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Media representatives are invited to join the 2008 Tar Heel Bus Tour for stops Tuesday in Goldsboro and at the site of the former Carbonton Dam. The privately funded tour, which continues through Friday (May 16), is taking 36 new UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members across the state to learn about North Carolina’s people, economy, environment, culture and history.

New faculty members  will tour Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and see a display of the F-15E Strike Eagle, the base’s premier aircraft flown by the 4th Fighter Wing. The military is a major economic booster in North Carolina. In fiscal year 2006, Seymour Johnson had an economic impact of almost $460 million on Wayne County.

Background: www.seymourjohnson.af.mil; www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?ud=102

Contact: Robin DeMark, (919) 722-0027

The UNC-Chapel Hill Institute for the Environment worked in conjunction with Restoration Systems, LLC, a Greensboro-based firm run by a Carolina graduate, to execute the second-largest dam removal in the United States in 2005. This dam was damaging the environment, and the site has now been restored to environmentally friendly parks and natural areas. Since the restoration, at least two rare species have made a comeback in the Deep River. Representatives from Restoration Systems and the Institute for the Environment will talk about the project and its results.

Contacts: Danielle Del Sol, Institute for the Environment, (919) 962-0965; J. Adam Riggsbee, Restoration Systems, (919) 755-9490

Itinerary: For the weeklong itinerary of the Tar Heel Bus Tour, visit http://www.unc.edu/bustour/.

News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it