Guest Speaker NANCY STRANAHAN: "The Invisible Forest" March 4, 2010

Quick, name five species of trees in the Eastern Temperate Forest. Need a hint? Look in your own backyard.

“It’s like that old adage, you can’t see the forest for the trees,” said Nancy Stranahan, who will speak on The Invisible Forest at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4, in the Learning Resources Center at Southern State Community College’s South Campus near Sardinia.

Stranahan co-founded and currently serves as co-director of the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System which encompasses Highland, Adams, Scioto, Pike and Ross counties.

“The Eastern Temperate Forest—now the world’s most imperiled biome—once covered the eastern third of the United States and is literally the forest that still grows as remnants in all our backyards,” said Stranahan. “If you want to understand this rarely talked about biome, you have to stand way back and look at the big picture. Only then can you appreciate its uniqueness and global significance.”

Stranahan will share the importance of land preservation and help familiarize guests with a handful of the 200 species of trees in the Eastern Temperate Forest that we call home.

Founded in 1995, the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System currently stewards 12 preserve regions, the largest of which is the 2,000-acre Highlands Nature Sanctuary in eastern Highland County. The Arc of Appalachia’s mission includes land preservation, forest literacy and stewardship ethics. To learn more, please visit www.arcofappalachia.org.

The March 4 event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, please call Mary Ayres, South Campus LRC Manager, at mayres@sscc.edu or 1-800-628-7722, ext. 3681.

Official Website: http://www.sscc.edu/News/2010/2_10/invisible_forest.htm