March 11, 2003 For Immediate Release

About 150 researchers from BC and Alberta will be visiting Prince George later this week to attend the Western Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting at UNBC on March 14th and 15th.

The conference will feature presentations on a wide variety of topics: glaciers and avalanches, community spaces, northern resource towns, international relations, northern issues, recreation and tourism, issues in aboriginal studies, and freshwater and marine ecosystems. Most of the presentations will occur around campus on Saturday; for details see http://unbc.ca/~menounos/WCAG_2003_files/wcag_2003_index.html.

Part of the conference will be a special session on Saturday afternoon devoted to Geography and how it's taught in the K-12 system. Local teachers are being invited to participate in a field trip on Friday and attend the conference on Saturday to gain perspectives on local and regional research in geography.

To kick off the conference on Friday evening, a keynote public presentation will be given by Cole Harris, author of Making Native Space. Harris will be speaking about native land and settler society in BC: the issues, options, and opportunities. The talk will begin at 7:30pm in the Canfor Theatre.