SAMAB E-Mail News Briefs--2000

• Issue dated December 15, 2000
• Issue dated December 1, 2000
• Issue dated November 15, 2000
• Issue dated November 1, 2000
• Issue dated October 15, 2000
• Issue dated October 1, 2000
• Issue dated September 15, 2000
• Issue dated September 1, 2000
• Issue dated August 15, 2000
• Issue dated August 1, 2000
• Issue dated July 14, 2000
• Issue dated June 22, 2000

E-Mail News Briefs—December 15, 2000

• JIM LOWE TO LEAD SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MONITORING PLANNING—The Southern Appalachian component of the project to Monitor the Appalachian Trail Environment (http://samab.org/Projects/projects.html) will be led by Jim Lowe. Jim is a native of Monroe County in eastern Tennessee, retired from 30 years as a professor of entomology/botany at the University of Montana, and now lives in Robbinsville, North Carolina. He is knowledgeable of many environmental issues in the southern mountains and well connected with many folks who can assist with the monitoring project. Jim met with Tom Gilbert, Jack Ranney, Tom Gilbert, Susan Schexnayder, Wolf Naegeli, and Robb Turner on December 13 to review plans to date and scope out next steps.
• SAMAB FOUNDATION DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE—SAMAB Development Director Don Elam is meeting with the newly established Foundation Development Committee this week to finalize the development plan and kick-off for the fund-raising campaign for 2001. Anticipated sources of funding include corporations, foundations, memberships, special events, and Foundation Board and staff.

  Don and the Committee are seeking from friends of SAMAB the names of prospective givers, including any personal contacts you may have with any corporation, foundation, or philanthropic individual as well as the name of a contact person. Please send your suggestions to Don or the SAMAB office (click on the "Feedback" button above.)

• SAMAB/JIEE SUMMER INTERNSHIPS 2001—SAMAB and the Joint Institute for Energy and Environment (JIEE) are sponsoring a ten-week summer internship program to run from June 4 through August 10, 2001. The program is open to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in public policy and administration, environmental science, planning, natural resource management, business, decision research, and related fields. Selected students will be placed with environmental decision makers around the Southern Appalachian region. Host organizations/mentors will include federal, state, and municipal governments; small and large businesses; and non-governmental organizations. Interns will develop individualized projects with their host organization around one or more environmental-decision issues, observing and studying the decision-making process and its context. The interns will gather periodically for seminars on environmental research and decision making, rotating so that each mentor/host organization leads one presentation reflecting their perspective on decision making. Application procedures are posted on both the SAMAB and JIEE web sites.
• ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS ON INVASIVE SPECIES CONTROL—Two Southern Appalachian national forests have announced that they are preparing environmental reviews on invasive species control. The Cheoah Ranger District, Nantahala National Forest is proposing treatments to control the noxious weed known as Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). This plant is invading forested stands in Graham County, NC. Control measures being evaluated include hand cutting, use of herbicides, and no action. For more information: Cheoah Ranger District, 1133 Massey Branch Road, Robbinsville, NC 28771; telephone 828-479-6431. [TVA previously prepared an EA on oriental bittersweet control in the Fontana Dam area in 1997.]

  The Mount Rogers National Recreation Area is preparing an environmental review on options for non-native species control on the 128-acre grassy bald atop Whitetop Mountain in Grayson, Smyth, and Washington Counties, Virginia. Species to be controlled include, but are not limited to, crown vetch (Coronilla varia), colts foot (Tussilago farfara), velvet grass (Holcus lanatus), fescue, cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum), and various thistle species. Options being considered are hand cutting, mechanical mowing, and herbicides. For more information: Cecil Thomas, Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, 3714 Highway 16, Marion, VA 24354; telephone 540-783-5196. Submitted by Harold Draper, Environmental Coordination Committee.

• DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS (DSS) WEB TOUR—Daniel Power's DSS web tour has six major stops: Web sites of DSS Companies; University and Research Web sites related to DSS; DSS case studies available on the Web; Decision support systems accessible on the web; DSS related articles on the web; and Other Web sites related to DSS. This is an organized entre to thousands of DSS-related Web pages. http://dssresources.com/tour/dsstour.html
• AURORA PARTNERSHIP—I periodically extract items such as the one above from the AuroraNet News, the Electronic Newsletter of the Aurora Partnership maintained by the Udall Center in Arizona, http://www.aurorapartnership.org. Their mission is "To facilitate the development and use of spatial decision-support tools, services, and systems for place-based decisionmaking and management." To subscribe directly to AuroraNet News, send a message to: listserv@listserv.arizona.edu, and type "subscribe AuroraNet your full name" in the body of the message; for example, "subscribe AuroraNet John Smith." You should receive a response from the email server within 24 hours. If you have any difficulty or want further information, contact Robert Merideth.
• NEXT ISSUE JANUARY 15—Because of the upcoming holidays, the next issue of SAMAB News Briefs will be January 15, 2001. Happy holidays and Happy New Millenium!
• UPCOMING EVENTS—
• March 21-23, 2001—SE Exotic Pest Plant Council, 2001: A Weed Odyssey, Athens, GA.
• April 4-7, 2001—Association of Southeastern Biologists annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.

