What would it take to save all species forever?
Let's answer this question and work together to protect all living things from extinction.

We are in the process of selecting dates. Please let Pickering know about conflicts with other events. Suggested dates currently include

• October 5-7, 2017, Thursday - Saturday
• October 17-19, 2017, Tuesday - Thursday
• November 14-16, 2017, Tuesday - Thursday

Discover Life will celebrate 4 billion hits and John Pickering's retirement after 32 years at the University of Georgia, Athens. It will host the meeting with support from UGA and Sam Houston State University, Texas.

We anticipate that media specialists will film the meeting and make it available online.

Agenda

• Friday, 9 December — We will assemble with a nature walk in the afternoon and a bonfire in the evening at our mothing site at 275 Blue Heron Drive, Athens, GA 30605.

• Saturday, 10 December, 9:00am - 5:00pm — Speakers will give talks in the 208-seat auditorium of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries (details & map), followed by a panel discussion, reception, and banquet, in the same building, and party starting at 9:00pm at the Globe (details & map).

• Sunday, 11 December, 9:00am - 3:00pm — Discussion at Flinchum's Phoenix Community Center (details & map), including Moth, Freshwater, and other breakout groups.

Speakers: (We anticipate having 20 talks and will list speakers as they accept.)

• (?) Deborah Blum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Jerry Cook, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas
• Bob Corrigan, Encyclopedia of Life, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
• Phil deVries, University of New Orleans, Louisiana
• Patty Gowaty, University of California, Los Angeles
• Bob Holt, University of Florida, Gainesville
• Steve Hubbell, University of California, Los Angeles
• Hank Loescher, National Ecological Observatory Network, Boulder, Colorado
• (?) Meg Lowman, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
• Joe Miller, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia
• (?) Becky Nichols, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee & North Carolina
• John Pickering, University of Georgia, Athens
• Jorge Soberon, University of Kansas, Lawrence
• Brian Wiegmann, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
• Pat Wright, State University of New York, Stony Brook

Participants: (partial list)

• Art Bogan, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh (Freshwater co-organizer)
• Tom Bruns, University of California, Berkeley (Fungal co-organizer)
• Peter Burn, Suffolk University, Massachusetts
• Gerry Cassis, University of New South Wales, Australia (Island co-ordinator)
• Alan Covich, University of Georgia, Athens (Freshwater co-organizer)
• Dac Crossley, Friends of the Georgia Museum of Natural History, Athens
• John Douglass, Southern Lepidopterists' Society (Moth co-organizer)
• Sam Droege. U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent, Maryland (Pollinator co-organizer)
• Mary Freeman, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens
• Will Godwin, Sam Houston State University, Texas
• Paul Johnson, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Marion
• Lori Tolley Jordan, Jacksonville State University, Alabama
• Gretchen LeBuhn, San Francisco State University, California (Pollinator co-organizer)
• Albert Meier, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green
• Quint Newcomer, Discover Life, Athens, Georgia
• Andre Poremski, Change Theory, Washington, D.C.
• Leslie Ries, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
• Steve Stephenson, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (Fungal co-organizer)
• Mac Vidrine, Cajun Prairie Gardens, Eunice, Louisiana
• George Yatskievych, University of Texas, Austin (Plant co-organizer)

• General
  • John Pickering, pick@discoverlife.org & 706-254-7446 (co-organizer)
  • Tori Staples, tori@discoverlife.org (logistical questions)
  • Becka Walcott, dl@discoverlife.org (adding/correcting this page)
  • Steve Hubbell, shubbell@eeb.ucla.edu (co-organizer)

• Breakout groups (tentative list)
  • Continental—
    
    • Ant—
      
      • Jerry Cook, jcook@shsu.edu
    • Bird—
      
    • Pollinator—
      
      • Sam Droege, sdroege@usgs.gov
      • Gretchen LeBuhn, lebuhn@sfsu.edu
    • Fungal—
      
      • Tom Bruns, pogon@berkeley.edu
      • Steve Stephenson, slsteph@uark.edu
    • Lichen—
      
  • Plant—
    
    • Albert Meier, albert.meier@wku.edu
    • George Yatskievych, george.yatskievych@austin.utexas.edu
• Island—
  
  • Gerry Cassis, gcassis@unsw.edu.au
  • Rosie Gillespie, gillespie@berkeley.edu
• Freshwater—
  
  • Art Bogan, arthur.bogan@naturalsciences.org
  • Alan Covich, alanc@uga.edu
• Marine—
  
• Media—
  
  • Deborah Blum, dlblum@mit.edu