Brave the Wild River with author Melissa Sevigny

In partnership with the University of Michigan Biological Station, the Charlevoix Public Library welcomes Melissa Sevigny, the author of the award-winning book Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon, to northern Michigan. The award-winning science journalist at KNAU (Arizona Public Radio) will talk about the grand adventures of Drs. Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, two pioneering U-M botanists who frequented the research and teaching campus in Pellston, Mich., throughout their careers. The two trailblazing women in science took a historic boat trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1938 to record the plants that lived along what was then the most dangerous river in the world. Hear the thrilling story of Clover and Jotter’s 43-day sojourn that powerfully influenced the future of botany, risking their lives for a plant collection just as that area in the American West was starting to be transformed by people. Their plant collection would one day become vital for efforts to protect and restore the river ecosystems.The event will be followed by a reception with the author.