• APPALACHIAN MONITORING CONCEPTUAL PLAN ENDORSED—The Conceptual Plan for Monitoring the Appalachian Trail Environment has been endorsed by the National Park Service Appalachian Trail Park Office and by the Appalachian Trail Conference Board of Governors. The Park Service will fund a coordinator position for the project through a cost-share challenge grant to the SAMAB Foundation.
• FOUNDATION TO RECEIVE PLANNING GRANT—The SAMAB Foundation has received notification that the H. O. Peet Foundation will award a grant of $10,000 to advance planning for using the Appalachian Trail as a focus for regional environmental monitoring. The funds will be used for planning education, outreach, and communication with volunteer participants.
• INVASIVE SPECIES INITIATIVE—The SAMAB Invasive Species Initiative is investigating opportunities for interagency and private partnerships in following up on the recent SAMAB invasive species assessment and responding to the National Invasive Species Management Plan, Meeting the Challenge (http://www.invasivespecies.gov/council/nisc/draft1002.pdf). We are seeking agency and private-sector participation in an effort to coordinate public and private management efforts in a regional context, including assessment of risks, management practices, outreach/education, and information sharing. Contact Jack Ranney (jwranney@utk.edu) or Pat Parr (par@ornl.gov).
• PARTNERSHIP PROTECTS NORTHERN FLYING SQUIRRELS—Cooperative research between Haywood Community College and the U. S. Forest Service Southern Research Station resulted in development of a GIS model for predicting S. Appal. high-elevation ecological types (eg. red spruce, northern hardwoods). The model is reported in a recent SRS publication: Odom, R.H., Jr., and McNab, W.H. 2000. "Using digital terrain modeling to predict ecological types in the Balsam Mountains of western North Carolina, Research Note SRS-8" (http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/pubs/viewpub.jsp?index=1769). Communication among participants of interagency meetings facilitated application of the model for predicting potential northern flying squirrel habitat in the Balsam Mtns and extending the modeling effort to the area around Mt. Mitchell. Informal cooperation is continuing among several agencies (NC Wildlife Resources Commission, Blue Ridge Parkway, F&WS, Nantahala National Forest, and SRS field offices at Asheville and Clemson) to test and evaluate the model. The F&WS views the prediction model as a potential tool for resource managers to use for stratifying the landscape into zones where it is highly likely that NFSq may be present.
• RESEARCH PARK NOTES INITIATED—Pat Parr, Area Manager of the Oak Ridge National Environmental Research Park and member of the SAMAB Cooperative Executive Committee, is publishing an informal email newsletter about projects, people, and activities on the Oak Ridge Environmental Research Park. The Oak Ridge Research Park is one of six core Biosphere Reserve units of SAMAB. Email Pat Parr (par@ornl.gov) if you'd like to be on the mailing list.
• NEW WAY TO FIND SAA (AND OTHER SPATIAL) DATA—At the beginning of November, the Federal Geographic Data Committee released version 2.07i of its metadata catalog server software. SAMAB was one of the first National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse participants to install the new version, which fixed many bugs and substantially enhanced performance. The SARIS metadata server now is among the most responsive ones in the the National Geographic Data Infrastructure (NSDI).
• Most recently, the FGDC has made available an enhanced Clearinghouse Search Form that supports geographic searches by graphically defining the area of interest on a map. This feature does not work with all web browsers, but we have successfully tested it with Internet Explorer 5.5 and Netscape 4.5. For an example, go to http://www.fgdc.gov/clearinghouse/ and
  
  1. click "Search for Geospatial Data" (this should present you with a world map)
  2. click "FGDC," and on the next page
  3. choose "NEW! Search Clearinghouse sites using map interface with place names (Uses Java applet)"
  4. on the search form, click the radio button next to "Enter bounding coordinates"
  5. drag the cursor diagonally across southern Appalachia to draw a rectangle around it
  6. enter "watershed" as your keyword in the Full-Text search area
  7. select one or more data servers from the scrolling list at the bottom of the form
  8. click the "Search the Clearinghouse" button.
  If your choice of data servers includes the Southern Appalachian Regional Information System, you should find three results for SARIS.
• COMPUTER MAPPING HARDWARD AND SOFTWARE AVAILABLE—Conservation and environmental non-profit organizations seeking to use computer mapping technology can apply now for Conservation Technology Support Program (CTSP) grants of computers, software and training. Approximately 50 grant packages are available, using computers and printers donated by Hewlett Packard Company, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software by Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) and Clark Labs. Other vendors may also provide equipment and software. Land trusts, watershed organizations, groups working to save plant and animal habitats, environmental justice and urban open space groups, Indian Tribes, sustainable development groups, and many other types of groups are all of interest to CTSP. Interested groups should obtain the application guidelines at http://www.ctsp.org. Applications are due January 9, 2001 and decisions will be made by mid-April 2001. U.S.-based 501c3 tax exempt organizations and Indian Tribes are eligible.
• UPCOMING EVENTS
• March 21-23, 2001—SE Exotic Pest Plant Council, 2001: A Weed Odyssey, Athens, GA.
• April 4-7, 2001—Association of Southeastern Biologists annual meeting in New Orleans, LA.

• 11th ANNUAL SAMAB FALL CONFERENCE DRAWS 170--Over 170 persons attended the conference keynoted by Skila Harris, TVA Director; David Crockett, Chattanooga City Councilman and regional sustainability leader; Quentin Bass, US Forest Service archeologist; and Ron Eller, Appalachian Scholar. Michael Tollefson, new Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park welcomed participants to Gatlinburg and hosted an evening reception at the newly renovated Sugarlands visitor center where they viewed the inspiring new Great Smoky Mountains film.

