Fall 2002
Contents

Message From the Executive Director:
* Beyond trees in parking lots

Articles:
* The 2000 Census numbers are in:
What they tell us about the Upstate
* Upstate Forever should be embraced
* Conference on the "Z Word"
is a great success!
* Restoring and protecting trout waters
in the Upstate
* Dorman HS: A casualty of "The Growth Beast"

Upstate Forever News:
* Field trips
* Volunteers
* Staff and Board

Board & Staff News

Russell Harris Joins Upstate Forever Board Of Directors
Russell Harris of Anderson has joined the Upstate Forever Board of Directors. Since 1996, Russell has served as the president and chief executive officer of Partners for a Healthy Community in Anderson. Under his leadership, it has become one of the most effective and successful community health organizations in the state. In recognition of his outstanding work, Russell recently received the South Carolina Hospital Association’s Community Service Award. Earlier this year, in a survey of Anderson leaders, he was named the number one community service leader in the area.
     Russell also serves on the boards of United Way, First Steps, and Success by Six and on the Advisory Board of the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind. His wife is Dr. Joellen Harris, the Co-Director of the Division of Teacher Quality Enhancement at the South Carolina Department of Education. They have three children and two grandchildren.
     No one cares more about Anderson County and the Upstate than Russell. We are deeply honored to have him on our Board!

Mike Nicklas and Gus Speth Join Advisory Council
We also would like to welcome two new members of our Advisory Council–Mike Nicklas and Gus Speth. Mike is the founder and president of Innovative Design, Inc., one of the nation’s leading architectural firms on energy efficient and environmentally sensitive design. His firm has been retained by the Greenville County School District to establish “green standards” for the massive school construction project. Mike is the chairman of the Amercian Solar Energy Society and past chairman of the International Solar Energy Society.
     Gus is the Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. A native of South Carolina, Gus has been the recipient of numerous international awards for his leadership on global environmental issues–most recently, the prestigious Blue Planet Prize. During his career, Gus has served as chairman of the United Nations Development Group, president of the World Resources Institute, and chairman of the United States Council on Environmental Quality.

Welcome, Erin Knight!
Please welcome Erin Jordan Knight as our new Director of Natural Resource Protection. Erin graduated summa cum laude from Clemson University in 2001 with a degree in landscape architecture. She was awarded the Certificate of Honor from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the highest award given to a student of Landscape Architecture.
     For her honors thesis, Erin wrote a book entitled Children and Landscapes: Environmental Education and Childhood Development, which was just published. Erin studied urban form and design in Turkey, Switzerland and Greece and was most recently employed as a landscape and graphic designer with Earth Design in Pickens. She will be involved in in the organization’s education and advocacy efforts as well as in preparing baseline reports for properties subject to conservation easements granted to Upstate Forever.

Good Luck, Katie!
Erin replaces Katie Chamberlain, who is now pursuing her master’s degree in urban planning at McGill University in Montreal. Katie did a great job for us, and we hope she returns to the Upstate soon!

Student Interns
Student interns contribute significantly to the work we do at Upstate Forever. From almost the very beginning, we have been blessed to have college and graduate students helping us in many ways. Most recently, Steven Springs, a graduate student in the planning program at Clemson, was with us from May through August, working on a variety of projects. This fall we are glad to have Chanceé Lundy, also a graduate student at Clemson, who has been actively involved in our Special Places Inventory project for Greenville County, and Ethan Weston, a student at the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg, who is doing research on the Enoree and Tyger Rivers. Our student interns do great work–thank you!!