[IUFRO RG 7.03 FORENT] SFIWC Hotel Reservation Info and Program Update

The 51st annual Southern Forest Insect Work Conference will be 4-7 August 2008 in Chattanooga, Tennessee USA. Although we soon will be updating the SFIWC website (http://sfiwc.org) with this year's registration form, I encourage you to make your hotel reservation as soon as possible. We have a large block of rooms set aside for the group until 20 July 2008, so make your reservations before this date. Don't miss out on the special pricing! Here are the details: Date: 4-7 August 2008 Place: Chattanooga Marriott at the Convention Center, 2 Carter Plaza, Chattanooga, Tennessee USA Toll-free phone reservation: 800-841-1674. Ask for the "Southern Forest Insect Work Conference" group rate. Online reservation: http://www.marriott.com/chadt. Enter the meeting dates and use the group code, SFISFIA. Parking is available for meeting participants at a discounted rate of $6.00 USD per day (self park). Visit http://www.marriott.com/chadt for hotel information. Room rates are $85.00 USD per night plus tax. Remember, this low rate is valid only until 20 July 2008. Make your reservation right away. And an update on the 2008 SFIWC Program from Chris Asaro (Program Chairman): We still have a few vacancies for concurrent sessions. As of now we have six session topics (bark beetle control, southern pine beetle, hemlock woolly adelgid, prescribed fire, systemic insecticides, and possibly gypsy moth), which are just enough to have 2 concurrent sessions per each of 3 time slots. A number of folks at last years meeting indicated a desire to see 3 concurrent sessions per timeslot, so I strongly encourage you to submit more ideas and volunteer to moderate a session. As for the graduate student session, we currently have five speakers and would like to at least double that number. Graduate students or professors, please help us fill up this session by contacting Gina Davis ( gina21(a)vt.edu) or Kelly Felderhoff (klfelder(a)ncsu.edu) and providing them with names, affiliations, and presentation titles as soon as possible. Finally, there have been no title submissions to date for the poster session. Once again, please help us put this program together by sending poster titles, names, and affiliations to Carla Dilling (cdillin1(a)utk.edu) as soon as possible. With your help, we aim to have a complete program for this years meeting by early June. Thank you. William P. Shepherd, SFIWC Secretary-Treasurer USDA Forest Service SRS 2500 Shreveport Highway Pineville, LA 71360 USA Voice: 318-473-7256 FAX: 318-473-7222 E-mail: williamshepherd(a)fs.fed.us SFIWC website: http://sfiwc.org