  Over 70 oral, panel, and poster presentations addressed the conference theme, "Where the Rubber Meets the Road: The Interface Between Public Agencies and Communities." The Program and Abstracts are available on the SAMAB Website. A summary/synthesis of the sessions will be included in the December SAMAB News.

• NEW COOPERATIVE AND FOUNDATION OFFICERS FOR 2001-2002--The SAMAB Cooperative has elected Jon Loney of Tennessee Valley Authority as Chair of the Cooperative Executive Committee. Larry Hartmann of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is Vice Chair. Charlie Van Sickle, retired US Forest Service, was elected President of the SAMAB Foundation Board. David Reichle, retired Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is Vice President, and Bob Shepherd, Land of Sky Regional Council, is Secretary/treasurer. Outgoing Chair of the Cooperative, Nancy Herbert, US Forest Service, and outgoing President of the Foundation, George Briggs, were honored at the annual conference with awards for their sustained service to SAMAB.
• DRAFT STRATEGIC PLAN ON-LINE—The Strategic Planning Working Group seeks partner and community input on the Draft SAMAB Strategic Plan. Send your ideas on how the SAMAB public-private partnership can best serve the Southern Appalachian region by clicking on the "Feedback" button at the top of any web page, or to the address below.
• NEW WEBSITE FOR LARGE-WATERSHED RESTORATION PROJECTS—Visit the new US Forest Service Web site describing their large-watershed restoration projects. Contact Kent Evans, Conasauga River Coordinator at kevans@fs.fed.us.
• US MAB SECRETARIAT MOVES TO FOREST SERVICE—The U.S. MAB Secretariat has moved from the State Department to the USDA-Forest Service. New address is: c/o USDA-Forest Service R&D, Yates Federal Building (1 NW), P.O. Box 96090, Washington, DC 20090-6090, Tel. 202-205-0908, Fax. 202-205-1530, E-mail: mabres@aol.com. Dr. Barbara Weber of USDA-FS and Dr. Michael Soukup of National Park Service are interim co-chairs of the U.S. National Committee for MAB as of October 16, 2000.
• UPCOMING EVENTS:
• March 21-23, 2001 - SE Exotic Pest Plant Council, 2001: A Weed Odyssey, Athens, GA. Abstract deadline November 30.
• April 4-7 - Association of Southeastern Biologists annual meeting in New Orleans, LA. Abstract deadline November 17.

E-Mail News Briefs—November 1, 2000

• "SEVILLE+5" MEETING OF BIOSPHERE RESERVES—Robb Turner, SAMAB Executive Director, participated in the "Seville+5" international meeting of experts on the implementation of the Seville Strategy for Biosphere Reserves that was held in Pamplona, Spain, from 22 to 27 October, 2000. The meeting drew 110 participants from 46 countries, invited on the basis of their experience in establishing and managing biosphere reserves. The program evaluated 3 levels of implementation of the 1995 Seville Strategy—international, national, and site levels.

  Turner presented a paper on SAMAB's structure, management experience, and overviews of the Southern Appalachian Assessment, community sustainability initiative, Appalachian Trail monitoring project, and Southern Appalachian Regional Information System in the Working-Group 5 session on "Biosphere Reserves Manager or Coordinator." (Click here for paper in a PDF file.) Roger Soles, USMAB Executive Director, and John Dennis, NPS Supervisory Biologist and USMAB National Committee member, also attended the meeting for the United States.
  **********
  Editorial Comment—This meeting greatly reinforced my commitment to, and indeed passion for, SAMAB and the evolving Biosphere Reserve concept or model. As professional societies and government-research-funding agencies just now are struggling to integrate social science with ecological/natural/biophysical science and environmental decision making, the biosphere reserve concept has promoted on-the-ground integration of sustainable human development needs with conservation of biodiversity and the environmental conditions on which it depends for almost 30 years (see http://www.unesco.org/mab/index.htm).

  There is much to be learned from experience in the US and around the world from these biosphere reserve laboratories. I was impressed with the commonality of issues/problems encountered in implementing biosphere reserves around the world, the amount of reinvention of tools and techniques that is occurring, and the opportunities for learning, training, and economic development that exist.

  I saw firsthand how SAMAB is held up as an international model in many respects by many people. I was pleased to hear Mr. Peter Bridgewater, Secretary of the MAB Programme, select two key observations I had made (regarding biosphere reserves as facilitators and as web builders) as his first two closing-summary bullets.

  There is a great deal of knowledge, creativity, and enthusiasm to be harnessed in the MAB world. Interesting new biosphere reserves are being proposed around the world. SAMAB and other US biosphere reserves have a lot to contribute, and to learn, and should be proactively participating in the evolution of the biosphere reserve concept.
  **********

• FALL CONFERENCE PROGRAM FINALIZED—Keynote speakers for the SAMAB Conference are Skila Harris, TVA Director, and David Crockett, Chattanooga City Councilman and regional sustainability leader. Michael Tollefson, new Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will welcome participants on Tuesday, Nov. 14, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Drs. Ron Eller, University of Kentucky, and Quentin Bass, US Forest Service, will provide perspectives on the human and natural history of the Southern Appalachian region in Wednesday a.m. plenaries.

