For anyone attending ESA next week, I wanted to publicize some sessions that Marla McIntosh, Kevina Vulinec, and I are organizing to share ideas and best practices for protecting natural areas on or near college campuses.
We have three linked sessions as follows: 1. IGN 13 Ignite ESA Session: Ecological Frontiers Require a Permanent Sense of Place: Using and Preserving Campus Natural Areas 10:00am-11:30am, August 13, 2015, BCC Room 314 2. WK 50 ESA Workshop: Protecting Campus Natural Areas From Development: Creating a Legacy into the Next Century 11:30am-1:15pm August 13, 2015, BCC Room 323 3. OPS 6 Organized Poster Session: College Campus Natural Areas as Living Laboratories for Teaching and Research 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM August 13, 2015, BCC Exhibit Hall We are excited about offering these sessions as part of the centennial meeting. There is a strong history of natural area preservation for research and teaching by ESA members. Two of the founding members of the Ecological Society of America, Henry Chandler Cowles and Victor Ernest Shelford, were strong proponents of field-based teaching and research, and successfully lobbied to protect natural areas as part of, or near to, their university campuses to fulfill these goals. The University of Illinois’ Trelease Woods, for example, was acquired in 1917-18, only a few years after the founding of the ESA itself. Please check the ESA schedule to see the great list of presenters we have signed up! If you have stories to share of preserving your own campus natural area, please plan to contribute to our workshop (where we will be working on a best practices document) or contact me by email. We look forward to seeing many of you there. Carola A. Haas Professor, Wildlife Ecology Associate Editor, J. Wildlife Mgmt. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Conservation 112 Cheatham Hall (MC 0321) 310 West Campus Drive, Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 24061 [email protected] 540-231-9269 http://www.fishwild.vt.edu/faculty/haas.htm
