Landscape Ecology Meeting Draws Forest Service Scientists and Record Attendance
After more than a year of planning, local organizers from the Eastern Threat Center welcomed attendees of the annual meeting of the U.S. International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE), held in Asheville, North Carolina, in April 2016. It was the 29th annual and largest ever US-IALE annual meeting, drawing approximately 500 professionals (including about 40 Forest Service scientists) and students from 22 countries and 42 states. The meeting explored topics of concern to the Forest Service and partners related to a “Landscape Change” theme and offered attendees a place to share, critique, and strengthen ideas for an all-lands approach to research and management. Hundreds of presentations, dozens of posters and live demonstrations, and several training workshops fostered discussion and learning. Six scientific excursions allowed exploration of environmental and social issues associated with landscape change in and around Asheville. A Forest Service Research and Development exhibit featured the faces of landscape science in the agency, along with information about scientists’ wide-ranging projects and interests. The Forest Service has a long history of membership and support for US-IALE, though this is only the second time the agency has played a key role in organizing the annual meeting.
Pictured: US-IALE President Janet Franklin (third from left) recognized the efforts of meeting organizers from the Eastern Threat Center (left to right: Bill Hargrove, Kurt Riitters, Danny Lee, Stephanie Worley Firley, and Steve Norman) during the US-IALE awards banquet. Photo by Jeffrey Hepinstall-Cymerman, University of Georgia.
External Partners/Collaborators: U.S. International Association for Landscape Ecology; Delaney Meeting and Event Management
Contact: William Hargrove