  In addition, over 70 oral, panel, and poster presentations are scheduled. A complete agenda (with presentation and poster abstracts), the conference registration form, and hotel information are available on the SAMAB Web site and are also included in the October SAMAB News to arrive at your mailbox soon (the snails willing--you can also view it on-line at by clicking here). Make your reservations asap to guarantee special SAMAB conference rates.

• DRAFT STRATEGIC PLAN ON-LINE—The Strategic Planning Working Group seeks partner and community input on the 10/13/00 version of the Draft SAMAB Strategic Plan. Send your ideas on how the SAMAB public-private partnership can best serve the Southern Appalachian region through the "Feedback" button above or mail them to the address below.
• INVASIVE SPECIES ASSESSMENT RESULTS—Work performed by Dane Kuppinger, SAMAB summer intern, is reported in the Autumn 2000 8(3):21 "Chinquapin" and in more detail on the SAMAB Web site.
• NORTHEAST MEETING APPALACHIAN TRAIL REGION MONITORING—Tommy Gilbert and Susan Schexnayder from the SAMAB Coordinating Office attended an October 26th meeting in Lyme, NH. Purpose of the meeting was to begin organizing a NE component for the AT region monitoring and assessment initiative, with participants from National Park Service (NPS), Forest Service, Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC), Harvard University, Appalachian Mountain Club, Vermont Monitoring Cooperative, The Nature Conservancy, the Hubbard Brook Foundation, and SAMAB. The ATC Executive Committee has endorsed the draft Conceptual Plan for the project and the NPS Appalachian Trail Park Office has announced that it would commit cost-share funds to employ a planning coordinator for the initiative.
• UPDATED SOUTHERN FOREST RESOURCE ASSESSMENT WEB SITE
• UPCOMING EVENTS
• November 13 - SAMAB Foundation Board (10 am) and Cooperative Executive Committee (12 noon) meeting, Gatlinburg, TN
• November 14-16 - SAMAB Annual Fall Conference, Gatlinburg, TN
• November 8 - Conservation Easements Made Easy, Unicoi, TN. Call (423-854-9621) or e-mail Roy Settle to register.
• November 17-19 - Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition 5th Annual Grassroots Conference, Tapoco Lodge, NC. Call 828-252-9223 or 888-8Forest or e-mail to register by November 6.
• March 21-23, 2001 - SE Exotic Pest Plant Council, 2001: A Weed Odyssey, Athens, GA. Abstract deadline November 30.
• April 4-7 - Association of Southeastern Biologists annual meeting in New Orleans, LA. Abstract deadline November 17.

• DRAFT STRATEGIC PLAN ON-LINE—The Strategic Planning Working Group seeks partner and community input on the 10/13/00 version of the Draft SAMAB Strategic Plan. View it at on the Web and send your ideas on how the SAMAB public-private partnership can best serve the Southern Appalachian region to samab@utk.edu or the address below.
• DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR STARTS WORK—The SAMAB Foundation Board has contracted with J. Donald (Don) Elam to create and help implement a development plan for the SAMAB Program. Don directed fund-raising efforts at Transylvania and Clemson Universities and at University of Georgia before working 13 years with his own firm, of which he is now emeritus director. Don is working closely with the Foundation Board, Cooperative Executive Committee, and Coordinating Office to develop a portfolio of fund-raising efforts for SAMAB. Contact Don at adelam@mindspring.com or through the Coordinating Office samab@utk.edu.
• FALL CONFERENCE PROGRAM AND REGISTRATION—The Fall Conference Program, registration form, and hotel information are available on the Web at http://samab.org, and are also included in the October SAMAB News to arrive at your mailbox soon. Make your reservations before the end of October to guarantee special SAMAB conference rates.
• CONFERENCE IS GIS-DAY EVENT—This year, the SAMAB Fall Conference is recognized as a GIS Day Event by the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, the United States Geological Survey, The Library of Congress, and ESRI. Sessions with a strong GIS focus will be held on GIS Day, Wednesday, November 15, including one titled, "In Southern Appalachia Every Day is GIS Day!"

  Since 1987, the National Geographic Society has sponsored Geography Awareness Week to promote geographic literacy in schools, communities, and organizations. Last year more than 2,400 organizations hosted GIS Day events in 91 countries. This year Geography Awareness Week will be held November 12-18. For more information on GIS Day, see http://www.gisday.com. Click the "Find an Event Near You" link to locate events in your vicinity. To see the SAMAB Conference record, enter SAMAB as a keyword on the Search page.

