“Wonderland: A Yellowstone Story” with author Jeff Groff (August 20, 2026)

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 23:00:00 GMT

On Thursday, Aug. 20, at 7:00 pm, the NCTC Conservation Lecture Series will present “Wonderland: A Yellowstone Story” with author Jeff Groff, at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV.

Reserve Your Spot for Upcoming Public Programs:

To register for the upcoming program, please email: NCTC-Lecture-Series@fws.gov. Be sure to include the program date in the subject or memo line, and list ALL the names of all attending adults in the body of your message, as well as any questions you may have. Children’s names are not required.

Yellowstone is a place of boiling mud, shooting water, and thundering bison—a landscape so extraordinary that nineteenth-century visitors simply called it Wonderland. In Jeff Groff’s new book, two professors and a group of college students spend six nights exploring that landscape aboard a well-worn van named Rocinante.

Join them as they uncover the super volcano beneath the geysers, trace the ecology of wildfires, and grapple with our complicated relationship with wolves—and with the tragic history of the Indigenous peoples who have called this place home for millennia.

Along the way, the book follows the arc of the national park idea itself: from the expeditions that first captured the public imagination to the ongoing struggles for preservation and restoration that define Yellowstone today. Part travel narrative, part natural history, part philosophical reflection—the Yellowstone story like you’ve never heard it before.

Jeff Groff is a professor of physics and environmental science at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. He developed the interdisciplinary Yellowstone National Park field course on which this book is based and has led students into the field there for years. He holds a PhD in applied science from the College of William & Mary. As founder of Starlight Studio, Jeff is committed to making experiential, place-based education accessible to students who might not otherwise have the opportunity.

This public lecture will be held in the Byrd Auditorium at the National Conservation Training Center, 698 Conservation Way, Shepherdstown, WV 25443.

Doors open at 6:30 PM.

Program begins at 7:00 PM.

This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome!

Reserve Your Spot for Upcoming Public Programs:

This lecture will be recorded and available online Sept. 3 at 2:00pm at: https://www.youtube.com/@usfws/streams

For more information, please contact NCTC-Lecture-Series@fws.gov.

Please donate. The Friends of the National Conservation Training Center is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization and your donations are tax deductible.

Seeding Your Future Middle School Conference at Shepherd (November 07, 2026)

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Seeding Your Future Middle School Conference at Shepherd (actual date TBD)

NCTC Open House (April 16, 2027)

Fri, 16 Apr 2027 04:00:00 GMT

NCTC Open House with Teddy Roosevelt impersonator. No public lecture

Friends of the NCTC upcoming events

“Wonderland: A Yellowstone Story” with author Jeff Groff (August 20, 2026)

Seeding Your Future Middle School Conference at Shepherd (November 07, 2026)

NCTC Open House (April 16, 2027)