COUNTDOWN TO THE RENDEZVOUS!

DATES: Starts Thursday, September 25; ends after breakfast on Monday, September 29th.
LOCATION: Simpsonwood Conference Center in Norcross, Georgia, about 45 minutes northwest of Atlanta’s Hartfield-Jackson Airport.

Climbers are gearing up for the 7th Annual Tree Climbing Rendezvous! In just about 4 weeks, we’ll be having the time of our lives climbing, playing, and sleeping in the treetops, and learning together in some great workshops. It’s truly going to be an unforgettable event!

Here are some recent updates in ‘Vous-related activity:

• To date ninety people have registered, and many more have promised to sign up. What a great opportunity to meet and climb with so many new folks!
• A second team went to Simpsonwood (site of the Rendezvous) in late July, this time to scout along the river for additional climbable trees. We found lots of nice trees, but the best was actually in the woods. It’s a 48-52″ DBH pine with gorgeous branch structure, about 130 feet tall with a good view of the river. Along with many beautiful oaks, beech, poplars and hickory trees, there will be no shortage of great climbing trees.
• The “Tree Golf Competition,” being organized by Tree Tramp, is coming along great. We’ve located a good area for it, and we are even receiving donations of prizes from various companies, including Petzl (a Sequoia saddle and Elios helmet), AllGear, and New Tribe.

If you haven’t registered yet and need just a little more inspiration to push you over the edge, here is “Canopymeg” Lowman’s description of the keynote lecture she will give on Saturday night, “Life in the Treetops - Exploration of the World’s Forests”:

“What have we learned from the treetops? And why are forest canopies important to every citizen in the world? Globally, forests are one of the most mysterious, complex and exciting areas of exploration and research. Like SCUBA gear was to coral reef research in the 1950s, single rope techniques facilitated the first studies of the treetops in the 1970s. Since then, canopy biologists have creatively expanded their took kit to include walkways, hot air balloons, cherry pickers, scaffolds, towers, and even construction cranes. With these innovative methods to access tall trees, scientists have discovered that the canopy is home to almost half of the world’s biodiversity, and that the treetops is an important global machine affecting our climate, health, and atmosphere. In short, the canopy “rocks”!

As a veteran with thirty years’ investigation of forest canopies, I will share some of my favorite forests, methods, and adventures and also discuss future challenges for forest conservation. My family has lived and worked in the trees, and hopefully our stories will inspire conservation and education outreach for scientists and citizens alike. The talk will be followed by a book-signing of my new book, It’s a Jungle Up There, co-authored with my children, that aims to inspire a family conservation ethic for any readers who love trees.” [Copies will be available for purchase--psj]

Dr. Lowman’s presentation, along with evening talks by Robert Fulghum and John Gathright, would be worth coming to Atlanta for–even if you weren’t a tree climber!

More information

From the Herald-Tribune:

Meg Lowman, a noted ecologist, has studied jungle canopies for years and will share her stories at the Women’s Equity Day luncheon on Aug. 23. Lowman will speak about how gender inequality still affects science, and how she overcame challenges.

Read the full article.

Event details:

Date: Aug. 23; registration 11 a.m., lunch starts at noon.

Place: Bradenton Municipal Auditorium at City Centre, 1005 Barcarrota Blvd. in Bradenton.

Tickets: $30; call Vicki Waters at 753-9741. For exhibit information, call Gini Hyman at 961-7982. More info / buy tickets online

Contact: Yvette Kimm at yvettekimm@aol.com

Update (8/24):

• Check out the Bradenton Herald article about the event.
• Photos and video from the event will be posted here.

SAVE THESE DATES!!!!!

5^th International Canopy Conference 2009
Forest Canopies: Conservation, Climate Change, and Sustainable Use
October 26-31 2009 Bangalore INDIA

Download the brochure

Forest canopies are the least explored habitats in the world. They not only support high terrestrial biodiversity, but also represent a critical interface between the atmosphere and the earth. Forest canopies also provide goods and services to support diverse human activities. Thus interactions between forests and humanity offer opportunities to explore sustainable use of such resources, particularly for sustaining local livelihoods. Sustainability is vital for environmental policies to foster conservation, sustainable use and mitigation/adaptation to climate change. This demands the integration of canopy science with physical science, social science and information technology.

The 5^th international canopy conference in 2009 will bring diverse professionals together to build inter-disciplinary links in canopy science to foster increased understanding of this unique subset of forest ecosystems. ATREE (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment) is the major supporting institution for the conference, with Convenors Dr. Soubadra Devy (soubadra@atree.org) and Dr. T. Ganesh (tganesh@atree.org). Dr. Kamal Bawa and Dr. Margaret Lowman will serve as co-chairs. The goal of the conference will be to highlight the respect to important global challenges, especially climate change, sustainability, and conservation. The conference will provide an opportunity to build networks across continents, to facilitate capacity-building, and to address issues requiring information from multiple sites, within countries and across continents. The proceedings of the conference will be published in an edited volume, with a subset of papers published as a special issue of an international journal. Special sessions will be held on: Education; Climate Change; Ecosystem Services and Sustainability Initiatives; Innovative Tools; and an Emerging Issues Round Table discussion.

Special features of the conference include:

• All-day field trip to view Indian forests and inspire discussion
• Canopy film festival (similar to the successful programs from the 1^st conference)
• Canopy awards ceremony
• Student session
• Publiclecture to promote canopy education
• Opening Plenary talk by Thomas E. Lovejoy, President, H. John Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

Save these dates! A timeline leading up the conference will be:

1. Call for symposia - January 2009
2. Call for abstracts - March 2009
3. Registration by 10 April 2009
4. More information will be posted on www.atree.org

Please contact Soubadra or Ganesh (emails above) with suggestions for speakers that may represent new, unpublished, innovative canopy projects around the globe.