SAMAB Conference

The 17th annual Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere (SAMAB) conference was held last week in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The focus of this years conference was Natural Resources and the Economy: Hand-in-Hand. The primary topics focused on this year were:

• Biofuels
• Sustainable Development
• Invasive Species
• Water
• Research

The Natural Resources Division was highlighted for our collaboration with Neil Thomas (Resource Data, Inc) on developing ways of looking at landscape change at the watershed level and a watershed development index.

The hope is to take Neil's work in this area and develop training modules that can be offered through the college in a variety of ways: Curriculum, Continuing Education and more.