Local mountains offer fun

"Spiders- Urban, Suburban and Wild," a free lecture, will be presented at 2 p.m. Sat., Jan. 20 at the National Park Service Visitor Center, 401 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks.

Janet Kempf of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum will discuss the biology and natural history of local spiders and give an update on the first L.A. spider survey. There will be live and preserved spiders from the museum collection and an opportunity to ask questions.

Other programs available through the center are detailed in "Outdoors in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area," which can be obtained free by calling (805) 370-2301 or visiting the center. The publication lists more than 150 walks, hikes, talks and programs, such as "From Set to Screen" at Paramount Ranch.

"Outdoors" is also available on the web at www.nps.gov/samo.