Distinctive Viewpoints Will Open National Friends Conference
The opening morning of the Friends in Action Conference will feature an array of speakers, including Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, who each bring distinctive perspectives about the challenges that Friends groups will face over the next decade.
The presentations, from 8 a.m. to noon on Feb. 5, will launch an extraordinary conference Feb. 4-7 in Washington, DC, that will offer nearly 30 educational sessions to enhance the considerable skills of Friends groups. At the same time, the nationwide conference will give the expected 300 participants a chance to connect with Friends colleagues from across the country.
The conference will open Feb. 4, when registration will be conducted from 5-10 p.m. A hospitality suite during the same hours will give participants a chance to get acquainted, but no formal sessions are scheduled for Feb. 4.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams will open the conference, setting the stage for lively discussions throughout the four-day conference. Interior Secretary Norton will recognize the extraordinary work of the 38,000 volunteers who gave 1.5 million hours to the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2004.
Other speakers for the morning session are:
- National Wildlife Refuge Association President Evan Hirsche, whose nonprofit organization has been essential to the growth of Friends groups, will join Deputy Refuge Chief Jim Kurth to present an overview of the Conservation in Action Summit results and how they play a central role for Friends groups.
- Dr. Emilyn Sheffield, chair of the Department of Recreation and Parks Management at California State University, will delve into the population and lifestyle trends that will affect the business and societal climate in which Friends groups and the Refuge system will operate in coming years.
- Ann B. Smith, president of the Friends of Black Bayou Lake NWR (LA), who will speak on "A Web of Commitment – Friends Groups and the Refuge System." She will highlight the expansive accomplishments of her own Friends group, which currently has under construction a $450,000 Wetlands Learning Center and carries out educational activities both on and off the refuge.
"This conference is the only place and only time when so many Friends groups can come together to share ideas, organizational strategies and enthusiasm," said Allyson Rowell, chief of the Refuge System Division of Visitor Services and Communications. "Our Friends will go home with an abundance of ideas they can implement – and plenty of energy that will infuse the national wildlife refuges they work so hard for."
Conference Overview
View the draft agenda (120 KB PDF)
Wide Range of Workshops is Hallmark of Conference >>
|
