MNPS 2004 Annual Fall Conference, "Pieces of the Puzzle: Connecting Land, Water, and the Chesapeake"

Start
10/16/2004
End
10/17/2004
Location
Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, MD

Pieces of the Puzzle: Connecting Land, Water, and the Chesapeake

$45 members, $65 nonmembers.
Saturday Social fee additional $15.

Download registration brochure and form (PDF, ~119 KB).

Field trips will be held throughout Calvert, St. Mary's and Charles counties on both Saturday and Sunday. Directions to the sites will be provided at the conference. Exact field trip locations are subject to change. More detailed information will be available soon.

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Schedule of Planned Activities
Time	Activity
8:30am	Registration Opens
9:00-9:15am	Welcome Address
9:15-9:45am	Southern Maryland Geology. David Powars, USGS Geologist, will provide an overview of Coastal Plain geology and its influence on ecological systems.
9:45-10:15am	History of the Forest. Dan Boone, botanist and Ecologist at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and former Director of Maryland's Natural Heritage Program, will describe the forests of pre-Colonial America and explain how Colonial land use practices influenced forest dynamics.
10:15-10:45am	Break
10:45-11:15am	Native Plant Communities, Speaker TBA
11:15am-12:00pm	Out House to In House. Kent Mountford, an estuarine ecologist with an often humorous perspective of the connections between people and the environment, writes "Past is Prologue" for the Aliance for the Chesapeake Bay's Bay Journal. His talk traces (in good humor) some of the history of sanitation within the Chesapeake watershed. What do we do today with septic systems which threaten our ground and surface water?
Noon	Box Lunch (provided)
1:00-5:00pm	Field Trips Cove Point, John Parrish Flag Ponds Nature Park, Rod Simmons Battle Creek Cypress Swamp, Joe Metzger Sight-seeing Cruise on the Bugeye, on the Wm. B. Tennison, Calvert Marine Museum staff. $7 (Pay on Saturday. Do not send with registration) Myrtle Point Park, Bill Burruss Historic St. Mary's City, Mary Alves Wildflower Farm Tour, Sara Tangren View field trip descriptions.
5:00-7:00pm	Participants will be on their own for dinner. A list of restaurants will be available.
7:00-10:00pm	Social at Calvert Marine Museum. Have great conversations with MNPS members and friends; listen to music by Calvert County's Rockfish; and view the museum's exhibits on the history of southern Maryland. Social includes free desserts and a complimentary beverage. Soft drinks will be available throughout the evening, in addition to a cash bar of beer and wine. We've arranged for a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum so you can see how they raise seahorses and horseshoe crabs. Bid on silent auction items - we are still accepting donations. Auction items should be delivered to the museum before noon.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Field Trips
Time	Activity
10:00am-1:00pm	Hellen Creek Preserve, Bob Boxwell
10:00am-1:00pm	Piney Branch Bog, Cris Fleming
10:00am-3:00pm	Mattawoman Creek Canoeing, Jim Long
10:00am	Historic St. Mary's City, Mary Alves
12:00-3:00pm	American Chestnut Land Trust, Marcy Damon
1:00-4:00pm	Jefferson Patterson Park, Mary-Stuart Sierra
TBD	Araby Mansion, Ellie Cline and Les Craven

View field trip descriptions.

Directions to Calvert Marine Museum.

Local places to stay.

Early registration is advised. Registration cost includes lunch. Registration at the door does not include a guarantee of lunch, since lunches must be ordered in advance. No discounts for late registration. Saturday Social fee is an additional $15.

All proceeds from the conference benefit the Maryland Native Plant Society's programs and activities.

The conference is sponsored by the Southern Maryland Chapter. For more information or to volunteer, contact Carolyn Fulton, cofulton@chesapeake.net or 301-855-6384.

©Maryland Native Plant Society
PO Box 4877, Silver Spring, MD 20914
MNPS is a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization incorporated in Maryland.