A workshop on the Principles and Best Practices of Place-based Education will be offered June 23 to 24 at the Conservation Study Institute/Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. This workshop will provide a practical framework for using local community and environment as an integrating context for teaching. An informational flyer is available in pdf on the institute’s Web site at www.nps.gov/mabi/csi/. To register, call Lesley Graham at (802) 985-8686 ext. 41 or e-mail lgraham@shelburnefarms.org.

Coastal Zone Canada 2004 is scheduled for June 27 to 30 in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. CZC 2004 will focus on the increasingly complex challenges associated with understanding, maintaining, managing, and governing coastal ecosystems. For information, access www.czc04.ca.

The Soundings Institute: Advancing Community-Based Practices in Marine Conservation and Management will convene on September 12 to 16 in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Soundings Institute will bring experienced practitioners from North America's Atlantic Region (Newfoundland to Massachusetts) together to present and discuss their work in the community-based marine conservation and management realm. The institute's goal is to demonstrate and document the breadth and depth of community-based approaches and their impact across a broad spectrum of marine issues and areas. For information, e-mail Michele Walsh, mwalsh@qlf.org.

Restore America's Estuaries Second National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration will be held September 12 to 15 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center and the Grand Hyatt Seattle in Seattle, Washington. The Conference will address habitat restoration in coastal and estuarine areas of the United States as well as international initiatives and issues. More information about the Conference can be found at www.estuaries.org/2ndnationalconference.php.

The Certificate Program in Community-based Resource Management will be held from September 14 to October 1 at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The Program includes an overview of the principles and practices of community-based management as applied to fisheries, forestry, coastal habitats and watersheds. Using case studies, participants will be encouraged to explore the implications of community-based management for their own work. The program will provide a fundamental framework for an understanding of community-based resource management and its methods including the relationship between community and ecosystem and balancing economic and ecological imperatives. To register go to: www.stfx.ca/institutes.

The 6th Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Workshop scheduled for September 29 to October 2 at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre, Cornwallis Park, Nova Scotia. The theme of the workshop, sponsored by the Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership (BoFEP), is The Changing Bay of Fundy: Beyond 400 Years. 2004 coincides with the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of French explorers to establish the first permanent European settlement in Canada at Port Royal. Presentations and discussions may deal with topics such as: physical, chemical and biological oceanography; ecology and natural history of the region; fisheries; wildlife biology; resource use by humans; ecosystem health or integrity; marine protected areas, wildlife reserves or parks; and coastal or watershed issues around the Bay. Registration information is at: www.bofeb.org/2004_workshop.

The Gulf of Maine Summit is scheduled for October 26 to 29 at the Algonquin Hotel in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. The goal of the Summit is to produce a State of the Gulf Report. This will involve assessing the health of the Gulf of Maine ecosystem and resources from the bottom up, taking full advantage of and integrating all the initiatives (e.g., watershed monitoring, research, coordinated regional planning, habitat restoration, etc.) currently underway by many agencies, organizations and institutions in the Gulf. To register access www.gulfofmainesummit.org.

 © 2004 The Gulf of Maine Times