned his JD from Columbia Law School (2010). During law school, Bryan spent as much time as he could in the Columbia Environmental Law Clinic and worked as a summer law clerk at Hudson Riverkeeper (2008) and the Waterkeeper Alliance (2009). After law school, Bryan moved to Boise and clerked for Justice Roger Burdick on the Idaho Supreme Court.
Most days, you can find Bryan enjoying nature in the Boise foothills on a morning dog hike, midday run, and/or evening bike ride. He and his family love to travel, from regularly road tripping around the West to the occasional trip abroad. He also loves exploring Idaho: in 2018, Bryan planned and ran a marathon—every month that year—through every federally-designated wilderness area in the Gem State. He also enjoys playing the classical guitar and goofing around with his kids.

**This program is free and open to everyone.**

Burrowing Owl bird — Don’t be shy!

If there is a particular topic you are interested in learning more about, or would even like to give a presentation, please contact us at **info@goldeneagleaudubon.org**
*Burrowing Owl. Photo by Mick Thompson.*

Pileated Woodpeckers by Jan Nichols/Audubon Photography Awards

Black-capped Chickadee by Linda Scher/Audubon Photography Awards

Watch Past Presentations and Classes

May 2025

Prevent Window Collisions with American Bird Conservancy

January 2025

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronical of Vanished Birds with Christopher Cokinos, author

July 2024

Discover the Prairie Falcon with Zoe Bonerbo, BSU Raptor Researcher

June 2024

The State of the Great Salt Lake with Katie Newburn, Education & Outreach Director for FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake

May 2024

Camas National Wildlife Refuge with Tim Reynolds from Friends of Camas NWR and Lucian Davis, Intermountain Bird Observatory Lead Bander at Camas NWR