Wildlife consultant and ethnobotanist John Mionczynski will be the featured speaker at the next Draper Natural History Museum Lunchtime Expedition lecture at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Titled “Some Interesting Plants of the Ancient People of the Yellowstone,” the free presentation takes place Thursday, June 6, at 12:15 p.m. in Coe Auditorium.

Mionczynski’s talk is informed by his role as both ethnobotanist and cameraman for the Native Memory Project, based in Dubois. The project captures professional video footage of tribal elders as they recount stories and share knowledge from the past.

“The pre-reservation uses of plant medicines and foods, as well as ancient storytelling, are captured on these archival videos before they are lost forever,” said Mionczynski.

Through his long career, Mionczynski has worked for several wildlife management agencies as a consultant. He has conducted field studies on grizzly bears, mountain goats, pronghorn, elk, pika, and bighorn sheep. Often during his time in the field, he collected as his food and medicine native plants used by tribes.

In his travels through the Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Black Hills, “it was difficult to find a place that did not show evidence of Native cultures living on the land,” he said.

In some circles, Mionczynski is best known for his research into the legendary creature known as Bigfoot; he reported seeing a Sasquatch in the Wind River Mountains during a 1972 camping trip.