Kane Area High School alumnus, and current conservation education coordinator for the Keystone Elk Country Alliance (KECA), Ben Porkolab will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday at Friends Memorial Public Library on Chase Street in Kane.
With handouts and an informational presentation, Porkolab plans to provide an overview of the state’s elk history, the reintroduction of the elk and a current update on the herd. He will also provide some elk ecology, information on KECA educational opportunities, fundraising events and volunteering opportunities. This will be a family-friendly program and everyone is welcome. Porkolab will also be available for questions after the program.
Porkolab, who graduated from Kane High in 1992, leads the KECA mission to conserve and enhance Pennsylvannia’s elk country for future generations. He spends most of his time, according to his bio on KECA’s website, hunting, fishing and exploring the outdoors. He attended the Safari Club International’s Wildlife Leadership School in Jackson Hole, Wyo., while in high school and went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Porkolab has taught elementary school in Alaska, Nevada and Cameron County. In addition, he has worked to bring conservation to classrooms and teach hunter-trapper courses.
He has worked with 4H, gardening clubs, Project Wild, Project Wet, Project Learning Tree, Go Teach Snowshoeing, Wild About Bears and Wild About Elk, Cameron County Outdoor Youth Association and National Archery in the Schools Program.
KECA’s headquarters is at the Elk Country Visitor Center in Benezette. The non-profit is a wildlife conservation organization entrusted with the priorities of conservation education, habitat stewardship and permanent land protection in order to meet the mission of the alliance. KECA is volunteer driven and membership based. To become a member or for more information email info@kecaus.com or call (814) 787-5167.
