Peat News 8/2013 | Page 2

PEAT NEWS

8/2013

Page 2

and you will be the first to know about their current activities and can stay in touch with the other members of the Commission. To sign up, please visit www.peatsociety.org/about-us/commissions-and-working-groups and follow the link to our special sign up form. Note that you need to be a member of the IPS to participate. (Sandra Lubinaite, IPS)

Intern Support for Project Work and Finance
Ms Ines Boettcher is now supporting the IPS Secretariat regarding project-funding opportunities, coordination of future projects and tasks as well as providing general office support and editorial help for IPS publications. Originally from Germany, she holds a degree in Information Management from the University of Applied Sciences in Hanover. Until May 2013, Ines worked for the Leibniz Research Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO) of the Hanover Medical School (MHH). As project manager she was responsible for the international coordination of projects co-funded under the European Commission's Framework 7 Programme. However, within her duties for the IPS, Ines may contact you and your colleagues during the next weeks and we would like to ask you to support her with your kind assistance. Her email address is ines.boettcher (at) peatsociety.org. We welcome Ines and wish her good luck for her project related work!

Irish Peat Society Meets in Kerry in October
The Irish National Committee of the International Peat Society is holding its Annual Meeting, Study Tour and Seminar on the topic “Blanket Bogs – Education and Management” in Killarney, County Kerry during 14 - 16 October 2013. The Irish Peat Society aims to bring together organisations (including Government bodies, academic institutions, NGOs and forest, peat and energy companies) and individuals with an interest in peatlands and peat. This year the Irish Peat Society will host its Study Tour and Seminar in association with the National Parks and Wildlife Service to highlight some of the management issues in relation to blanket bogs and heathland. The study tour will commence with a gathering of the delegates on the evening of October 14th in the Lake Hotel, Killarney. On the following day we will travel to a number of sites of interest including Sheheree Bog, Knockreer Education Centre and Ballygisheen Bog where we will be guided by local experts to inform us of education, carbon, restoration and management of blanket bogs. A seminar will be held on October 16th and we will cover topics such as overgrazing, catchment management, wind farm development and forestry with invited speakers from both local institutions such as Tralee IT and across Ireland. Our base will be the Lake Hotel, Killarney www.lakehotelkillarney.com. The Society will circulate an outline cost in the coming month or so but for the meantime please put these dates in your diary and register your interest with an email to Tony McKenna tony.mckenna (at) bnm.ie. We encourage all interested members to attend and contribute to this knowledge sharing exercise. (Catherine Farrell and Tony McKenna, BnM)

Nordic Seminar on Peatland Drainage in Kuopio
A Nordic seminar on peatland drainage and environment: “Future strategies for mitigation of GHG emissions and diffuse pollution to watercourses from arable land management” will be held in Kuopio, Finland, 4 - 6 November 2013. It will cover a range of topics related to peatland agriculture and drainage in general: the impact of drainage on soil physical characteristics, leaching of nutrients and impact of mitigation and restoration options, greenhouse gas emissions and processes, soil use, management and mitigation options, modelling methods and monitoring approaches, bioenergy crops on drained peatlands and more. Contact information and registration by 10 September to Marja Maljanen, University of Eastern Finland, marja.maljanen (at) uef.fi, phone: [phone]. The seminar is free of charge. More information can be found at www.oulu.fi/pyovesen/node/18456. (Sandra Lubinaite, IPS)

Welcome to Researching for the Interact Project
The INTERACT project under EU FP7 has a Transnational Access Program that offers access to 20 research stations in the northernmost Europe and Russian Federation. The sites represent a variety of glacier, mountain, tundra, boreal forest, peatland and freshwater ecosystems, providing opportunities for researchers from natural sciences to human dimension. The UNESCO Chair “Environmental dynamics and global climate changes” of Yugra State University (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) kindly invites you to participate into investigations in the field of peat research, biodiversity, forestry management, hydrology, climatology and environmental sciences in general. You can find additional information on the programme at www.eu-interact.org and at www.eu-interact.org/field-sites/russia-6/mukhrinofield-station/. (Evgeny Zarov, Yugra State University)
International Peat Society Kauppakatu 19 D 31, FIN-40100 Jyväskylä, Finland www.peatsociety.org ips (at) peatsociety.org susann.warnecke (at) peatsociety.org jaakko.silpola (at) peatsociety.org www.facebook.com/peatsociety mobile: [phone] mobile: [phone] linkd.in/peatsociety