hello all,

disturbing news, indeed.

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Love the creator? Then protect the creation.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 08:31:15 -0500
From: Madhusudan Katti <mkatti at asu.edu>
Subject: Smithsonian's Conservation & Research Center to be shut down!!

Greetings folks,

Yesterday I heard from a colleague the rather shocking news that the
Smithsonian's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal
<http://www.si.edu/crc/> is to be shut down permanently after 25 years of
operation!! This is part of a downsizing of "science" at the Smithsonian,
and will no doubt outrage many of our colleagues throughout the world who
have had associations with the CRC.

Today's Washington Post online carries the article appended below on the
planned closure:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46701-2001Apr5.html>.

I have also been digging a bit online (thank you Google) into the background
to this budgetary decision. Based on what I have read so far, it looks like
the decision to close the CRC comes from the Smithsonian's Secretary
Lawrence Small, he of impeccable corporate pedigree (Citicorp/Citibank to
Fannie Mae to Smithsonian - for more on this, see, e.g.,
<http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0217-07.htm>). The Smithsonian's Board
of Regents, which consists of various govt. luminaries including the US Vice
President, the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, and others, has
approved the plan.

The article below gives some indications of the research priorities being
set for the Smithsonian, with the CRC as one casualty.

I personally feel sad that a world class facility such as the CRC, which has
contributed so much to conservation and research worldwide - many of my
teachers in India received training there - can be closed down so abruptly.

A colleague from the CRC just wrote to me that some of them are trying to
generate some external pressure to force reconsideration of this decision.
I'm not sure who to write to at this point, but I guess one can start with
Mr. Small (contact information should be available through the SI website
<http://www.si.edu/>.

Madhu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Madhusudan Katti
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER Project
Center for Environmental Studies
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-3211