How valuable are forests--whether in the city, country, or wilderness-to the management of water resources? This is a hot topic and AWRA is holding a specialty conference to address the many issues associated with forest management for the protection of water supplies and aquatic communities. We are looking for oral and poster abstracts to be considered for presentation.

Topics for the conference should address several key themes linking healthy forests and healthy waters, including:

• Defining the Land and Water Connection--Emerging tools, methods, and information for identifying forest characteristics important to water resources
• Making the Water and People Connection--Building a constituency, cooperating, and planning for water quality protection
• Managing for Sustainability--Forest conservation and land management approaches for long-term protection of water resources
• Creating the Water Economy--Market-based incentives, mitigation, payments for ecosystem services, & green infrastructure investment
• Learning by Example -- Cases studies from watersheds throughout the U.S. (and beyond)

We are learning the importance of land management on water resources. How we manage forests for the protection of water resources is a growing, and at times controversial, subject. The sessions will be relevant to water managers, aquatic biologists/ecologists, planners, engineers, forestland managers, economists, consultants, water purveyors and industrial users of water. There will be plenary sessions, oral sessions, a poster session, special panels and tracks on applied forest/water science, mitigation, land management, case studies, (see list of topics).You or your company/organization can also participate as a Conference Sponsor or Conference Exhibitor.

Why is attending the AWRA Annual Conference valuable?

In addition to the two day conference on June 27-28, a field trip and a workshop will be held on Wednesday, June 26. Attendees can enjoy a special field trip (Forests, Flows and Faucets) to nearby Barkhamsted Reservoir, which provides water to Hartford and the surrounding region, and where Hartford Metropolitan District has launched forest management and source protection programs. The trip will also include a lecture tour and reception at Great Mountain Forest, which hosts research on forest ecosystem management. These are places you cannot easily visit on your own and where there are great programs using sustainable forest practices to protect water resources for water supply and aquatic communities.

Also on Wednesday AWRA is offering a workshop on SEFA - System for Environmental Flow Analysis. The workshop will provide a hands-on guided tour through the new SEFA software, a comprehensive implementation of the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology.

Wednesday's activities follow the two day AWRA Summer Specialty Conference on Environmental Flows (June 24-25) which will be held at the same location as the Healthy Forests = Healthy Waters Summer Conference. You can attend both conferences (for a small additional fee) or just one of the conferences. Attendees will find topics of interest at both so we hope you consider joining us. We look forward to seeing you in Hartford, CT!

Carol Collier General Conference Chair Delaware River Basin Commission Trenton, NJ	Will Price Technical Program Chair Pinchot Institute Princeton, NJ