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Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere

The Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere Cooperative was established in 1988 to work with regional, state, and local governments, individuals, and other interested organizations to develop a land ethic that recognizes the importance of ecologically sound management of natural and cultural resources in the Southern Appalachians.

The Cooperative, which is made up of 11 federal and 3 state natural resource agencies, identifies principal environmental and developmental issues related to the objectives of the cooperative. This is accomplished through a series of conferences and meetings with interested groups and individuals. They also undertake an ongoing and comprehensive effort to identify long-term, sustainable, and ecologically sound economic development opportunities for the region.

Some prime examples of SAMAB's major activities include the Southern Appalachian Assessment (SAA), where the Cooperative collected and coordinated terestrial, aquatic, atmospheric, and social, cutlural, and economic data for the Southern Appalachian region. The resultant deliverables from this work included five published reports and a comprehensive database for GIS and files. Following up on this, SAMAB developed the Sustainable Communities Initiative, a workshop that explored measures of change and community development indicators that were meaningful to people of the region. ›The project provided a tool for individuals, government planning units, and non-profit organizations to explore and apply the extensive data compiled from the SAA.

After 25 years of existence, SAMAB has many intangible successes through the building of personal and professional relationships among SAMAB members throughout the Southern Appalachian region that cross political and institutional boundaries.  Learn more about the incredible work accomplished over the last 25 years by visiting SAMAB Website or  downloading this power point presentation.