G8 News Stories For the Week of April 12, 2004

Environment - Sea Turtles Timed to Nest for Sea Island Summit: Georgia Students to Name Turtles in Honor of Visiting G8 Nations

This summer while foreign leaders are deciding the economic future of the world during the G8 Summit at Sea Island Georgia, loggerhead sea turtles will be deciding the future of their species on the very same shores.  These turtles have been nesting along Georgia's coast for centuries, but this year there will be a new twist.  The Georgia Department of Natural Resources will be fitting 11 nesting female loggerhead sea turtles with satellite transmitters to determine their movements along Georgia's coastline.  Children in grades K-5 will have the unique opportunity to name these sea turtles and then they will be able to follow their movements via the Internet at www.seaturtle.org.  Names chosen for the turtles are encouraged to be reflective of the countries participating in the Summit including the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, and Russia. 

Media Note:   B-roll and digital photographs are available as supporting materials for this story.  Interviews with wildlife biologists working on this project also can be arranged.

Contact: Beth Brown, Department of Natural Resources
(770) 918-6400, beth_brown@dnr.state.ga.us

Environment - Historic G8 Destination Also Home to Pre-Historic American Alligator

Looking for dinosaurs while you are on the coast for the G8 Summit this summer?  It may not be Jurassic Park, but Georgia is a native home to the prehistoric-like American alligator - a formerly endangered animal whose population has increased dramatically since an all time low in the early 1960s.  Alligators in Georgia exist primarily in the southern half of the state, with a large population along the coast.  Biologists with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources conduct annual aerial coastal alligator nest surveys that enable the agency to determine current population numbers and make management decisions.  Thanks to the current alligator population of more than 200,000 animals, Georgia sportsmen and women enjoyed an inaugural alligator hunting season in September 2003.  This season drew attention from all over the world and applications for the quota hunt were received from 29 states and Canada.  Plans are underway to expand the season for 2004.

Media Note:   B-roll and digital photographs are available as supporting materials for this story.  Interviews with wildlife biologists working on this project also can be arranged.

Contact: Beth Brown, Department of Natural Resources
(770) 918-6400, beth_brown@dnr.state.ga.us

Tourism - Visitor "Road Trip" to G8 Destination, Coastal Georgia

While the leaders of the world's major industrial democracies will convene on Sea Island, Georgia, in June at the elegant Cloister for the 2004 G8 Summit, more than 42 million other tourists travel along Georgia's pristine coast and throughout the state each year.  Of those 42 million, a majority travel by automobile, taking in the state's diverse terrain and stopping at its unique roadside attractions along the way. 

Georgia has much to offer in terms of eclectic Southern flair and unique roadside attractions.  Athens is home to several oddities, including the world's only double-barreled cannon, a Ripley's Believe It or Not! curiosity built during the Civil War, as well as "the tree that owns itself," a great white oak that was bequeathed by its owner to itself in 1932.  McRae is home to the second largest Statue of Liberty in the world; located in "Liberty Square," "Lady Liberty" stands 16 feet tall.  Just north of Atlanta, Stone Mountain is Georgia's most-visited attraction and boasts the largest exposed piece of granite in the world and a mountain carving larger than Mount Rushmore.  Elbert County, the "Granite Capital of the World," is home to the Georgia Guidestones; often called "America's Stonehenge," these granite monoliths consist of a 10-part message transcribed in 12 languages.

Contact: Kevin Langston, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism
(404) 651-8578, klangston@georgia.org

Economic Development - G8 Draws Attention to World Health; Georgia- A Leader in Innovation

As the world's attention is focused on Georgia's coast during June's G8 Summit, public health concerns will be a prominent issue.  Georgia is a world leader in public health, and research and policy launched through Georgia's private industry, university system and institutions impact populations around the globe.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are headquartered in Atlanta as well as the American Cancer Society and CARE, one of the world's largest private international humanitarian organizations.  Additionally, many of today's leading drug development companies have headquarters in Georgia, among them Pharmasset, an antiviral and anticancer drug discovery, development and commercialization company, and Serologicals, a global provider of biological products and enabling technologies to life science companies.

Contact: Kevin Langston, Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism
(404) 651-8578, klangston@georgia.org