• OCTOBER SAMAB NEWS ON-LINE—If you can't wait for snail mail, or are not on our mailing list, see http://samab.org/Pubs/Newsletters/newsletters.html for the most recent SAMAB News.
• TOLLEFSON NEW SUPERINTENDENT AT GREAT SMOKIES—Mike Tollefson has arrived as new superintendent at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, replacing Karen Wade. Mike formerly was superintendent at Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park in California. Mike will present welcoming remarks at the SAMAB Fall Conference, and will be available to meet during the Conference. mike_tollefson@nps.gov

• UPCOMING EVENTS
• November 13 - SAMAB Foundation Board (10 am) and Cooperative Executive Committee (12 noon) meeting, Gatlinburg, TN
• November 14-16 - SAMAB Annual Fall Conference, Gatlinburg, TN

• COOPERATIVE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING—SAMAB Cooperative Executive Committee met in Oak Ridge, TN on September 28-29 in special workshop session to work on the strategic plan and approve a Cooperative budget plan for FY 2001. The strategic plan is now in agency and Foundation review. It will be posted on the SAMAB Web page for community input after October 15.
• FALL CONFERENCE PROGRAM AND REGISTRATION—We have received over 50 submitted presentations plus 20 posters and displays. A preliminary program will be posted on the Web shortly and included in the "September" SAMAB News to be completed this week. A registration form (a PDF file) is available on the SAMAB web and will be included in the September SAMAB News.
• UPCOMING EVENTS
• November 13 - SAMAB Cooperative Executive Committee and Foundation Board joint meeting, Gatlinburg, TN
• November 14-16 - SAMAB Annual Fall Conference, Gatlinburg, TN

• APPALACHIAN TRAIL ENVIRONMENT MONITORING—Continued initial planning for an environmental monitoring project in the Southern Appalachians was conducted at a SAMAB-hosted workshop on September 8 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). The project would be a regional component of an Appalachian-wide environmental monitoring program that focuses on the 2,165-mile Appalachian Trail and aims to make existing information about the area's environmental health usable, and to expand existing monitoring activities and fill in the gaps to produce additional, critical information about the health status of the Appalachian environment. Tom Gilbert (SAMAB Foundation, NPS-retired) and Robb Turner led the meeting, attended by a dozen people representing the Appalachian Trail Conference, the Appalachian Trail National Park Service Office, the GSMNP, and research groups and universities, all of which have a stake and a potential role in the project. Participants were enthusiastic about the educational potential of the project and discussed a number of pilot activities focusing on watersheds, visibility, and other air quality factors.
• FALL CONFERENCE DEADLINE—Your SAMAB Fall Conference summary/abstract should be received today. The Program Committee will meet to review submissions and plan sessions on September 20. Submit your summary/abstract, or at least name and presentation title, no later than 4pm, Tuesday September 19 to be included in our planning. Updates/revisions to summaries/abstracts can be made into October, but we need to get a preliminary program and registration form into the September SAMAB News and onto the Web.

  Consider a presentation, panel discussion, slideshow-film-video, computer demo, workshop, poster or other format yourself, and pass this along to colleagues. Yes, we are looking for a summary/abstract, no matter the format. It need not be formal, just clear enough for folks to understand the point that you are presenting, and to decide whether they want to come hear you!

• THE WIND TURBINES ARE HERE!—Now some of us can buy "Green Power." Click HERE for info on TVA's solar, wind, and landfill gas energy; Click HERE for more on green power; and click HERE for pix of the three wind turbines located on a reclaimed strip mine site owned by Coal Creek Mining and Manufacturing, on Buffalo Mountain, near Oliver Springs TN. The first commercial wind power in the whole southeastern United States, the 660 kW Vestas wind turbines were trucked in around 16th August, and by 1st September they were already installed! Commissioning and testing will commence later this month, and they should be producing 2 MW of commercial electric power by mid-October. Together they will produce some six million kilowatt-hours per year - enough to serve more than 400 typical Tennessee Valley households.
• PUBLIC LANDS DAY—Here are several opportunities to help control invasive species September 23 on public lands--surely there are more--check your local public land manager's bulletin board!
• TVA will partner with the Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning (TCWP) and the Tennessee Exotic Pest Plant Council to remove exotic plant species from Worthington Cemetery Cedar Barrens Ecological Study Area in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on Saturday, September 23 beginning at 9:00 a.m. The day will begin with a short botanical walk to point out the native and exotic flora of the area. Lunch will be provided by TVA and TCWP. For more information contact Wesley James, TVA, at (865) 988-2433, Melinda Andrews, TVA at (865) 988-2442, Marcy Reed, TWCP, at (865) 691-8807, or Sandra Goss, TCWP at (865) 522-3809.
• TVA will partner with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Natural Areas Program, the Friends of Short Springs Natural Area, and the Tennessee Exotic Pest Plant Council to remove invasive exotic plants from Short Springs, a State Natural Area in Tullahoma, Tennessee on Saturday, September 23 from 8:00 a.m. until noon. For more information contact Doug Murphy, TVA, (256) 386-2268 or Marjorie Collier, President of Friends of Short Springs, at (931) 455-4186.
• Stones River Battlefield in Murfreesboro is planning exotic plant removal (mostly privet) around their tour loop on Public Lands Day. Contact Michele Weber for details at (615)898-9501.
• UPCOMING EVENTS:
• September 28-29 - special Cooperative Executive Committee strategic planning and budget meeting, Oak Ridge, TN
• November 13 - SAMAB Cooperative Executive Committee and Foundation Board joint meeting, Gatlinburg, TN
• November 14-16 - SAMAB Annual Fall Conference, Gatlinburg, TN

