Thank you for the opportunity to comment.  The Nature Conservancy supports the development of regulatory amendments to address enhanced mitigation for disturbance of forest cores with very high and outstanding ecological integrity using updated mapping and definitions which can be applied in the field to verify the mapped resources.  We would like to assist in the development of these amendments by serving on the Regulatory Advisory Panel that DEQ intends to convene.  We request that Judy Dunscomb serve as our representative, and her contact information is as follows:

Judy Dunscomb

Senior Conservation Scientist

The Nature Conservancy

652 Peter Jefferson Parkway, Suite 190

Charlottesville, VA 22911

jdunscomb@tnc.org

804-951-0573