Geologist to give presentation

FARMINGTON – Fred Paillet, a recently retired professor of geology at the University of Maine at Orono, who has hiked extensively in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge over the last 20 years, will present a slide-show talk on the refuge at Western Maine Audubon’s November program meeting.

This program, which is free and open to the public and sponsored by the Western Maine Audubon Society, will be held at 7 p.m. today in Room C23 in the Roberts Learning Center at the University of Maine at Farmington.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been in the news often in the past few years as the Bush administration continues to push for oil drilling in the refuge.

As a wilderness enthusiast well-schooled in environmental science and as a geologist knowledgeable about petroleum exploration and extraction, Paillet is uniquely qualified to introduce the beauties of the refuge and to explain the controversy surrounding it, according to the Audubon’s local chapter.