For the eighth straight year, the North Branch Nature Center will continue its popular public program series, “Naturalist Journeys,” by offer­ing five Friday evening presentations in January, February, and March, at the Unitarian Church on Main Street in Montpelier.

These programs will explore natu­ral places in Vermont and beyond with scientists and authors who share stories, images and insights from their travels and discoveries. The programs begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 20, Jan. 27, Feb. 24, March 9, and March 16.

Starting off the series is ecologist Rick Paradis, from the University of Vermont. For years, Paradis has led groups of students through the high­lands of Scotland, teaching about this unique landscape. In his program, “The Natural History and Conserva­tion of the Scottish Highlands,” he will investigate the conservation pro­grams that have developed under the distinct cultural, political, and eco­nomic systems found there.

On January 27, Bryan Pfeiffer, lo­cal naturalist and author, will lead an armchair hike into the depths of the Grand Canyon in his lecture/ slideshow “Into the Canyon, Into the Earth.”

On February 24, Heather Forcier will present a powerful collection of images and stories from over 10 years of nature photography. From Churchill, Manitoba to the Galapagos Islands, Forcier’s travels and experi­ences will be the focal point of her presentation, “Spectacles of Nature: A Photographic Journey.”

On March 11, the focus will shift closer to home with a presentation from Alex Lehning, an archeological conservator with the Lake Champ­lain Maritime Museum. The waters of Lake Champlain are home to the largest collection of shipwrecks in North America, and Lehning will tell the stories of several of these vessels, and explore the environmental is­sues and challenges that affect their documentation and conservation in his talk, “The Shipwrecks of Lake Champlain.”

As winter draws nearer to its end, the series concludes on March 16 with a voyage to eastern Nepal. Tracking requires a particular quality of at­tention and intention to observe the markings in snow, the scratches on tree trunks. What is revealed if we bring that same attention to tracking spirit? Join anthropologist Ann Arm­brecht in her presentation “Tracking Spirit: A Pilgrimage to the Himalayas and Home,” for her reflections on the ways this attention to spirit also guides traditional herbal medicine in the U.S., and for what the presence or absence of spirit reveals about the cultural dimensions of sustainability.

Donations are welcomed for all programs. Snacks and drinks will also be available.

The North Branch Nature Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing quality environmental edu­cation for children and adults through hands-on encounters with nature and first-hand accounts of the natural world. The Nature Center is located at 713 Elm Street, two miles north of downtown Montpelier.