The 56th annual Southern Forest Insect Work Conference will be held 22-25 July 2014 (Tuesday - Friday) in Charleston, South Carolina USA. We have chosen the historic Francis Marion Hotel for our meeting. Although meeting registration is not yet open, I encourage you to make your hotel reservation as soon as possible. We have a block of 70 rooms set aside for the group until June 20, so make your reservations by this date. Don't miss out on the special pricing! Here are the details: Date: 22-25 July 2014 Place: Francis Marion Hotel, 387 King St., Charleston, South Carolina USA Phone reservations: 1-877-756-2121. Use the group code "INSECT" and mention that you are attending the Southern Forest Insect Work Conference. ONLY phone reservations are currently available, as the group rate code cannot be used with online reservations at this time. Self-parking is available and costs $16.00 per day. Visit http://www.francismarionhotel.com/ for hotel information. Room rates are $109.00 per night plus tax. Remember, this low rate is valid only until June 20, and only for the first 70 rooms (first 30 on Monday, July 21). Make your reservation right away! _____________________________________________________________________________________ IMPORTANT 2014 PROGRAM INFORMATION!!! Please see the following information from this year's Program Chairs, Kamal Gandhi (kjgandhi@uga.edu<mailto:kjgandhi@uga.edu>) and Jiri Hulcr (hulcr@ufl.edu<mailto:hulcr@ufl.edu>): Theme for the 2014 SFIWC: "Pathways to Forest Health." Opening keynote presentation: Robert Farris, Georgia Forestry Commission Plenary Session: "Pathways". Plenary speaker lineup is to be determined. Submissions and nominations are requested at this time. All SFIWC members are encouraged to suggest program topics of their interest. These will be included into the first tentative agenda, and will be accepted if sufficient numbers of speakers sign up and there is room availability. We have some specific suggestions for sessions as below: 1) Emerging technologies in forest health and protection 2) Success stories in native and exotic species management 3) Communication between scientists, regulators, and stakeholders - cases and how-to's 4) New emerging and imminent insect pests in the Southeast 5) Restoration of pest-impacted forests 6) Interactions between forest disturbances and insects 7) OPEN SESSION(S): talks that do not fit to any of the above topics are welcome and encouraged; they may be included in one or more Open Sessions. Please contact Kamal or Jiri if you need any more information about the program, have suggestions or questions, or would like to volunteer as a session moderator. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Hope to see you in Charleston on July 22! 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 williamshepherd@fs.fed.us<mailto:williamshepherd@fs.fed.us> SFIWC website: http://sfiwc.org<http://sfiwc.org/> This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.