Lansdowne Lectures

Along the Klamath river in Northern CA, USA, tribal-led river restoration efforts are improving habitat conditions and offering new models for river restoration. Karuk Tribe managers and their partners are working to remove dams, reconnect floodplains post-mining, and reintegrate intentional fire regimes to create landscapes resilient to flooding, drought, and catastrophic wildfire. These efforts not only show promise for buffering against extreme events but also are having profound impacts on the river hydrology, for example by increasing dry-season streamflow and benefitting salmonids by sustaining summer cold water refugia. In this talk, Cleo Woelfle-Hazard will present two Karuk-led river restoration processes: developing for the Karuk Ancestral Territory, along the Klamath River a fire-vegetation-water-fish model; and, a post-mining floodplain reconnection planning project. The talk will explore what shared questions and understandings emerged, where water and fire worlds fundamentally diverge, and present principles to guide future collaborations between modelers, river managers, and place-based communities.

Item

Full fathom 5000 : The expedition of HMS Challenger and the strange animals it found in the deep sea

(2025-10-16) Bell, Graham

The Lansdowne Lecture tells the story of one of the great voyages of history. The circumnavigation made by HMS Challenger had momentous consequences: not only uncovering a whole new range of animals whose existence had never before been suspected, but also kick-starting the exploration of the oceans. It was the first to explore the deep sea it was not even known for sure whether any animals could survive in the perpetually cold, dark waters of the abyss under a crushing pressure. The voyage settled this question for good by capturing the strange and bizarre creatures that live a kilometre or more below the surface of the sea.

Item

Lecture by Tony Feher, Visual Arts

(2004-11-17) Feher, Tony

Item

On the importance of good beginnings

(2025-10-07) Thayer, Zaneta

The idea that stress can influence our health has become well accepted. But did you know that stress experienced in early life, including by your parents before you were born, could also impact your health? This talk will describe case studies of how parental and childhood exposure to traumatic experiences, such as residential schools and genocide, can affect individual health and wellbeing. While these early experiences are significant, our research shows these outcomes are not set in stone. We will discuss concrete actions that we can take as a society, as friends, and as individuals to support healing and improve everyone’s health and well-being.

Item

Remembering, restorying, and reclaiming in the wake of erasure

(2025-09-13) Ambo, Theresa Jean; Stewart, Kelly Leah

What becomes possible when remembering histories are led by Indigenous communities and accountable to Indigenous homelands? Drawing from California-based examples, this lecture offers a guide for how the decolonial practices of remembering, restorying, and reclaiming can reimagine archival work, institutional accountability, and public memory by centering Indigenous knowledge, sovereignty, and ceremonial care to construct prosperous Indigenous futures.