International News & Upcoming Events
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This section contains information on upcoming internationally-focused events at the Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources (FER), as well as news articles about our international activities.
Stay Informed
Subscribe to Sylvanet, FER's international forestry newsletter. Sylvanet features travelogues, news, announcements, photos and reports or perspectives on issues pertaining to international forestry. Faculty, students and alumni all contribute to its pages. To subscribe to Sylvanet, please email Judy Rogers with your full postal mailing address. The Spring 2008 issue (.pdf) is available to read and download. Sylvanet archives are also available for viewing. To submit an article or to be added to its mailing list, please e-mail the graduate student editor, Hayley Stevenson.
Upcoming Events
For more events see the FER News & Event page, the College of Natural Resources News and Event page and the NC State University Calendar.
Students are leaving on international classes this summer in Ghana and Namibia. Stay tuned for updates and reports.
In The News
Here are some selected news articles on international FER activities. For more news on FER or the rest of the College of Natural Resources, please visit our CNR News Page or the NC State University News Page or see news archives for past news stories.
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South America Seeing Green in Tropical Forest Management.
Research and Graduate Studies at NC State. Results-Spring 2008
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Dr. Werner Dörgeloh named "Study Abroad Director of the Month" for February
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Scholarships available for students with a North Carolina - Sweden connection
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Forest Nutrition Co-operative workshop in Venezuela co-hosted with colleagues at U Los Andes
The International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF) hosted a symposium on Carbon Offsets April 25th
International Society of Tropical foresters hosted a symposium on Carbon Offsets on April 25th. Speakers from around the triangle as well as some speakers from out-of-state presented on the topic that is growing in the public's awareness. Approximately 50 students and faculty attended from NC State, Chapel Hill and Duke Universities.
The day began with a presentation by Brian Murray, the director for economic analysis at Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, who opened the day with an overview of carbon offsets. The whole day event continued with a presentation by Scott Settelmyer the president of TerraCarbon, followed by speakers, John Rogers a senior fellow managing The Conservation Fund’s Carbon Sequestration Program , Carol Jordan the president of Environmental Synergy, Inc. Christopher Galik, a research coordinator at Duke University's Climate Change Policy Partnership, and the day ended with a presentation by Eric Carlson the executive director of Carbonfund.org.
Students debriefed the day at a Sammy's reception following the event. Some were surprised to learn that afforestration is the only active (that is, not reducing something) way to offset carbon. Other students were inspired by Eric Carlson, whose passion for the environment came through as he described the organization he co-founded, with his wife, to help regular people offset the carbon they are responsible for in their own lives. Carbonfund.org offers a variety of ways for people, as well as companies and organizations, to offset their carbon. The democratic political campaigns were both using Carbonfund to offset the carbon produced by their campaigning. Students began discussing the possibility of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources using carbonfund.org to offset carbon as a department.
ISTF is planning another symposium for next April, based on the success and interest generated by the recent symposium.
Fred Cubbage in Brazil for Conference
Fred Cubbage traveled to Brazil from March 1 to March 20, 2008 for several meetings and various purposes.
During the first week, he presented a paper on "Timberland Investments in the America" at the Timberland Investing Latin America Summit in São Paulo. The conference was a three day long event with speakers from all over Latin America, especially Brazil. About 140 investors and consultants and forest and investment specialists attended the meeting.
In the second week, he interviewed senior level policy makers and administrators with the the government and nongovernment agencies in Brasilia about the forestry laws and their implementation in Brazil. These include the directors of forestry laws and regulations in IBAMA, Servico Florestal Brasieiro, Insituto Chico Mendes, Laboratorio de Productos Forestales, WWF, and FSC-Brasil.
In the third week, Fred visited with many professors in forest and environmental policy at the Univeridade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), Minas Gerais. They discussed opportunities for student and research exchange between UFV and NCSU. Fred alo presented a talk on Manejo Forestal Sustentable, Biodiversidad, y Certificacio'n Forestal at UFV. (The talk and slides were unfortunately in Spanish, but everybody agreed that would be better than English).
Copies of Fred's slide talks at the timberland investment conference or sustainable forest management speech (Spanish or English) may be obtained by sending an email to him at: fred_cubbage@ncsu.edu.
Over 200 bird species reported from Nicaragua Spring Break Trip
Dr. Chris Moorman led a Spring Break Trip to Nicaragua
During spring break 2008, seven NC State students traveled on a 9-day study abroad trip to Nicaragua to learn about the country’s wildlife, culture, and history. The unique opportunity was offered through a partnership between NCSU, the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and EcoQuest Travels. Trip leaders Chris Moorman (Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources), John Connors (NC Museum of Natural Sciences and EcoQuest Travels), and John Gerwin (NC Museum of Natural Sciences) facilitated student learning, but the hands-on experiences did most of the teaching. For the first five nights, the group stayed at the Finca Esperanza Verde (Green Hope Farm) outside of San Ramon, Nicaragua. The Finca has rustic (e.g., solar electricity only) but beautiful accommodations and fantastic Nicaraguan food. Finca Esperanza Verde is a shade-coffee plantation and developing ecotourism center, and in 2005 it won Smithsonian Magazine’s Sustainable Tourism Award. While at the Finca, we learned about shade-grown coffee production, captured and banded birds using mist nets, saw other wildlife such as the red-eyed treefrog and olingos, and got to know the local Nicaraguan staff. We also visited the nearby town of San Ramon to learn about how ecotourism at the Finca has helped sustain the local community.
