If you haven’t registered for the April 7 Appalachian Conference, please do so prior to March 15 when the conference rates increase to $25 per person.

You can hear Dave Foreman, cofounder of Earth First and an icon from the era of the Monkey Wrench Gang which developed Ecowarriors from their environmental battles. Dave is cofounder and Chairman of the Wildlands Project which is working to create vast bioregions in North America. He has been honored as one of the 100 most influential conservationists of the 20th Century.

Ed Perry from the US Fish and Wildlife Services has been added to the agenda. USFWS studies reveal the damaging effects of habitat fragmentation on a multitude of creatures including reptiles and insects. Ed’s presentation is extremely valuable, and critical to our work in the Appalachians so he was included in an already busy schedule. The Conference will now run from 9 am to 6 p.m. on April 7.

Other speakers include Chris Bolgiano, author of extraordinary books like Mountain Lion and The Appalachian Forest. Chris is cofounder of the Easter Cougar Foundations which has diligently recorded contacts with Cougar in the East since the 1990s.

Dave Muhly presents the Appalachian Forests which are some of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world. His slides reveal an ancient landscape that supports a rich diversity of wildlife and plants found nowhere else on the earth.

Dr. Shumway studies document 350 year old trees that were overlooked in the logging that clearcut the Appalachian forests in the late 1800's. His fascinating presentation includes the history of natural fires intervals in these forests, and the rare mammals found and being closely monitored today.

This one day conference will initiate the Appalachian Wildland Preserve Project. The purpose of this project is to reconnect forests and wildlands in Maryland to those in adjacent states to protect and restore the ecosystems of the region. The conference will bring people and groups together to share information on the need for, and methods that can be used, to restore the ecological richness and biodiversity of Appalachian forests.

This conference will take place on April 7, 2001, at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Additional information can be obtained by calling Doris Fausey at (301) 949-5057/Email: Doris719@aol.com or Bob DeGroot at (301) 340-8348; BobDeGroot1@cs.com.

The conference will be located on the National Institutes of Health Campus, at the Natcher Bldg. Auditorium, I495 to Wisconsin Ave. to Middle Lane, Bethesda, MD.

The NIH Natcher Building can be reached by taking Wisconsin Ave. south (1.5 mi.) toward Washington, DC from the Washington, DC Beltway (I-495). The NIH campus will be on your right after passing Cedar Lane. Go right on Center Lane (3rd entrance). The Natcher Building is the first building on the right. The conference price is $20 individual, $30 per couple, or $10 dollars for students, if paid by March 15. A fee of $25 per person will be charged after that date. Lunch will be provided. Please send your enrollment fee to Doris Fausey at 13109 Beaver Terrace, Rockville, MD 20853. Make check payable to "MAGIC Appalachian Conference."

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