TELCONF> Interactive Sat-Con RE: Endangered Species (fwd)

[stoss f <fs6@stc06.CTD.ORNL.GOV>]

I thought this might be of interest to librarians in a variety of natural 
resource and environmental settings.

Fred Stoss
Column Editor
ERMD Bulletin
Environment and Resource Management Division (SLA)
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
615/241-4854

Date: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 11:55:57 -0800 (PST)
>From: P. Michael McCulley <mcculley@netcom.com>
To: net-happenings <net-happenings@is.internic.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list SAIS-L <SAIS-L@unb.ca>

                                                        For Immediate Release


SATELLITES BRING ENDANGERED SPECIES
TO SCHOOLS ACROSS NORTH AMERICA

        November 11, 1994, Washington, D.C.---Thousands of students
around the country  and Canada will be participating in a live
interactive videoconference which will give them the opportunity to see
the whooping cranes that are now being brought back from near
extinction.

        The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Wildlife
Visitor Center of the U.S. National Biological Survey are sponsoring
this live interactive videoconference.  This one-way video, two-way
audio will allow students to see the whooping cranes in the habitat that
has been created for them and ask questions of Dr. George Gee, the
wildlife biologist responsible for whooping crane recovery.

        "Since the whooping crane recovery program began in 1967,
through intensive breeding efforts we have been able to bring the
whooping cranes from near extinction to nearly 300 in the wild and in
captivity," said Dr. George Gee, whooping crane biologist.

        The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Wildlife
Visitor Center have developed an education program on whooping crane
research and their remarkable recovery.  To ensure that the broadcast is
an educational experience, teachers will be provided with curriculum
materials on endangered species prior to the conference and an Internet
news group will allow students to communicate with wildlife biologists
for months after the broadcast.

        "This distance learning application provides for a factual,
global perspective that will assist in teaching critical thinking and
problem solving for issues that stretch beyond the local community."
said Duane a. Cox, President of the Alliance for Environmental Education
a non-profit organization which is coordinating the program.

        The whooping crane conference is a pioneering attempt by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to test the use of telecommunications
technology to educate students about endangered species.  If the
broadcast proves to be educational and cost effective, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service may plan more broadcasts on other endangered species.
VideoLinx Communications, Inc. will be producing this live conference
from the captive breeding facility for the whooping crane at the
Patuxent Environmental Service Center in Laurel, Maryland.

        "With the use of modern technology children throughout the
country will be able to receive updates and interact real time with
scientist, teachers and other students that are concerned with the
survival of endangered species,"  said J. Landrum, president of
VideoLinx Communications, Inc.

        This event will be November 17, 1994 at 1:00 p.m. (EST).  Anyone
wishing to view this event can do so by having a satellite antenna tuned
to SBS 5, transponder 14, receive frequency 12141 MHz.

        The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal agency
through which the federal government carries out its responsibilities to
conserve, protect, and enhance the nation's fish and wildlife and their
habitats for the continuing benefit of people.

        The National Wildlife Visitor Center is an educational facility
of the National Biological Survey, the newest Bureau in the Department
of the Interior.  The National Biological Survey gathers, analyzes and
disseminates biological information necessary for good stewardship of
natural resources.  It is designed to serve as an information
clearinghouse and source of solid scientific information for use by
local communities, development interests, wildlife managers, landowners,
and private and nonprofit groups.

        VideoLinx Communications, Inc. is a global video communications
provider, with headquarters in Annandale, Virginia.  With over 350
videoconferencing facilities worldwide, VideoLinx provides room
brokerage services, special event management, global design and
implementation of videoconferencing networks, and complete broadcast
services.  VideoLinx specializes is broadcasts for organizations wishing
to communicate economically to the educational community.

        The Alliance for Environmental Education (Alliance) headquarted
in Manassas, Virginia is a nonprofit organization with a membership of
350 professional, business, education, environmental and other nonprofit
organizations, and government agencies.  It provides a neutral forum for
the exchange of scientifically and technologically accurate information
on the environment.


                                -30-


   For More Information Contact:

          Laura Hunt                      (703) 658-5469
          VideoLinx Communications, Inc.  INTERNET: vlinx@access.digex.net
--
 Steve Eggleston                         Internet:nuance@access.digex.net
 Nuance Data Systems  (703)823-8963           CIS:72040,713
         "Technology Should Set You Free, Not Make You Crazy"