[Source: Brian Kenny, National Park Service Southern Arizona Office] -- The National Park Service (NPS) and affiliated organizations are sponsoring a "Comprehensive Resource Stewardship" conference scheduled for May 20-23, 2008 at the Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, Arizona. We have identified a need to recruit competent volunteers to attend the conference to provide assistance monitoring rooms and concurrent sessions and to help with minor logistical issues that help make a conference run smoothly. Volunteers, who provide support for two concurrent sessions or for a day's service, get to attend the conference for free. Individuals in the southern Arizona area who wish to volunteer to assist at the conference should contact Brian Kenny at (602)794-3819, or via email at brian_kenny@nps.gov.
Official call for papers
The conference provides an opportunity for NPS park and regional office resource managers and specialists to interact with one another and share resource highlights, concerns, problems and solutions by presenting and discussing cultural, natural and integrated resource management issues facing parks in this region. Park staff (along with others who have conducted work on behalf of parks) are invited to submit proposals for panel/discussion sessions, and presentations on key findings or solutions to resource management challenges through talks or posters. The Program Committee encourages presentations on interdisciplinary work that combines natural and cultural resource efforts, as well as research or projects conducted specifically for those two types of resources. Suggested topics include cultural and/or natural resource work pertaining to:
• Monitoring and managing effects of climate change in parks • Fire management and the human interface • Best practices to manage research in parks • How concessioners contribute to cultural and natural resource management • "Greening" the parks and sustainability efforts by parks and partners • Social and cultural aspects of wildlife management and appreciation • "Rodent in Ruins" and other Integrated Pest Management issues • Wilderness management in the new millennia • Applying results of research and monitoring to park issues
This list is not intended to be limiting – we invite other submissions on timely topics. Panels/Discussion Sessions are encouraged to promote interaction between subject matter experts, resource managers, and the audience. Panel should have no more than 4 presenters with 15 minutes per presentation, followed by 30 minutes for discussion facilitated by the panel/discussion leader. If you propose a panel/discussion, please specify potential and committed panelists, and the discussion leader/group facilitator (who may be one of the panelists). Key Findings Presentations will be limited to 15 minutes per person, plus 5 minutes for questions.
Since this conference encourages interaction between natural and cultural resource managers or specialists, rather than segmented subject matter experts in different concurrent sessions, proponents should clearly indicate how their presentation would be of interest to a broad audience of park staff and partners. Poster Sessions are an opportunity to visually represent timely research, inventory and monitoring, or management activity. Presenters must attend their poster during a scheduled poster session and be available to discuss their work with attendees. No other sessions will be held concurrent with the poster session, although posters will be viewable at other times during the conference. Each poster should be designed for placement on wall board no larger than 4' by 3'. The conference also allows an opportunity to conduct discipline-specific affinity meetings the day before the conference (May 19) and perhaps on Friday (May 23). Additional information on these meetings will be provided as they are finalized.
