Women Share Environmental Concerns at SSU's Chesapeake Conference October 16-21

SALISBURY, MD---Whether it is in the offices of the Department of Natural Resources in Annapolis or on the salt marshes of the Nanticoke River, women currently have an important voice in Chesapeake Bay environmental affairs. The roles that women play in determining environmental policy and speaking out in defense of the Bay country will be one of many topics explored at the upcoming conference on the Chesapeake Bay at Salisbury State University during the week of October 16-21.

Susan Stranahan, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and author of Susquehanna River of Dreams (Johns Hopkins University Press), a natural history of the river and surrounding watershed, makes her presentation, "The Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay: Notes on our Future," on Wednesday, October 18, from 7:30-9 p.m., in the Worcester Room of the Commons. As a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stranahan’s coverage of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant crisis on the Susquehanna netted a Pulitzer Prize for the Inquirer in 1980.

During her career as executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Alliance, Frances Flanigan has been an outspoken defender of the Bay. Under her leadership the Alliance has forged a multi-state coalition of environmentalists, business representatives, scientists, farmers and sports enthusiasts to protect the Bay. She organized landmark meetings that led to the historic Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 1987, which established guidelines for the protection of the estuary. Flanigan’s presentation, "Public Interest Groups, Sprawl and Chesapeake By Conservation," is on Saturday, October 21, from 9:30-11:30 a.m., in the Worcester Room of the Commons.

Dr. Clara Small, a history professor at SSU, and Dr. Elaine Breslaw, an historian at the University of Tennessee, have both produced books and monographs ranging from the black experience in the Chesapeake to the social and cultural context of leisure in the Bay country as well as the connection of the Chesapeake country with the Caribbean in the past. Small’s presentation, "Slavery and Manumission in the Chesapeake: The Eastern Shore Experience, is on Monday, October 16, from 4-6 p.m. in the Worcester Room of the Commons. On Wednesday, October 18, Breslaw’s presentation, "The Lost World of Chesapeake Pleasures: The Eighteenth Century," takes place from 4-6 p.m. in the Worcester Room of the Commons.

On the Eastern Shore Ann Byrnes and Lisa Jo Frech have shown how fruitful local efforts can be in raising environmental consciousness in the region. In her new book, Tributaries: People Working for the Future of the Chesapeake Bay (Johns Hopkins University Press), Byrnes has demonstrated how the efforts of local people can protect the environment of our threatened estuary. As an environmental activist and organizer, Frech has played a leading role in the creation of the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance, an umbrella organization of environmentally concerned citizens who are determined to protect and enhance the environment of the Nanticoke River watershed. On Friday, October 20, Byrnes presentation, a photographic and essay discussion, is from 1:30-3 p.m. in SSU’s Fulton Hall Gallery. Frech will discuss "The Chesapeake Watershed in Human Terms," on Tuesday, October 17 from 1-3:30 p.m. in the Worcester Room of the Commons; "Public Perception of Chesapeake Environmental Problems" from 7-9 p.m. in the Wicomico Room of the Guerrieri University Center; and "River of Dreams: the Susquehanna," on Wednesday, October 18, from 4-6 p.m. in the Worcester Room of the Commons.

Admission to all presentations at the conference are free and open to the public. For a brochure or more information, please call Jack Wennerstein at 410-548-5782.