A service of the University of South Carolina Office of Media Relations. For information on faculty availability, contact the Office of Media Relations, 803-777-5400.

Reporters also will have a chance to see an exhibit from the senator’s personal archive, which is part of the university library’s South Carolina Political Collections. The book signing and reception will run from 4:30 – 7 p.m. Hollings will make brief remarks beginning at 5:30 p.m. University President Andrew Sorensen and Tom McNally, interim director of Thomas Cooper Library, also will speak. Parking for media will be available behind the library from South Bull Street, just before the parking garage, and in the garage. Call Peggy Binette or Margaret Lamb at 803-777-5400 to arrange coverage and interviews at the media availability.

University of South Carolina geographer Dr. John Kupfer, a researcher on the project that generated the report, “The State of the Nation’s Ecosystems 2008: Measuring the Lands, Waters, and Living Resources of the United States,” will be available to media from 10 – 11:45 a.m. on campus to discuss the report’s findings, particularly as they relate to the health of ecosystems in the Carolinas.

The 2008 assessment presents 108 indicators or measurements that describe the condition and use of U.S. ecosystems. It is an update of an earlier report released by the Heinz Center in 2002 and intended to provide essential information to policymakers and the general public. Key findings and fact sheets from the 2008 report will be available June 17 online at the Web site: www.heinzctr.org/ecosystems/.

Kupfer is an expert in GIS (geographical information systems) and landscape ecology, with a specialty in forest conservation. To interview Kupfer, call Peggy Binette in the Office of Media Relations at 803-777-5400.