Agenda and Presentations from the Partnership’s Third Annual Meeting

August 21 – 22, 2012
Bay St. Louis, MS
Agenda

Goals

• Learn about policy and funding that affect the work of land trusts
• Learn how to impact policy and funding
• Build relationships among land trusts and with federal, state and nonprofit agencies
• Learn about landscape scale conservation planning
• Determine next steps for Partnership

Tuesday, August 21

9:30 – 10:00: Registration, Coffee

10:00 – 10:20: Welcome - Judy Steckler and Chuck Roe

10:20 – 10:40: Introductions

10:40 – 12:00: News & Trends: Conservation in the Gulf Coast region

• BP Early Restoration Funding and Process
  Brian Spears, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• RESTORE Act Funding and Process
  Deb DeVore, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
• RESTORE Act Funding and Process
  Jerome Zeringue, Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority

12:00 – 12:15: Q & A session

12:15 – 1:15: Lunch

1:15 – 2:15: News and Trends (continued)

• Funding for Land Trusts
  Mary Pope Hutson, Land Trust Alliance
• Selected Gulf of Mexico Alliance Products
  Mike Smith, Gulf of Mexico Foundation
• Gulf of Mexico Initiative Watershed Project
  Clarence Finley, Natural Resources Conservation Service
  Wesley Kerr, Natural Resources Conservation Service

2:15 – 2:30: Q & A session

2:30 – 2:45: Break

2:45 – 3:45: Examples of Conservation Planning in the Gulf region

• Land Trust for MS Coastal Plain
  David Spector, CDM-Smith
• The Nature Conservancy
  Cindy Brown, The Nature Conservancy
• The Conservation Fund
  Ray Herndon, The Conservation Fund

3:45 – 5:00: Regional Conservation Planning

• Chris Pease, Ecosystem Restoration Task Force
• Laurie Rounds, Gulf of Mexico Regional Liaison, NOAA

6:30 – 9:00: Social and Dinner at 200 North Beach in Bay St. Louis

Wednesday, August 22

Resources for Land Conservation Organizations

8:00 – 8:30: Land Ethic Leaders Workshop
Jeannine Richards, Aldo Leopold Foundation

8:30 – 9:00: Gulf of Mexico Program
Ben Scaggs, Gulf of Mexico Program, EPA

9:00 – 9:30: America’s Great Outdoors Initiative
Tamar Hogan, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Program

9:30 – 10:00: Trends in Federal Programs
Liz Barber, Barber and Mann, Inc.
Dan Dumont, Alabama Forest Resources Center

10:00 – 10:30: Discussion with state and federal partners

Adjourn Part One

10:30 – 11:00: Break

Partnership Business Meeting

11:00 – 12:00: Preparing for Upcoming Opportunities in BP Restoration
Bethany Kraft, Ocean Conservancy
Robert Wiygul, Waltzer & Wiygul law firm

12:00 – 1:00: Lunch

1:00 – 1:45: Review mission, vision, key strategies

1:45 – 2:30: Develop action plans

2:30 – 2:50: Report out

2:50 – 3:00: Wrap-up and Adjourn