How valuable are forests--whether in the city, country, or wilderness--to the management of water resources? This is a hot topic and AWRA is holding a specialty conference to address the many issues associated with forest management for the protection of water supplies and aquatic communities. AWRA is looking for oral and poster abstracts to be considered for presentation. Topics for the conference should address several key themes linking healthy forests and healthy waters, including:

• Defining the Land and Water Connection -- Emerging tools, methods, and information for identifying forest characteristics important to water resources;
• Making the Water and People Connection -- Building a constituency, cooperating, and planning for water quality protection;
• Managing for Sustainability -- Forest conservation and land management approaches for long-term protection of water resources;
• Creating the Water Economy -- Market-based incentives, mitigation, payments for ecosystem services, & green infrastructure investment;
• Learning by Example -- Case studies from watersheds throughout the US (and beyond).

The Healthy Forests = Healthy Water conference will be led by general conference chair and Pinchot Institute board member Carol Collier. The technical program chair is Pinchot Institute Director of Conservation Programs Will Price. Learn more about the conference and the call for abstracts at the AWRA website.

For more information contact Will Price willprice@pinchot.org.