California Watchable Wildlife will hold its inaugural statewide conference on Monday, September 29, 2008 in Santa Rosa. The one-day conference is being held in conjunction with CalTIA’s “Beyond the Gateways” conference, September 29-October 1.

The Keynote Address “A Partnership Takes More than One: Wildlife Tourism in Washington State"will be presented by Mike O’Malley, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, and Michelle Campbell, Washington State Tourism.

California Watchable Wildlife has recently completed the first phase of a comprehensive update of their wildlife viewing network, and will introduce their new, interactive website at the conference. The conference is for resource agency managers, tourism professionals, destination management professionals, wildlife festival coordinators, tour operators and others who are interested in developing or expanding wildlife tourism in their communities. Program details and information may be found at CAWatchableWildlife.org or by calling Barbara Steinberg at (916) 335-1522.