Elk River Arts & Lectures opens its 2020 lecture series on Thursday, March 12, with a talk by Red Lodge author John Clayton on the origin story of America’s public lands.

Clayton’s talk will be based on research for his most recent book, Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of America’s Public Lands. In it, he “shows how the forces of conservation and preservation, Progressivism and anti-monopolism, science and spiritualism, East and West, united in the 1890s behind the idea that a democratically-elected government should permanently own and manage land. Clayton tells stories of heroes both well-known (naturalist John Muir, President Theodore Roosevelt) and quirky (botanist Charles Sargent, Congressman William Holman).

During Clayton’s visit—which is made possible through Humanities Montana’s Montana Conversations program —he also will meet with students at Park High School. The free, public event will take place upstairs at 7 p.m., at Elk River Books, 120 N. Main St., in Livingston.