Auburn Meeting

Eric, Debbie, and Mark will be meeting on April 20 and 21 in Auburn for another session. We'll be going through some of George's materials as well as planning next steps. A recent development is learning this past week of Scot Duncan's book-in-progress on the biodiversity of Alabama, which will overlap considerably with ours.

Al Schotz on Board

Without Al, this would not be the book we want it to be. I vote for Al as our "Technical Adviser," to the extent he has time.

Thanks, Al!

Kickoff Meeting

We had a great meeting in Auburn on February 6. Convening for lunch at the China Palace across from Funchess Hall were the three co-editors, joined by the ever-supportive Beth Motherwell of the U of A Press and Chris Oberholster of TNC. The meeting then moved to Debbie's office, where we continued with a brief visit from Gary Mullen. Then more strategizing at Debbie's house. We will be developing an outline and a draft chapter for circulation to potential contributors. Some of these people have already been contacted, and others will be approached in the coming days.

U of A Press Gosse Nature Series

Alvin Diamond reminds me (and Debbie Folkerts has previously told me) that Gary Mullen is editing the Philip Henry Gosse nature series of books being published by the University of Alabama Press. I understand Beth Motherwell at U of A Press is aware of our concept, and quite interested. It would seem that our book belongs in this series.

About Comments

I have turned on comment notification, only because Beth's recent comment (our first) appeared and I wasn't aware of it for quite a while. I have entered our email addresses in the blog setup so that those of us authorized to create blog entries (presently just me and Beth, waiting for Eric and Debbie to sign on) will now get an email whenever someone leaves a comment. If you want to opt out of this, let me know and I'll take you off the notification list.

New Book on Roland Harper

Alvin Diamond tipped me off to this new book on Roland Harper, by Elizabeth Findley Shores of Tuscaloosa. To be released August 2008.

Watershed Identity Foundation

[slightly edited after receiving more information from Beth Young--see her comment below]

On June 12, 2008 I met Beth Maynor Young at her home office and we discussed this project. She suggested we make a proposal to the board of the non-profit Watershed Identity Foundation, which supports environmental efforts such as ours. Its Board of Directors consists of Bob Tate, Pat Byington, and James Lowery of Birmingham, and Katie Smith Jackson of Auburn. They can act as the fiscal sponsor, in which case 100% of funds raised go to the project. The WIF is similarly helping the longleaf pine book Beth and Rhett Johnson are doing. It does not provide funding. Rather, it holds and distributes funds raised elsewhere on an as-needed (as-invoiced) basis. We will need to raise our own funds. If photographers and authors are not reasonably compensated for their contributions to this project, it will likely not succeed.

In the comment below, Beth offers to call a meeting of WIF, and further suggests that we make a one-page proposal, with a list of the communities we will cover. We should probably provide information on the old (1978) Natural Environments of Georgia book by Wharton, and the fact that it is currently being revised. There is a pdf of an article by a couple of the revised version's authors here.