Please help spread the word about this unique conference that is coming up really soon in Asheville, NC.  It is the 21st annual SAMAB Conference, i.e., the Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere Conference.  I have never attended this conference before because it always seemed to be geared toward the Forest Service, timber issues, the effect of climate on the forest, etc.

Interesting, but not really the areas I'm working in.  This year the organizers asked me to be on the program committee and help them design a conference with an emphasis on special forest products, wild-harvesting issues, forest medicinals, etc.  Right up my alley!  So.

We have a great conference planned!  On Tuesday, Nov. 15th there will be a full afternoon panel and audience discussion on sustainable wild-harvesting.

Panel members include two well-known herb buyers, a botanist, an ethnobotanist, and yours truly.  On Wednesday and Thursday I will moderate sessions on Special Forest Products.  Issues covered will include cultivating medicinal herbs in the forest, mushroom growing and marketing, ramps, sustainable black cohosh harvesting, maple syrup production in the South, making money from kudzu, genetic variations in native goldenseal populations, what augmenting natural medicinal plant populations does, and more.

I'm excited about the conference, but we don't have a whole bunch of people signed up.  In some ways that it good, because those there will get a real intimate experience.  But I hate to think of all the folks who are going to contact me afterwards and say, hey, why didn't you tell me about this conference?

So, here's the link.  Look it over.  Note, the program has changed a little; most notably the conference will end at 4:00 on Thursday.  Spread the word, sign up yourself, and I hope to see you there.  Here's the link:   SAMAB Conference