• FOREST SERVICE REGIONAL OFFICE VISIT—Nancy Herbert, USFS Southern Research Station and SAMAB Executive Committee Chair; Terry Seyden, National Forests in North Carolina and Public Affairs Committee Chair; and Robb Turner, Executive Director, visited with Regional Forester Elizabeth Estill and her staff in Atlanta on August 25th. Purpose of the meeting was to discuss how SAMAB can be of value to the Forest Service and to elicit ideas from the regional staff for SAMAB strategic directions. Discussions revolved around roles SAMAB can play in facilitating information exchange, environmental monitoring and assessment, dialogue on issues, common vocabulary and standards, leadership, and stepping from regional studies to local implications (and vice versa). SAMAB was urged to use regional analyses to help target communities or local areas that have specific needs rather than to work directly on local projects. SAMAB also should look at how its experience in one subregion can be transferred to other subregions in the Southeast or elsewhere. Elizabeth Estill challenged SAMAB to organize and sell itself based on new offerings rather than on past performance. Contact Robb Turner (e-mail: rsturner@utk.edu) to set up a visit with your agency or organization.
• STRAGEGIC PLAN PROGRESS—The Strategic Planning Working Group spent yesterday revising the Plan. The Plan will evolve through this Fall with additional input from agencies and stakeholders. A working draft will be available on the Web site soon for review and comment, and the Cooperative Executive Committee will meet around October 1 to continue progress on the plan. It is not too late to express your ideas on where SAMAB should be headed!
• SAMAB GEOSPATIAL DATA NODE—SAMAB's node of the National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse is now fully operational. You can query our new metadata catalog server by pointing your web browser to http://www.fgdc.gov/clearinghouse/clearinghouse.html and choosing "Search for Geospatial Data" from the menu. Choose a gateway from the map. There are many different ways you can search for data. For example, select "Search using United States Placenames." On the next page, don't search based on location or time period for this example, but enter "watershed" (without the quotes) to search as Full-Text in the field "Anywhere." From the scrolling list of Data Servers to Search, select "Southern Appalachian Regional Information System (SARIS)," then click the "Search the Clearinghouse" button. This example query should retrieve three records (all we currently have on our server). We are working with SAIC and the University of Tennessee Libraries to add additional records soon. If you have a Z39.50 query utility, you can search our node directly at Host: saris-isite.samab.org, Port: 210, Database: SAA. For assistance or more information, contact Wolf Naegeli (e-mail: wolf@naegeli.net). Click on the "Projects" button for the latest SARIS update.
• REGIONAL AIR QUALITY—Links to live web-cam views from Look Rock, TN and Cold Mountain/Shining Rock Wilderness, NC are on the SAMAB home page. These sites show regularly updated visibility and ozone levels. You can also link from the SAMAB Home Page to the NPS Passive Ozone Study preliminary results and the EPA AirNow site with regional maps of ozone levels and other air quality information.
• NEPA NOTICES -- Current NEPA notices from TVA affecting the SAMAB area (For the full text of these notices click on the "Projects" button. For information contact Harold Draper; e-mail: hmdraper@tva.gov):
• NOTICE TITLE: Draft Resource Management Plan and EA, Fullerton Bend Management Unit, Norris Reservoir, Campbell and Union Counties, Tennessee.
• NOTICE TITLE: Proposed Amendments to Section 26a of the TVA Act.
• NOTICE TITLE: Proposed Commercial Recreation License for Savannah Harbour Marina.
• UPCOMING EVENTS:
• September/October date TBD - special Cooperative Executive Committee strategic planning meeting, location TBD
• November 13 - SAMAB Cooperative Executive Committee and Foundation Board joint meeting, Gatlinburg, TN
• November 14-16 - SAMAB Annual Fall Conference, Gatlinburg, TN

• QUARTERLY MEETING HIGHLIGHTS--Nancy Herbert, USFS Southern Research Station, was elected Chair of the Cooperative Executive Committee to serve out the term of Suzette Kimball who has resigned. Nancy's term ends in January, 2001. Larry Hartmann, NPS Great Smoky Mountains NP, was elected to replace Nancy as Vice Chair. The Cooperative Executive Committee and Foundation Board reviewed project status and provided feedback to the Strategic Planning Working Group on the draft strategic plan. The Foundation Board is moving ahead with plans to hire a fund raiser/development director by this Fall and to develop proposal ideas to market in support of SAMAB strategies. Minutes from the meeting will be available soon from the SAMAB Coordinating Office.
• WHERE TO?--The Strategic Planning Working Group is still seeking input from all members, partners, and stakeholders on what SAMAB should be and do for the next 10 years before they meet again the last week of August. Send your ideas, inside or out-of-the-box, to samab@utk.edu by August 29.
• SAMAB FALL CONFERENCE REQUEST FOR PARTICIPATION--The theme for SAMAB's 11th Annual Conference scheduled for November 14-16, 2000 in Gatlinburg is "Where the Rubber Meets the Road: The Interface Between Public Agencies and Communities." A call for participation and a listing of subthemes is included in the July SAMAB Newsletter, a postcard mailing, and on the web site. Watch the SAMAB web site for registration and further information.
• BIOLOGICAL AND CONSERVATION DATA--A new on-line service called NatureServe developed by the Association for Biodiversity Information (ABI) may be of use to you. http://www.natureserve.org/ provides key biological and conservation data for more than 55,000 species of plants, animals, and ecological communities in the U.S. and Canada, including Heritage status ranks, U.S. federal status, Canadian COSEWIC status, United States and Canadian state/province distributions, general species descriptions, habitat and management requirements, taxonomy, and literature sources. They are looking for comments/feedback.
• UPCOMING EVENTS
• September/October date TBD - special Cooperative Executive Committee strategic planning meeting, location TBD
• November 13 - SAMAB Cooperative Executive Committee and Foundation Board joint meeting, Gatlinburg, TN
• November 14-16 - SAMAB Annual Fall Conference, Gatlinburg, TN

