California State University, Northridge

PRESS RELEASE

Sept. 4, 1996

Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
Director of News and Information,
(818) 677-2130
cchandler@exec.csun.edu

Conference to Reveal New Information on Droughts

Research on droughts that may have lasted 300 years will be presented during conference on the environmental history of Southern California at Cal State Northridge later this month.

The research, some of which has never been presented to the public, will set the tone for "Southern California Before 1900: Landscape, Climate and Ecology," Sept. 20 to Sept. 22.

The conference provides an opportunity for scientists, historians, archivists, artists and the public to talk together about Southern California's history.

"The evidence of these long-term droughts is very significant as we think about the future," said conference coordinator Lorna Fenenbock. "We built Los Angeles in very quiet times climatically and geologically, and we have to look at a longer range of periods as we plan for the future."

The conference will feature panel discussions and environmental exhibitions, including presentations of research across disciplinary boundaries, to foster an exchange of ideas.

The presentations will begin the afternoon of Sept. 20 with a panel discussion lead by CSUN archaeologist Mark Raab that will focus on his research on the Chumash Indians and discoveries he made about their cultural responses to environmental changes.

Sept. 21 will feature a presentation by Scott Stine, a geographer at CSU Hayward, who has discovered evidence in Southern California of droughts lasting 100 to 300 years.

Stine's presentation will be followed on Sept. 22 with a panel discussion on human response to environmental changes, including the initial results of a 1993-95 archaeological investigation at CSU Long Beach.

Co-chair of this year's conference is urban theorist and historian Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz, a history of the development of the Los Angeles area. The keynote speaker on the evening of Sept. 20 will be Deputy Secretary of the Interior John Garamendi.

Public registration for the three-day event is $20. Students with identification will be admitted free. For more information, contact Fenenbock via telephone at (818) 677-3532; via fax at (818) 677-2723; or via email at environmental.history@csun.edu.