July 24, 2008 - It has been a busy summer for the Southern Forest Futures Project. We are happy to report that we have now completed a thorough analysis of the comments received at the eighteen public meetings we held earlier this year. Perhaps not surprisingly, it took considerable time and effort to sift through the more than 2,200 comments and craft a set of issues to be addressed by the Futures Project. This issue analysis is posted on this website along with a form for sending your review comments back to us. We have also been working on crafting a set of scenarios for consideration by the Futures Project. In June, we convened a small team of experts in Atlanta to begin this process based on the input received at the public meetings. It was a fruitful meeting and we will be drafting a report on scenarios in the near future. We are looking forward to moving on to the next steps of the project. We will continue to firm up the scenarios, flesh out our sub-regional analysis teams, and begin to do the analytical work of the Futures Project. We will continue to post our progress on this website.

June 10, 2008 - We've been working hard over the past couple of months! Through eighteen public meetings, we met with about 600 people who generated more than 2200 comments, sharing their thoughts on important issues for the Southern Forest Futures Project to consider. After a couple of months of sifting, sorting, and study, we're nearing completion of our interpretation of this input. We'll post the report to this website in the near future. We're already beginning to use the information to help form the set of scenarios we'll be evaluating through the Futures Project--scenario team will meet this month. In addition, we're starting to recruit the teams of scientists and analysts who will build forecasts, evaluate issues, and estimate the impacts of scenarios on future forests and their values. Expect to hear more from us on these topics in the next few weeks.

March 31, 2008 - It has now been two weeks since we completed the last of our 15 "face-to-face" public meetings. As you might imagine, it was a very interesting journey and revealed quite a bit regarding our collective concerns regarding the sustainability of forests in the South. We're in the process of posting the comments received from all of these meetings.

As promised, we'll complete our public input process with three more input sessions. To allow for a broad participation from throughout the region, these will be conducted using an internet platform. You will be able to access the meeting using a computer with access to the internet. These "webinars" will be held at the following times:

• Tuesday, April  8, 7:00-9:00 PM Eastern Time
• Wednesday April 16, 2:00-4:00 PM Eastern Time
• Wednesday April 16, 7:00-9:00 PM Eastern Time

Visit the Webinar page to register so we can send you details on how to join in.

Please also pass the word regarding these webinars, especially to those who missed out on the face-to-face meetings. And remember that you can always use the public input form to provide us with additional input.

Thank you for your continued interest and participation!

March 3, 2008 - We're nearing the conclusion of our schedule of public meetings and the gathering of your input. This week will see us in Athens, Georgia and Auburn, Alabama, where we'll be taking input on Piedmont and Coastal Plain issues. Toward the end of March, we'll be hosting two web-based seminars for folks who did not have an opportunity to attend one of the fourteen public meetings. Yet another way for you to provide us with your insights is to use our newly developed online Comment Form. We now look forward to carefully evaluating this input and distilling it into a set of issues to be addressed by the Futures Project.

February 25, 2008 - Today we'll be visiting Raleigh, North Carolina to complete the tenth of fifteen public meetings for the project. To date, we've gathered input from about 400 people in nine different states. It has been a fascinating set of meetings that have provided us with a broad, panoramic view of the issues facing forests and their values throughout the South. The diversity of this region is stunning-from the coastal flatwoods of South Carolina to the cross-timbers region of central Oklahoma-but many of the issues we are hearing are held in common. We look forward to carefully evaluating this input and distilling it into a set of issues to be addressed by the Futures Project, while we collect more input at our remaining meetings. We've posted the first set of public comments, from our meeting in Baton Rouge, for your review.

February 5, 2008 - Now that we've added Auburn and Blacksburg, we now have details posted for all but the last of the face-to-face meetings. Still to come are details for the meeting in the Islands subregion plus the two Webcast meetings. Good thing, too, as we've already completed our first two Public Meetings, the ones in Baton Rouge and Stoneville. For the hundred plus people able to join those meetings, that you for your interest, enthusiasm, and advice. We'll be working to summarize your input and get that made available on the web site. For the rest of you, please check our other Public Meeting Locations and find one you can attend!

January 15, 2008 - Thanks for your patience while we got the new site design implemented. For now you're probably interested in the upcoming Public Meetings. We'll be posting more details on them as they come together. Each of the 15 face-to-face meetings will run from 1 to 5 pm, local time. Right now we have the dates and cities lined up but are still working on specific locations. These meetings will be supplemented by two online meetings to be held in the evening. Dates and times for these have not yet been scheduled. Please use the form to the right to sign up for our listserv so we can alert you when new details become available.

January 8, 2008 - It's getting pretty exciting around here. Our initial organizing phase is now complete, and we're looking forward to our upcoming round of 17 public meetings, to be held across the South and beginning January 29th in Baton Rouge, LA. Sign up for our email list and we'll let you know as soon as details are available.

December 13, 2007 - Subregional Team Leaders met face to face for the first time today in Atlanta to plan a series of meetings that seek public input into key issues facing this project. Over a dozen meetings will be held across the Southern U.S. beginning the end of January 2007 and running into March. Stay tuned for more details here as they develop.