• JULY SAMAB NEWSLETTER -- The July SAMAB News is at the printer and should arrive in 3000 mailboxes shortly. If you'd like an electronic view or are not on our hardcopy mailing list, see http://samab.org/Pubs/Newsletters/newsletters.html now. Contact if you would like to be added to or deleted from the hardcopy newsletter mailing list.
• FALL CONFERENCE THEME AND REQUEST FOR PARTICIPATION -- The theme for SAMAB's 11th Annual Conference scheduled for November 14-16, 2000 in Gatlinburg is "Where the Rubber Meets the Road: The Interface Between Public Agencies and Communities." A call for participation and a listing of subthemes is included in the July SAMAB Newsletter and is posted at http://samab.org. Watch the web site for registration and further information.
• SAMAB STRATEGIC PLAN -- A draft SAMAB Strategic Plan has been distributed to SAMAB Executive Committee and Foundation Board members for review and comment. They are seeking input from all members, partners, and stakeholders on what SAMAB should be and do for the next 10 years. Please discuss your thoughts on SAMAB with a Committee or Board member, or send them to . SAMAB will move forward with its plan at its joint Committee-Board meeting on August 8. NOW is your opportunity to influence SAMAB strategic direction -- please express your opinion!
• BIOTIC INTEGRITY -- On July 18 Robb Turner, SAMAB Executive Director, assisted Bill McLarney with six other volunteers in measuring the Index of Biotic Integrity at Peaceful Cove on the Cullasaja River near Franklin, NC. With funding from TVA, Bill and hundreds of volunteers have been capturing, identifying, counting (and releasing) fish for ten years in streams throughout the Upper Little Tennessee River Basin. The types of species present and their numbers are used to calculate the index of biotic integrity for each site and to interpret water quality conditions and trends. These data are (and will increasingly be) tremendously valuable in monitoring both deterioration and improvement in water and aquatic habitat quality. Participation in this program has been a valuable learning experience for many youth and adults alike -- if you have an opportunity to volunteer for (or support in any way) such an activity, I highly recommend it. There is nothing like seeing and handling the hundreds or thousands of tiny little fish of 25 species, the occasional "big one," and stomping in waders through their pool and riffle habitats listening to Dr. Bill describe fish habits and indicators!
• UPCOMING EVENTS
• August 8 - SAMAB Cooperative Executive Committee and Foundation Board joint meeting, Cradle of Forestry, NC
• November 14-16 - SAMAB Annual Fall Conference, Gatlinburg, TN

• FALL CONFERENCE INPUT SOUGHT--Bob Shepherd, Executive Director of the Land of Sky Regional Council and member of the SAMAB Foundation Board of Directors, is chairing the Program Committee for SAMAB's 11th Annual Conference scheduled for November 14-16, 2000 in Gatlinburg. The Committee has discussed potential conference and session themes on a conference call. Watch http://samab.org/Events/events.html for information, and look for a call for participation to be mailed in early August. Send topic/session/speaker ideas to Bob (bob@landofsky.org) and/or Robb Turner (rsturner@utk.edu).
• WORLD BOTANIC CONGRESS--Robb Turner, SAMAB Executive Director, gave a SAMAB presentation at the World Botanic Gardens Congress session on "Biodiversity of the Southern Appalachians and Conservation Strategies Underway to Protect It" in Asheville on June 29. Other papers given were by Rob Sutter of the Nature Conservancy, Cecil Frost of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture Plant Conservation Program, and Keith Langdon of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. George Briggs, SAMAB Foundation President and Executive Director of the North Carolina Arboretum, chaired the session and was host of the World Congress. The weeklong conference addressed many development and conservation issues, and was co-sponsored by the SAMAB Foundation and a number of SAMAB member agencies.
• ENVIRONMENTAL COORDINATION LOG--The SAMAB Environmental Coordination Committee has posted a draft listing of project notices it has received for agency projects in the SAMAB region (e.g., FONSI, EA, EIS, ROD, Public Notice) on http://samab.org/projects/SALog.html. Example records:
  • EA, US 321, 4-lane on new location from Nolichucky River to Greeneville, Ridge and Valley ecoregion 67g, watershed 06010207, FHWA, April 2000.
  • EA, Wildlife and forest management, Compartments 50 and 51, Watauga Ranger District, Johnson County, TN, ecoregion 66e, watershed 06010108, FS, June 2000.

  This data base will be linked to maps and will be searchable by subject, jurisdiction, location, and in other ways such that agency planners and stakeholders can better see location, timing, and potential cumulative effects of agency projects in the Southern Appalachian region. The Environmental Coordination Committee is seeking input from all SAMAB agencies or other organizations to make this more complete and useful. Send input to Harold Draper, committee chair (hmdraper@tva.gov).

