PINKHAM NOTCH, N.H. – Tin Mountain Conservation Center has announced that naturalist and author Ben Kilham will present a nature program, “Ben Kilham, Black Bears,” at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at Great Glen Trails.

“As we learn more about bear behavior, we better understand bear/human conflicts,” Kilham said. “We begin to learn that it’s not a nuisance bear at all. It’s the way people are leaving food around and interacting with bears.” Kilham said black bears are highly social individuals. They have the ability to plan and communicate through physical and verbal language.

Kilham attended the University of New Hampshire and earned a degree in wildlife management. In the spring of 1992, he parented a pair of orphaned, emaciated, 4-pound bear cubs. The experience eventually led him to parenting more than 40 cubs, releasing them back in the wild, and researching and observing the life cycle of the black bear.

By thinking more from the bear’s perspective, Kilham has designed workshops that provide wildlife management with the tools to disarm threatening bear behavior without destroying the bear.

Kilham also discovered an organ on the roof of the black bears’ mouth, named the Kilham organ. The organ acts a receptor, allowing female bears to teach their young which plants are edible. “The nose is the finder,” said Kilham, “but the organ is the identifier.”

Center nature programs are open to the public and donations of $3 a person and $5 a family are appreciated. To learn more, log onto www.tinmtn.org or call Donna Marie Dolan at 603-447-6991.