Cary Conference VIII Convened: April 27 - 29, 1999 Institute of Ecosystem Studies Millbrook, NY
Cary Conference Article from IES Newsletter Vol. 16 No. 3, May - June 1999

The Eighth Cary Conference Confronts the Urban Frontier

It wasn’t very long ago that just about everybody’s idea of an ecosystem was a "natural" environment — forest, field, lake, stream, ocean, beach, no people, no buildings. But, "Wait," said some pioneering ecologists, "Aren’t cities ecosystems?" After all, there are animals in cities — people, and people’s pets and people’s pests (not to mention all the creatures that crawl under, walk through and fly over) — and there are trees, and houseplants and roof-top gardens, and weeds that fight for life in sidewalk cracks and concrete schoolyards. Cities have all the physical requisites for an ecosystem as well: the air may not be crystal clear, the sun may not shine as directly, and the rain may flood gutters instead of streams, but all the components are there.

Institute of Ecosystem Studies ecologists were among the first scientists to recognize the reality of cities as ecosystems. "Long before it was popular to be interested in urban ecosystems," says IES Director Dr. Gene Likens, "the Institute was developing programs to understand the relationships among humans, forests and cities." Some of the first comprehensive research on urban forest ecosystems was done by IES ecologists in a remnant of the original forest that covered New York City; the 1991 Cary Conference focused on humans as components of ecosystems; and, in October 1997, IES scientists received a National Science Foundation grant to do a long-term ecological research project in metropolitan Baltimore*.

Now, under the leadership of Dr. Alan Berkowitz, IES Head of Education, an international conference has brought together ecologists, educators, economists, anthropologists, sociologists and geographers to develop strategies for better understanding cities as ecological systems. Dr. Berkowitz and co-convenors Dr. Charles Nilon, Associate Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Ms. Karen Hollweg, Urban Program Manager for the North American Association for Environmental Education, challenged the 91 participants to open a dialogue from which would grow new collaborations and initiatives, new insights for existing projects, and new recommendations for developing, implementing and sustaining effective programs in urban ecosystem education and research.

Mr. Jack Shu, a Park Superintendent with the Office of Community Involvement, California State Parks, pointed out during the conference that sometime in the next decade the child will be born who will tip the balance of humanity from mostly rural to mostly urban. Dr. Berkowitz used this observation to summarize the purpose of the conference. "Urbanization is apparently the ‘choice’ of humanity," he said, "and, indeed, relatively high density settlements might be the most logical way to house people on the globe." Urban areas, Dr. Berkowitz explained, capture efficiencies of transportation and other services, foster community and fellowship, and minimize impacts on extensive parts of the Earth. "Our challenge, then, is to understand these novel — in evolutionary terms — and increasingly universal systems so that we can make them healthy places for all the living things that dwell there, and so we can integrate them with the fewest possible impacts into other ecosystems, both nearby and distant, that they are linked to."

"Understanding Urban Ecosystems: A New Frontier for Science and Education" was the eighth in the Institute’s biennial Cary Conference series and the first with an emphasis on ecology education. One of the meeting’s strengths was the balance between natural, physical and social scientists studying urban ecosystems, and leading education researchers, administrators, practitioners and decision-makers who shape the teaching of ecology. During four plenary sessions, numerous small group discussions and two evening poster sessions where research and education programs in urban ecosystems were displayed and discussed, the scientists and educators expanded their horizons. "If everyone leaves with new ideas, perspectives and motivations," said Dr. Berkowitz in his introduction to the final plenary session, "the organizers will be delighted."

A book growing from the conference and addressing issues of urban research and education will be published in spring 2000. Contact Dr. Berkowitz (e-mail: BerkowitzA@ecostudies.org; telephone: 845-677-5359) if you wish to be notified when it is available.

The Eighth Cary Conference took place from 26-28 April 1999. Cary Conferences have been held at the Institute every other year since 1985, each focusing on a different theme. Their purpose, unlike that of many scientific meetings, is to consider the process of science, rather than the detailed content, to help integrate and advance the discipline of ecology. In the opinion of Dr. Diana Wall, incoming President of the Ecological Society of America and Director of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory of Colorado State University, "The Cary Conferences have been extremely important in focusing science on new, emerging areas of ecology, bringing together notable scientists in a process of assessment and synthesis that is unique among conferences."

* Read about the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) in IES newsletters 14:6, 15:5 and 15:6, or online via Baltimore Ecosystem Study.