WEST BRANCH, IOWA– Dr. Richard Baker continues his series of lectures about geology in our national parks this summer, with presentations focusing on Big Bend (June 19), Yosemite (July 24), and Hawaii Volcanoes (August 25). Dr. Baker is a professor emeritus in the Geoscience Department at University of Iowa. He completed his doctorate research at Yellowstone National Park. He has traveled to many of our national parks and has taught a course on them at the University of Iowa. The lectures are free and last about one hour. They begin at the visitor center of Herbert Hoover National Historic Site at 7:00 p.m. on June 19 and July 24, and at 1:00 p.m. on August 25.
The lectures are offered in recognition of President Herbert Hoover's interest in geology and conservation. As a boy growing up in West Branch, Iowa, Hoover collected interesting rocks from along nearby railroad tracks. As an adult, before becoming famous as a humanitarian and later as President of the United States, he and his wife Lou Henry Hoover graduated from Stanford University with degrees in geology. Herbert Hoover turned his formal education into a successful career as a mining engineer, and wrote books and articles about mining. The two Hoovers even translated from Latin the 16th century mining book De Re Metallica, published one hundred years ago in 1912.
A lifelong fishing enthusiast, Herbert Hoover enjoyed also outdoor recreation and valued conservation of natural resources. During Hoover's presidency from 1929 to 1933, the size of our national forests expanded by more than two million acres, and the land area of our national parks and monuments increased by 40 percent.
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch, Iowa at exit 254 off I-80. Both are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. For more information go online at www.nps.gov/heho or call (319) 643-2541.
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
110 Parkside Drive
PO Box 607
West Branch, Iowa 52358
319 643-2541 phone
319 643-7864 fax
Twitter: @HooverNPS
Facebook: HerbertHooverNHS
