The Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center, located in Naples, Florida, is hosting a lecture series in honor of the reserve’s 40th anniversary. The series focuses on the history of the Rookery Bay area and the establishment of the research reserve, which encompasses 110,000 acres of coastal lands and waters on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The Lunch & Learn lectures take place from 12 noon to 1 p.m. and cost $15 each, which includes lunch. The Jan. 29, 2019 lecture will be presented by Alison Haynes, a long-time volunteer, who lives within the boundaries of the reserve in an off-the-grid cottage on Little Marco Island that she and her husband built in the early 1990s. Alison will speak about the beginning of the reserve and its growth through the years.

Future lectures include presentations by staff member Renee Wilson, communications coordinator at Rookery Bay Research Reserve (Feb. 26); researcher Steve Wilkie, master's candidate at Florida Gulf Coast University (March 19); and filmmakers Elam and Nic Stoltzfus, of the Live Oak Production Group (April 16).

Advance registration is required to attend. Find out more at the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve website.