• EPA REGION 4 ENVIRONMENTAL MERIT AWARDS PROGRAM--Regional Administrator John Hankinson has announced a new awards program to recognize individuals and groups outside EPA for their contributions to environmental protection. Nominations for the Year 2000 Environmental Merit Awards Program will be accepted until August 15. A panel of EPA staff will review all nominations, and winners will be selected in September and invited to a special awards ceremony in Atlanta in October. Information about the awards program, criteria for the awards and award nomination forms can be accessed from the EPA Region 4 website http://www.epa.gov/region04. (nolan.cindyj@epa.gov)
• UPCOMING EVENTS:
• August 8 - SAMAB Cooperative Executive Committee and Foundation Board joint meeting, Cradle of Forestry, NC
• November 14-16 - SAMAB Annual Fall Conference, Gatlinburg, TN

This is the first "issue" of SAMAB News Briefs, a periodic e-mail communication being sent to SAMAB members and partners on activities, ideas, and directions. You may opt off of this mailing list by sending a request to samab@utk.edu.

A key message emerging from recent SAMAB planning activities is that many folks are not hearing about SAMAB progress, products, and plans. News Briefs is a new effort to provide nuggets of these happenings in a quickly scannable format with links to people and web sources for more information. Concise bullets summarize events and results, highlighting key ideas that SAMAB associates may wish to tie in to or steal. (Yes, be ethical/courteous with appropriate attribution in such stealth!)

I will initiate News Briefs from the SAMAB Coordinating Office, but request contributions and feedback from all reaches of its distribution. Past or future events, products, planning activities, good ideas, editorial statements, or responses to previous nuggets are fair game; the key is that each item contain an idea that some partner may find useful.

News Briefs will be published on or near the 1st and 15th of each month. I will remind Executive Committee and Foundation Board Members several days before each issue for contributions, but input/reaction is encouraged from all quarters.

Let me know at any time whether this is working and how it can be improved! (Robb Turner, rsturner@utk.edu)

• On May 19 Robb Turner, SAMAB Executive Director, briefed Hilda Diaz-Soltero, new USDA Forest Service Associate Chief for National Forests and Research, on SAMAB history and current activities. This was part of a discussion on "sustainability through ecosystem management, social sciences, and partnerships" that was one session in a week-long tutorial by leaders from the Southern Research Station and National Forests in North Carolina for Ms Diaz-Soltero on "understanding the Forest Service by connecting with the past." A key point of discussion centered on how a semi-independent interagency cooperative like SAMAB can best clarify, represent, and link community and agency interests. (Peter Roussopoulos, proussopoulos@fs.fed.us; Charlie Van Sickle, cvans@prodigy.net; Terry Seyden, terryseyden@yahoo.com; Robb Turner, rsturner@utk.edu)
• Development of the Southern Appalachian Regional Information System (SARIS) continues. A SARIS node of the National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse has been installed and has successfully completed the local "Isite" test protocol by the FGDC. The SARIS project plan for the next six months and biweekly progress reports are posted at http://sunsite.utk.edu/samab/Projects/projects.html. SARIS is a leading-edge Web-based undertaking that will make the Southern Appalachian Assessment and other agency data and information more accessable and useable to a wide range of users. It is seeking partner participation. (Wolf Naegeli, wolf@naegeli.net; Robb Turner, rsturner@utk.edu)
• Discussions are underway among several SAMAB partners regarding development of a proposal to NSF in anticipation of an announcement for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). A Southern Appalachian Ecological Observatory would be developed with a core site at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and satellite monitoring arrays at multiple agency and university/private sites around the region. A theme incorporating environmental changes and ecological responses and associated measurement techniques is being developed in discussions among scientists and managers at University of Tennessee, University of Georgia, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Forest Service, and others. Expressions of ideas/interest are welcome. (Susan Riechert, sriecher@utk.edu; Frank Harris, harrisf@ornl.gov; Larry Hartmann, larry_hartmann@nps.gov; Robb Turner, rsturner@utk.edu)
• The summary report of the Scoping Workshop on Monitoring the Appalachian Trail Environment is posted on the SAMAB Web page at http://sunsite.utk.edu/samab/Projects/projects.html. The May 3-4 workshop was co-sponsored by SAMAB, the Appalachian Trail Conference, and the National Park Service to evaluate the potential for using the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and associated lands as a focus for monitoring a variety of environmental health indicators and as a "classroom" for environmental education. This project offers potential to engage grass-roots community and educational volunteers with agency efforts in monitoring, understanding, and communicating changes in Appalachian environments. (Tommy Gilbert, vgilbert@mindspring.com; Dave Startzell, dstartzell@atcof.org, Pam Underhill, pamela_underhill@nps.gov; Robb Turner, rsturner@utk.edu)
• Improving air quality is arguably the most important issue facing the Southern Appalachians, and is tied to numerous other sustainability/conservation issues. I am exploring how SAMAB can lead in facilitating implementation of cleaner/higher-efficiency technologies across transportation, utility, industrial, and building sectors in the Southern Appalachians/Southeast SAMAB member and partner organizations are at once stakeholders and drivers of the problem and its solutions. This summer's exceedances, with the trend of recent years, provide an ethical and political imperative for action. Among our partners, we have access to many technological solutions and means to implement them; the challenge is to develop the inter-jurisdictional institutional capacity, trust, and political will to implement a mix of solutions that is equitable and economically and environmentally sound. We will have the SAMI assessment and policy recommendations to build from. Help me align SAMAB members' and partners' public and private resources to design solutions! (Robb Turner, rsturner@utk.edu)