Annual summer picnic…members in the news…

The Explorers Club Washington Group held their annual summer picnic at Chetwood Park, the Virginia country-side home of Dr. Stephen Seager, FN’ 95 and his wife Doris. Everyone enjoyed the event complete with homemade deserts, even though the weather did not permit a scheduled polo match. August 22nd-25th brought an expedition medicine conference to Washington, D.C. hosted by Dr. Greg Bledsoe, MN’ 05 and Dr. Michael Manyak, MED’ 04 to provide excellence in medical training for those individuals traveling to remote areas. Many of the expert speakers were members of The Explorers Club. The September dinner meeting at The Cosmos Club, featured the husband and wife team of Dr. Lee Talbot, FN’ 57 and Marty Talbot, FN’ 04. The Talbot’s presentation was entitled “Into the Unknown” about their recent flag expedition to the unexplored Nam On River Basin in Laos’ Annamite Mountains. Their expedition surveyed the previously unexplored mountain region, documented 12 rare and endangered mammal species and a forest type new to Laos with 11 mostly new species of conifer trees. If that was not enough, their armed expedition also captured four groups of illegal poachers! This was an excellent presentation with over 80 attendees feasting on a specially prepared Laotian meal. Please remember that if you are in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area we would love to have you attend any of our events, so check our website www.explorersclubdc.org for details. Lee and Marty Talbot also spent three weeks in the High Sierras of California hiking and climbing before they attended the 50th anniversary celebration of The Student Conservation Association, which Marty and a friend started in 1957. Since then this association has placed over 50,000 students and other volunteers in parks and public lands throughout the nation. James Calderwood Jr., SM’ 04 provided volunteer medical work in Laikipia, Kenya. James worked with a group of physicians and other health care providers in this remote area rife with tribal conflict providing general medical and surgical care for many that had never seen a doctor before. On September 17th Robert E. Hyman, FN’ 93 along with a National Park Service official and three licensed surveyors, installed a six inch brass survey marker in concrete to formally identify the highest naturally occurring elevation in Washington, D.C. The pro bono survey coordinated by Robert and the District of Columbia Association of Land Surveyors, established “Point Reno” at 409 feet above sea level as the “DC Highpoint” for the first time. The new GPS measurements will now be submitted to the National Spatial Reference System maintained by the National Geodetic Survey. Thomas Lera, FN’04, Chairman of the State of Virginia Cave Board, attended the Board’s annual retreat in September at Natural Tunnel State Park where federal, state and local representatives focused on State rules, regulations and legislation of caves and their conservation. Bob MacDonald, MN’01 spent one week exploring mountain top castles in the Languedoc province of France. This was research for a 6-week course on Land of the Cathars at the Renaissance Institute, College of Notre Dame Baltimore, MD. Lowell E. Baier, MN ’76 is one of this year’s four finalists in Anheuser Busch’s Conservationist of the Year competition in recognition of his 37 years of service in wildlife conservation. John N. Maclean, FN’ 02 published The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal, his third book on wildland fire. Reviewing the work in National Geographic Adventure magazine, Anthony Brandt called Maclean “the Bob Woodward of forest fires, the nation’s chief chronicler of the misjudgments, equipment failures, and accumulating gaffes that lead to tragedy on the fire line.”