Three representatives from WKU recently returned from the
UNESCO EuroMAB 2019
meeting in Dublin, Ireland. WKU’s representatives made up one-third of the nine-member U.S. delegation at the international gathering.
The WKU representatives were Lee Anne Bledsoe, Assistant Director of the Crawford Hydrology Laboratory; Lillian Hamm, a junior from Somerset majoring in Geology and Chinese and a student in WKU's Mahurin Honors College; and Emma Poole, a Gatton Academy student from Central City.
Bledsoe, Hamm and Poole represented the Mammoth Cave Area Biosphere Reserve (MCABR) at the meeting. Every two years, European and North American Biopshere Reserves gather under the direction of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere program. This year’s conference included 230 delegates from 36 countries.
UNESCO selects international biosphere reserves based on their unique ecosystems and exemplary biodiversity. Mammoth Cave National Park is the core area of the
Mammoth Cave Area Biosphere Reserve
and was designated as such in 1996. However, the MCABR extends beyond the park boundaries to include portions of six counties – Edmonson, Hart, Barren, Butler, Metcalfe and Warren – in its programmatic jurisdiction.
