SWS Mid-Atlantic Chapter

Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia


February, 2001

Dear Chapter Members -

I spent a few days up in Rhode Island at the end of January attending the SWS Board meeting on behalf of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter. A lot of information was presented but the biggest news is that the 2002 Annual SWS meeting location has been changed to Lake Placid, which you may or may not realize is within the Mid-Atlantic Chapter. Dr. Jim Allen from Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks will be serving as the chair for the meeting. We are at the early stages for planning this conference, but are ramping up quickly. We will be developing a number of committees to plan and execute the event, so if you have been waiting to get involved in a Chapter event, now is your chance. I will send out information on specific dates, committees and places as they become available.

Other highlights from the meeting that may be of particular interest to our Chapter include the following –

1. The 2001 SWS annual meeting in Chicago - Plans are quickly moving ahead for the 2001 conference. The conference is being held at the same time as the Chicago Blues Festival, so book your room soon. We will be holding a Chapter meeting on the Thursday evening of the conference and look forward to seeing you there.

2. A survey for all SWS members will be sent to you in the June newsletter. This survey is separate from the Chapter survey that you may have filled out recently. Please take the few minutes required to answer the survey - your replies provide valuable insights, as I found with our Chapter’s survey.

3. The SWS Bulletin is still looking for an Editor - if you are interested, contact Virginia Carter.

4. Curtis Richardson is looking for photographs of wetlands for a publication - actually, two from every state, close-ups as well as landscape shots. If you have some lovely photographs you would like to share, contact Curtis via e-mail curtr@env.duke.edu

On behalf of SWS, I will be attending The Association of State Wetland Managers annual meeting in early March and will report back to you with any news of interest.

I have combed through the results of our Chapter surveys. We received about 200 replies. I appreciate the time of everyone who answered. If you did not have a chance to fill out a survey, you still can by visiting the Chapter web page. The dominant theme within the surveys was that most people have little time available but are interested in attending wetland-focused activities within their area. Therefore, the goal of the Chapter will be to make those smaller, more local events available. I will be contacting those of you who wrote about specific ideas within the month.

A bit out of our Chapter, but still close by – Duke University Wetland Center is hosting the Seventh Symposium on Biogeochemistry of Wetlands from June 17 through June 20, 2001. There will be three concurrent mini-symposia, each focusing on a different area of wetland science. For more information, visit www.env.duke/wetland. Next year, this conference will be held outside of North America, so try to attend this one.

Closer to home, The Wetlands Regulatory Workshop and the Mid-Atlantic Hydric Soils Committee is holding a National Hydric Soils Workshop from March 27th through the 29th at the Holiday Inn on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. For more information, visit www.thereillygroup.net.

The NYS Wetlands Forum will be holding their annual meeting in Albany, New York on April 11 and 12. The theme of the meeting is: Regional Issues from a Statewide Perspective. For more information, access http://www.wetlandsforum.org/2001am.htm

The USFWS's NWI has been enhancing digital databases in selected areas in the country, especially in the northeastern United States. With funding from the State of Maryland through NOAA, the Region 5's NWI Program has published "Watershed-based Wetland Characterization for Maryland's Nanticoke River and Coastal Bays Watershed: A Preliminary Assessment Report." The report can be accessed at the Service's website at http://wetlands.fws.gov - listed under publications/reports.

Much discussion is taking place concerning the SWANCC decision. There are a number of interesting debates posted on the SWS Forum web page. Also, a memorandum has been prepared by Jon Kusler for the Association of State Wetland Managers and is posted at www.aswm.org/swancc/aswm-int.pdf Lastly, visit www.eli.org/seminars/2001archive.htm to obtain materials from and a real audio recording of last week’s seminar on the topic.

We invite you to periodically check the Chapter webpage for updates on Chapter news. Featured this month is a write-up provided by Matt Perry from the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center titled "Assessing wildlife utilization of seasonally saturated coastal plain forested wetland (flatwoods) on the Delmarva Peninsula." The group will be evaluating the wildlife using this unique habitat during one calendar year. The hypothesis is that the wildlife using the flatwoods habitat are not significantly different in species composition and numbers than the wildlife using typical forested wetlands in the same geographical area. The goal of the study is to understand the wildlife diversity of these areas so that managers will have a better understanding how to properly manage them.

Have a great weekend!

Terry Doss,
President, SWS Mid-Atlantic Chapter
http://www.sws.org/regional/midatlantic

Principal Wetland Scientist
The Louis Berger Group, Inc.
100 Halsted Street
East Orange, NJ 07028
e-mail: tdoss@louisberger.com
phone: (973) 678-1960, x470
fax: (973) 672-4284