CAMBRIDGE — The South Dorchester Folk Museum will present “The Blackwater Wilflife Refuge from its Beginning” at 78 p.m. on May 2 at the Robbins Heritage Center, Dorchester County Historical Society, 1003 Greenway Drive, Guest speakers will be Billand Michael Giese.

Bill Giese owns and lives on a third generation family farm on Maple Dam Road near Cambridge. He began his career at the Blackwater Refuge in 1971, immediately after graduating from high school. Bill started at the refuge as a laborer, cutting grass and making walking trails, etc. he then served as a recreation assistant meeting the public in the visitor center and giving tours.

After several years of part-time work he switched over to the biological program full-time and worked with Guy Willey doing wildlife surveys, banding and tagging wildlife and other biological duties including the farming and maintenance programs. His management duties involved the Blackwater Refuge, the Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area, and a number of other refuges and state managesent areas.

In 1990, he switched programs to being in charge of the refuges fire management program. As supervisor of five fire program employees, they conducted prescribed fire and wildfire control operations on Blackwater, Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area as well as a number of other refuges and state management areas. As a Wildlife Officer, he worked in four states and Puerto Rico.

As Fire Control Officer, he participated in fire details in five states. He also participated in wildfowl banding details in New Brunswick, Canada. Bill retired in 2011 with 40 years of service. Bill remains an advocate of the refuge and assists occasionally as a volunteer.

Michael Giese, Bill’s son, graduated from C-SDHS in 1993, and obtained his PhD after attending the UMBC and American University where he has worked in the Office of the (American) University Registrar for 10 years. Michael has had a lifelong association with Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, having participated in most Refuge activities while accompanying his Dad. Much of his education and current personal interests center around wildlife conservation. He is a regular visitor to Blackwater and other refuges.

Toward the end of Bill’s career, Bill was asked to write the history of the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge. Using refuge narratives, past employees’ verbal histories, his own knowledge of refuge events, and information from his son’s PhD thesis, Bill and his son, Michael, put together a program about the early history of the refuge. That is the theme of their talk on May 2.

The South Dorchester Folk Museum (SDFM), in cooperation with the Dorchester County Historical Society, presents this FREE program in its lecture series about local history.

For more information about the SDFM, visit website: www.sdfmuseum.net or call 410-228-6175. The public is warmly invited to attend. Reservations are not needed.