You may have already seen the announcement concerning the 2015 Forest Landowner Conference: The Future of Penn's Woods. It will be held on March 20-21 at the Blair County Convention Center in Altoona, PA. The Penn State Center for Private Forests and its partners just announced the keynote speakers for the event. I have provided that information below. This event will provide important information for landowners. There will be pre-conference tours, a host of indoor presentations and sessions, numerous venders and agency folks displaying and providing information, along with plenty of time to connect with folks that can help guide your ownership objectives. I hope you all plan to join us.
Dr. Jim Finley, Joseph E. Ibberson Chair in Forest Resources Management
and Director of the Center for Private Forests at Penn State. Opening remarks,
Friday, March 20th, 12:30pm
Jim’s research focuses on the human
dimensions of natural resources. His studies include investigations into
private forest owner attitudes and motivations, the effects of owner decisions
on forest retention, forest sustainability, and peer-to-peer learning. He is
also the Pennsylvania extension forester and in this capacity he focuses on
outreach to private forest owners and stakeholders. Jim is the founding
co-chair for Penn State’s Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and the
Environment dual-title inter-college graduate degree program.
Chuck Fergus,
Naturalist and Author, Closing remarks Saturday, March 21st, 3:15pm
Chuck Fergus has enjoyed writing about
nature, wildlife, and the outdoors for his entire professional career. After
growing up in State College, he graduated from Penn State’s Writing Option in
1973 and went to work for the Pennsylvania Game Commission. He wrote the
popular column “Thornapples” in Pennsylvania
Game News for 14 years, from 1978 through 1992, and has contributed to the
“Crossings” column in that magazine since 2002. He has written for publications
ranging from Highlights for Children to
Audubon and the New York Times.
Chuck’s seventeen books include two
collections of nature essays, The
Wingless Crow and Thornapples: The Comings, Goings, and Outdoor Doings of a
Naturalist, as well as the best-selling reference books Wildlife of Pennsylvania and the Northeast
and Trees of Pennsylvania and the
Northeast, both published by Stackpole Books. Chuck is now writing a series
of mysteries set in back-country Pennsylvania during the iron-making era of the
1830s. Chuck works in wildlife communications for the Wildlife Management
Institute. Since 2003, he has lived on a 120-acre farm in the Northeast Kingdom
of Vermont, with his wife, the writer Nancy Marie Brown.
Chuck will speak on “Learning a New Land,”
relating stories about moving from his and Nancy’s 30-acre property in Centre
County to their new home in Vermont, and discussing how a love for a given
place and its trees, wildlife, and weather grows and flourishes. After his
talk, he will be autographing and selling copies of his books.
Dr. Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences and
Associate of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at The Pennsylvania
State University. Banquet Keynote, Friday, March 20th, 7pm
Dr. Alley
has traveled from Antarctica to Greenland to learn the history of Earth’s
climate, and whether the great ice sheets will fall in the ocean and flood our
coasts. With over 240 scientific publications, he has been asked to provide
advice to the highest levels of government, and been recognized with numerous
awards including election to the US National Academy of Sciences and the Royal
Society. He hosted the recent PBS miniseries Earth: The Operators’ Manual, and has been compared to a cross
between Woody Allen and Carl Sagan for his enthusiastic efforts to communicate
the excitement and importance of the science to everyone.
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