WAYNE — The Kennebec Land Trust will hold its 11th Lyceum series, Maine Mammals and Their Habitats. Maine biologists and conservationists will present informative, free programs for the public this spring and summer. Leaders from The Maine Chapter of The Wildlife Society will also present Lyceum field trips in April and June. All Lyceum events are open to the public.

KLT’s annual spring programs are modeled after the early New England lyceums that began in 1826 in Massachusetts. For many years New England lyceums hosted lectures, debates and concerts for public audiences. All programs are held at the Ladd Recreation Center, 26 Gott Road. Snow date for any cancelled program is Thursday, April 11.

The first session, “Conserving Sustainable Landscapes: Using Canada Lynx and American Martens as Umbrella Species to Enhance Landscape Planning,” will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 21. Daniel Harrison, professor of wildlife ecology and sustainable forestry, Department of Wildlife Ecology, The University of Maine, will discuss lynx and marten and landscape conservation, sustainable landscapes for martens and lynx in Maine’s commercially managed forests, and future projections for marten and lynx habitat in Maine given recent forest trends.

“The Challenges of Deer Management in Maine: Population Trends and Habitats from Southern to Northern Maine” will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28. Lee Kantar, deer and moose biologist, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, will discuss deer management issues, deer ecology and seasonal changes, and moose and deer adaptations to winter in Maine.

“Maine’s Black Bear Monitoring Project: Three Decades of Research on Maine’s Bear Population” will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 4. Randy Cross, bear biologist at MDIFW, will discuss black bear biology, natural history, management and MDIFW’s bear monitoring and research program.

From 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, July 25, Steve Pelletier, principal scientist at Stantec, and forester and wildlife biologist, will provide an overview of common and rare bat species in Maine, bat life cycles, White Nose Syndrome and bat monitoring tools.

The 2013 Lyceum Field Programs are as follows:

“Mole, Vole, Shrew, Mouse, or Lemming?,” 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, at Hallowell City Hall. An optional hike will take place at 6 p.m. For information call KLT, 377-2848. Learn about many of Maine’s small mammals, their habitats and ecology, and how they fit into the nature of Maine’s woods, wetlands and fields. Don Mairs, expert naturalist and biologist, will present a program with mounted specimens.

Bat ecology will be the topic from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 6, at KLT Hutchinson Pond Conservation Area, Manchester. Aaron Svedlow and Trevor Peterson of The Maine Chapter of The Wildlife Society will lead a brief field trip to learn about how bats fit into the ecology of Maine’s forests, where bats go in the winter and how they navigate in the dark. Try your hand at recording bat calls using a “bat detector” to record ultrasonic echolocation calls.

Visit www.tklt.org for a complete list of 2013 program offerings, KLT properties and directions.

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