KEYNOTE PRESENTATION – Into Whooperland – A Photographer’s Journey with Whooping Cranes – November 7, 2026

DATE:  Saturday, November 7, 2026

TIME:  Noon – 12:50 PM

LOCATION:  Crete Hall, Hutchins Street Square, Lodi, CA

Into Whooperland – A Photographer’s Journey with Whooping Cranes – Michael Forsberg

Conservation photographer Michael Forsberg spent five years with camera-in-hand exploring the natural history of whooping cranes across the continent, meeting people who love them, and discovering how these tall, magnificent, and rarest of cranes are navigating our 21st-century world.  In this multimedia presentation, Michael will take you on a wild, wonderful, and sometimes heartbreaking journey from their wintering grounds along the Texas Gulf Coast to their remote nesting grounds in northern Canada, and on migration through the heart of the Great Plains.

Mike will be signing and selling his book Into Whooperland – A Photographer’s Journey with Whooping Cranes before and after his talk on Saturday.  His book will also be available to purchase from the Art Show during the Festival.

Michael Forsberg is a conservation photographer, author, and educator whose 30-year career has focused on wildlife, grasslands, and watersheds in North America’s Great Plains.  Mike co-founded and directs the Platte Basin Timelapse project – a conservation storytelling project that informs scientific research, builds educational content, and tells stories of a Great Plains watershed in motion.

Mike is a Senior Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, a member of The Photo Society, and on faculty with IANR at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.  In 2017, he received the Sierra Club’s Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography and the Environmental Impact Award from the North American Nature Photographers Association. HE lives with his family and a collection of unruly animals in Lincoln, Nebraska.

THIS IS A FREE PRESENTATION