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Final Lecture of the 2013 South Mountain Speakers Series: 

Thursday, October 24


Conservation law and the history of wildlife protection in the region will be the focus of the next South Mountain Speakers Series lecture on Oct. 24 at Shippensburg University. 

Chad Eyler, chief of the Special Permits Enforcement Division of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, will offer a free public lecture, “Crimes Against Nature: Conservation Law and the History of Wildlife Protection in the South Mountain Region," beginning at 7 p.m. at the Ceddia Union Building Multi-Purpose Room.

“From state hunting seasons to international bans on ivory, conservation law plays an important part in wildlife protection here in South Mountain and around the world,” said Allen Dieterich-Ward, an associate professor of history at Shippensburg University and the chair of the South Mountain Partnership committee on the speaker series.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission was established in 1895 as one of the Progressive-era reforms spearheaded by conservation leaders such as Joseph Rothrock, Gifford Pinchot and Mira Lloyd Dock. Eyler will explore the evolution of conservation law in the South Mountain region and the nation. 

Sen. Richard Alloway (R-Adams) will be providing brief welcoming remarks. He is the majority chairman of the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee, which oversees the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.  

After the lecture, Eyler will be joined for a panel discussion on contemporary conservation law issues by Rich Mislitsky, chairman of the Governor's Advisory Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation, and Dr. Nathan Thomas, Shippensburg University assistant professor of biology. 

This is the final lecture in the 2013 Season of the South Mountain Speakers Series. The series will return in 2014.The Series is envisioned as a revival of the talks given by Rothrock in the late 19th century as part of his work to preserve and restore Pennsylvania’s forests and natural landscape. 

The Speakers Series is a public engagement effort of the South Mountain Partnership. Sparked by DCNR’s Conservation Landscape Initiative, the Partnership is a group of citizens, businesses, non-profit organizations, academic institutions and government representatives in Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties, working together to protect and enhance the South Mountain landscape. This landscape, a region of some 400,000 acres, lies at the northern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

October's lecture is sponsored by Shippensburg University, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the South Mountain Partnership. 

Earlier lectures in the Speakers Series can be found on YouTube at 
http://www.youtube.com/user/SouthMtnSpeakers.