May 30, 2008
Bowling
Green, Ky. - At the invitation of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Western Kentucky University Geography Professor Chris Groves recently provided technical guidance to an international group of natural resource managers tasked to develop strategies for protection of karst ecosystems.
Groves, who directs the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute within WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program, is assisting with 2008 planning workshops in Eureka Springs, Ark., and the Dominican Republic offering guidance to TNC land managers from around the world in the protection of karst resource that include water resources critical to hundreds of millions of people, as well as rare and unusual organisms that live in the total darkness of caves. An upcoming series will take place in southern Asia.
Since 1951 TNC has been a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Last week’s workshop drew a variety of TNC scientists and government resource managers from throughout the United States as well as Mexico, the Dominican Republic and China.
“A major goal of the Hoffman Institute is to provide training and other services to various local, national and international agencies in the protection of natural resources,” Groves said. “Developing relationships with groups such as TNC helps to provide mutually beneficial opportunities to provide these services while giving faculty and students experience in the protection of water and other natural resources under a variety of technical, climatic and cultural conditions.
“Students who have participated in these projects as part of their academic program here at WKU are now in some cases national leaders in this important and specialized field,” he added.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For more information, contact Chris Groves, (270) 745-5201.
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