After tearful farewells to the staff at Finca Esperanza Verde, we traveled to Selva Negra, a higher elevation forest closer to the Honduran border. At Selva Negra, we were lucky enough to see a three-wattled bellbird and a pair of resplendent quetzals. That night, we stayed at the Santa Maria de Ostuma, a nearby shade-grown coffee plantation and ecolodge. The gardens around the beautiful lodge were packed with birds and the food again was delicious.
The last two nights we stayed in Granada, the oldest settlement in Central America. We visited two volcanoes in the area – the active Volcan Masaya and Volcan Mombacho. On our first afternoon in Granada, we took a sunset boat tour of Las Isletas, small islands in Lake Nicaragua that were created by a past eruption of Mombacho. The next day, we visited Domitila Wildlife Reserve, the first private reserve created in Nicaragua. Domitila offers one of the best examples of dry, tropical forest in Central America. That night, we celebrated our time in Nicaragua at a grand farewell dinner in a Granada restaurant. The trip was a great success; we saw or banded over 200 species of birds and saw many species of reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. The people of Nicaragua were friendly and welcoming. The students were excellent and each brought a unique perspective to the experience. Plans are to offer the trip during spring break of even years, so we hope that NC State will return to Nicaragua in 2010.
Student Report by Colter Chitwood:
Spending spring break studying birds in Nicaragua was an awesome experience. Mist netting, banding, and learning about birds were my reasons for going on the trip, but I learned just as much about Nicaraguan culture and history. It was also great to experience shade-grown coffee plantations first-hand and learn about the economic and environmental impacts that the coffee industry has on so many countries in Central and South America.Dr. Werner Dörgeloh named "Study Abroad Director of the Month" for February
Dr. Werner Dörgeloh was named the "Study Abroad Director of the Month" in February. In DFER he teaches natural resource conservation and wildlife management. Dr. Dörgeloh has spent time doing reserach and field work in African wildlife ecology and conservation. He will lead a trip to Namibia this summer. To read more about his achievements visit the Study Abroad webpage and look for the Faculty Director Spotlight.
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Scholarships available for students with a North Carolina - Sweden connection
THE SWEA NORTH CAROLINA SCHOLARSHIP
INTRODUCTION: SWEA, the Swedish Women's Educational Association, is a global non-profit organization for Swedish and Swedish-speaking women who are living or have lived outside of Sweden. (More information below.) Each year, SWEA North Carolina awards one or several scholarships, depending on the applicant pool. In the past, the scholarships have generally amounted to $1,000 each. In return, scholarship recipients commit to providing a report to SWEA NC on how the award was used - either in writing or by giving a presentation.
PURPOSE: Primarily, to support a person or an organization with ties to North Carolina in their studies or their efforts to advance/share knowledge of Swedish culture, traditions, language, history, or society. However, outstanding scholars in any field of study (from North Carolina-based institutions, pursuing research or studies in Sweden, or vice versa) are invited to apply, as the scholarship is more broadly intended to foster worthwhile exchanges between Sweden and North Carolina.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: To be considered for the scholarship, an applicant must: * Have connections with North Carolina and Sweden * Have concrete plans on how to use the scholarship * Commit to providing a report on how the scholarship was used, for instance by writing an article or giving a presentation to SWEA NC; and * (If applicable), have established contact with the university, institution or organization where she/he will study
DEADLINE: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis from February through May and August through November, and considered on individual merit.
APPLICATION: The application can be downloaded from the SWEA North Carolina website at http://www.swea.org/scholarship___1712.aspx
MORE INFO: For additional information, or to submit your application, please contact northcarolina@swea.org.
SWEA in Brief: SWEA, the Swedish Women's Educational Association, is a global non-profit organization for Swedish and Swedish-speaking women who are living or have lived outside of Sweden. By gathering members around our common Swedish language, heritage, traditions and culture, SWEA becomes a meeting point with links all over the world. It makes life abroad a little easier and provides support to members when they move abroad and return to Sweden. SWEA's purpose is to protect the Swedish language and to support and raise awareness of Swedish culture and traditions. The organization provides personal and professional networking opportunities among members around the world. The association supports education through scholarships and other projects with a Swedish connection. SWEA was founded in 1979 in Los Angeles by Agneta Nilsson. By 2008 the association boasted more than 8,000 members distributed among 80-some chapters in 40-some countries around the world. SWEA North Carolina was established in 1997 and has approximately 120 members.
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NC State Forest Nutrition Cooperative co-hosted a workshop in Venezuela with colleagues at U Los Andes
A 5 day workshop and field trip hosted by Univ Los Andes faculty member Omar Carrera and presented by Lee Allen and Rafael Rubilar (Univ Concepcion). There were 32 attendees from 6 countries including Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and Mexico representing forest industry, forest landowners, governmental organizations, and universities. Click here to see the brochure.
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Summer Trips 2008:
Ghana: May 29 - June 13 Focuses on ecotourism, preservation of cultural resources, community development and Ghanaian tourism system
Contacts: Dr. Carol Kline and Dr. Kofi Boone
Namibia Summer Program: May 18 - June 6 Spend time in the oldest desert in the world, the Namibia, see the mountain landscapes of Damaraland, experience the natural wonder of Etosha National Park with its magnificent wildlife, and learn more about cheetah conservation and farm life
Contacts: Dr. Werner Dorgeloh
For More Information Visit the Study Abroad Website
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International Society of Tropical Foresters heads up to the annual conference at Yale and the UN forum on forests
ISTF is packing a 12-passenger van and heading up the Yale via NY City to stop in and visit some folks in the UNFF who have agreed to meet with them. The Yale conference, an annual event, is a good chance to meet up with other chapters of ISTF. More details of the trip to follow.
