Virtual Lecture: "The Devils Hole Pupfish: Survival, Extinction, and Environmental History in the US West"

On Thursday February 2, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. (ET) Author and wildland firefighter Kevin Brown will present “The Devils Hole Pupfish: Survival, Extinction, and Environmental History in the US West” online on the National Conservation Training Center Livestream at https://nctc.fws.gov/broadcasts.

The Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) is an endangered fish species confined to one small habitat east of Death Valley, in southern Nevada. Despite its small range and population size—which has never been more than a few hundred individuals—this species has been a frequent subject of scientific study since the early twentieth century. The Devils Hole pupfish also became one of the first controversial endangered species of the modern environmental era, with “Save the Pupfish” and “Kill the Pupfish” bumper stickers circulating around Nevada in the 1970s. Kevin Brown uses tools from environmental history to examine the pupfish’s past and explore what the species’ recent history can tell us about survival and extinction.

Kevin C. Brown is the author of Devils Hole Pupfish: The Unexpected Survival of an Endangered Species in the Modern American West (University of Nevada Press, 2021). He earned his PhD in history at Carnegie Mellon University and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Brown first began writing about the Devils Hole pupfish while working as a researcher for the American Society for Environmental History and Death Valley National Park. He currently works as a wildland firefighter in California.

This talk is as part of NCTC’s Conservation Lecture Series, which is cosponsored by The Friends of the NCTC (http://www.friendsofnctc.org). 

For more information, please contact Mark Madison (304-876-7276; mark_madison@fws.gov) or visit nctc.fws.gov/history/publiclectures.html.