This is an electronic copy of the official announcement of the National
Audubon Society's Spring River Conference and International Symposium on
People, Water, and Wildlife. If you are interested in these events, I
have an electronic copy of the registration form, available via Email.
You can reach me at rluehrs at nyx.cs.du.edu with questions, etc.

Richard Luehrs
Big Bend Audubon Society
Kearney, NE
rluehrs at nyx.cs.du.edu

--------------------------------
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF COMMITMENT TO THE PLATTE RIVER,
AN AUDUBON TRADITION

1995 SPRING RIVER CONFERENCE
March 16-20

AND

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
March 16-17

Kearney, Nebraska

SPRING RIVER CONFERENCE - March 16-20, 1995

Timed to coincide with the spectacular gathering of many thousands of
sandhill cranes along the Platte River in central Nebraska, the annual
Audubon Spring River Conference sponsored by the West Central Regional
Office will be held on the weekend of March 16-20 at the Ramada Inn in
Kearney, Nebraska. The National Audubon Society became actively
involved in Platte River issues in 1970, sponsored the first meeting
and field trips devoted to the subject in March 1971, and began
acquiring land for the Lillian Annette Rowe Sanctuary in 1973.

The 1995 conference will include featured speakers, slide
presentations, films, workshops and field trip opportunities.
Approximately 500,000 sandhill cranes depend on the Platte River as a
spring staging area in March and early April each year. On a few
occasions participants have also observed whooping cranes. Bald
eagles near the river, and large numbers of waterfowl at wetlands in
the Rainwater Basin can also be seen in this part of Nebraska
throughout most of March.

PROGRAM

As in the past the focus of the 1995 Spring River Conference will
include the Platte, Niobrara and Missouri River ecosystems and
associated wildlife with special emphasis on sandhill cranes. The
importance of the 1995 Farm Bill, specifically the Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP) and Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) to wildlife
including waterfowl, upland game birds and neotropical migrants will
also be featured.

The program will begin on Friday evening at 8:00 p.m. with hospitality
festivities, presentations and speakers. This will include a
reception with National Audubon Society Board of Directors hosted by
state Audubon Councils in the West Central Region. This will be
followed by a briefing on the field trips and the conference.

The Saturday session will begin with guest speakers at 9:30 a.m.,
include a featured luncheon speaker and continue until 4:00 p.m. The
evening banquet is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. with a keynote speaker.
The Sunday morning program will begin at 9:00 a.m. and conclude with a
special luncheon speaker. Scheduled speakers include Peter A.Atc.
Berle, President of the National Audubon Society; Tim Wirth, Under
Secretary for Global Affairs, US State Department; and Daniel P. Beard
Comissioner, Bureau of Reclamation. Please plan to stay with us until
at least 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Youth programs for children 5 and older
are available Saturday morning and afternoon and Sunday morning.

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON PEOPLE, WATER, AND WILDLIFE
March 16-17, 1995

Global connections between people, water and wildlife is the theme for
this year's international crane symposium sponsored jointly by Audubon
and the International Crane Foundation. The conference will draw from
the experience of wildlife biologists, managers and activists from
Russia, Japan, Pakistan, and the U.S. and will address a two-part
question: what conflicts exist between people and wildlife and how
can they be resolved--at community, national and global levels?
Points of discussion will include:

*strategies communities employ to protect cranes and other stressed
species;
*human population pressure on natural resources;
*cultural considerations in wildlife protection/cross-cultural
conservation;
*the role of biologists/researchers as conservation catalysts.

On Thursday night the Platte River Institute conservation Award for
1995 will be presented at the conference's banquet dinner. This
banquet will feature an invited speaker. Conference lunches are
planned for Thursday and Friday. Additional details on the
International Symposium can be obtained by contacting the Human
Population and Resource Use Department, 4150 Darley Ave. #7, Boulder,
CO 80303 (303) 499-5155 or the West Central Regional Office, 200
Southwind Place, Manhattan, Kansas 66502 (913) 537-4385.