This year commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Alaska State Legislature’s designation of McNeil River as a State Game Sanctuary in 1967.  It was an incredible thing for the State of Alaska to do in designating this protected area for the world’s largest congregation of brown bears gathering to feed on spawning Pacific salmon during the summer months.  Now, 50 years later, McNeil River has changed very little and the bears still “come first.”  McNeil has been called “an icon for the protection of wild places, and above all a living monument to the Alaskan brown bear.”  People from Alaska, and around the country and the world, who visit the sanctuary have incomparable wildlife experiences there every summer.

Come celebrate the 50th anniversary of McNeil and 50 years of brown bear conservation with stories and talks from some of the people who have spent time on the ground there.  Tom Walker (photographer and co-author of RIVER OF BEARS), Doug Chadwick (biologist and author), Larry Aumiller (McNeil’s 30-year manager), Jeff Fair (author of IN WILD TRUST, the latest book about McNeil River), Clem Tillion (the legislator who helped designate McNeil in 1967), and others.  It should be a great night for wildlife stories and Alaskan brown bears.

Bear Tooth Theatre

Anchorage, AK

$10 General Admission

Thursday, May 11

7:30 p.m.