Upper Mojave Desert First meeting

The Historical Society of the Upper Mojave Desert will hold its first meeting of 2016 on Tuesday, at the Historic USO Building, 230 W. Ridgecrest Blvd.  Guest speaker, Forrest Lloyd will host “Return to Chernobyl: Zone Ecosystem Recovery,” a review of an educational tour to Kiev and Chernobyl in the Ukraine, taken by Lloyd and 10 others, arranged through the Cooperative Extension, University of California, and led by Dr. John F. Karlik in November of 2015. Two days were spent in the exclusion zone and the remainder of the time visiting points of interest around Kiev. Lloyd studied Russian history in college, and this trip greatly expanded his understanding of Ukrainian history in general, as well as the nuclear accident. The scope of the informal and audience interactive presentation will focus on Lloyd’s observations on the trip. Topics to be discussed will include: the circumstances of the explosion which took place on April 26, 1985, and the current power house status, ongoing cleanup plans, the exclusion zone, the environmental impact on population, property, plants and animals, collective farming, cold war radar to defend against US attack, the reestablishment of the Ukranian identity, and the role of the Eastern Orthodox Church for Ukranians. The Society meets on the third Tuesday of the month. Meetings are free and all are welcome to attend. For more information on this or future meetings, call the HSUMD at 760-375-8456.