Two people referred to in last month's minutes came to photograph orchids with Dr. Adams. A conservation biology student at SUNY ESF contacted ONHS about her interest in studying the three birds orchid, and experimenting on germination. She may conduct her study here in the Catskills for a month next year under partnership with ONHS.

Mike Kudish sent a report to ONHS on radio-carbon dates he received for peat samples taken from the edge of Mud Lake in Davenport. The dates ranged from 4,000-5,000 years old, however the bog is thought to be much older than that and Dr. Adams suggested that Chris get in touch with Professor Menking at Vassar College to talk about getting dates and some preliminary pollen work done on the sediment samples collected by her and ONHS in March, 2001.

David VanLuven, Director of the New York State Natural Heritage Program spoke about his work as an ecologist specializing in Pine Barrens for The Nature Conservancy. The New York Natural Heritage Program is a partnership between the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and The Nature Conservancy.

Denise Binion, Bob Acciavatti, and John Stein of the U.S. Forest Service recently finished their new book, "Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America". Denise gave complimentary copies to those who wanted one. The book is intended to be followed by two related books, one on 'micro-leps' (small moths and butterflies) associated with oaks, and one on macro-fungi associated with oaks.

The Olive Natural Heritage Society and a few other non-profit organizations were mentioned in the newly-released revision of the Catskill Park State Land Master Plan, under the Partnerships section.

The Deborah Jewell Memorial Lecture will be held on Saturday, November 8th at 7:30pm at the Olive Free Library; everyone is encouraged to attend. This will be the only ONHS Meeting in November, and there will NOT be regular meeting on Friday. The guest speaker for the Jewell Memorial Lecture will be Frank Knight, of the John Burroughs Association and the American Museum of Natural History, and he will give a photo essay on "John Burroughs in the Catskills".