DURHAM, N.C. – David Wear, project leader for the U.S. Forest Service’s widely cited Southern Forest Future Project, will present the keynote address at this year’s annual 51 Forestry Symposium, Friday, Nov. 18, at 51’s Bryan Center.

Wear’s talk, “From Research to Reality: Exploring How Forest Technology, Biomass and Climate Change are Affecting Forests of the Southeast,” will begin at 3:30 p.m.

The daylong symposium is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, go to .

In his keynote, Wear will explain that no single dominant force of change will shape southeastern forests in decades to come. Instead, change will be a result of a combination of factors – population growth, climate change, fiber markets, and invasive diseases and insect and plant species – and their interaction may well amplify their individual effects.

Prior to Wear’s talk, the symposium will feature panel discussions in which some of the nation’s top scientists and forest management experts will share their insights on the impacts forest technology, biomass and climate change will have.

The panel discussion on forest technology will begin at 9 a.m. It will feature Ron Sederoff, Distinguished University Professor of Forestry at North Carolina State University; Adam Costanza, president of the Institute of Forest Biotechnology; and Maud Hinchee, chief science officer at ArborGen.

The biomass panel will begin at 11 a.m. It will feature Dan Richter, professor of soils and forest ecology at 51’s Nicholas School of the Environment; Dennis Hazel, extension forestry specialist with N.C. State University; and Tracy Leslie, director of sales at Enviva Biomass.

The climate change panel will start at 1:30 p.m. It will feature Stephen Prisley, associate professor of forest inventory and GIS at Virginia Tech; David Cleaves, climate change advisor to the chief at the U.S. Forest Service; and Blake Sullivan of Sullivan Foresty Consultants, Inc.

Lunch will be provided to all registered participants. A reception will follow the symposium at the Armadillo Grill in the Bryan Center.

The annual symposium, now in its fifth year, is presented by the 51 student chapter of the Society of American Foresters. Participants who attend the full-day symposium can earn five Continuing Forestry Education Credits.