2021 North America Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA) Annual Conference
2021-09-27 - 2021-09-30
Each year, NAISMA hosts an annual conference connecting terrestrial and aquatic invasive species management, research, policy, and outreach initiatives and opportunities across North America. This year’s conference is a great deal for anyone who does invasive species management, research, policy, or outreach and education who are looking for an affordable professional development opportunity.

Details here.

Placing Habitat with a Purpose
2021-09-27 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago)
Join BJ Werk, Precision Ag and Conservation Specialist with Pheasants Forever, to learn about the precision application of conservation on marginal cropland to increase farming profits and develop essential wildlife habitat. BJ will discuss using input costs, yield data, program resources, and other factors used to identify areas better suited for wildlife habitat than crop production.
Details here.

Social Science Basics for Coastal Managers
2021-09-27 14:00 - 17:00
The social sciences are a valuable but often overlooked element of coastal zone management. Issues from marsh restoration to flood mitigation all involve understanding critical human elements— knowledge, values, and attitudes—of the people who live, work, and play in these areas. Topics to choose from for this online course include Understanding Stakeholders, Conducting Interviews, and Writing Effective Survey Questions.
Details here.

World Dairy Expo
2021-09-28 - 2021-10-02
World Dairy Expo serves as a forum for dairy producers, companies, organizations and other dairy enthusiasts to come together to compete, and to exchange ideas, knowledge, technology and commerce
Details here.

The Business and Ecosystem Value of Biodiversity
2021-09-28 12:00 - 13:00
Protecting biodiversity is a defining issue of our time as we face the prospect of mass extinction and ecosystem collapse. In this webinar, Quantis and partners will discuss what biodiversity means from a business perspective, how biodiversity concerns can be integrated into existing sustainability strategies, and how this focus can align with current company-wide goals. The speakers will discuss why biodiversity is critical for resilience, strategies for engaging key stakeholders to come along, and how to integrate biodiversity commitments into existing frameworks such as science-based targets. In this webcast you will learn:

The main barriers and pressures involved in implementing a biodiversity strategy for your business
Why it makes business sense to focus on ecosystem services and biodiversity protection
How to get started with biodiversity using EqoSystem Analytics: The Quantis Biodiversity Methodology
The challenges and opportunities involved with focusing on biodiversity strategies (based on case study examples)

Details here.

Field Day: Grazing and Forest Management as Regenerative Ag
2021-09-28 15:00 - 19:00
Join us for a pasture walk with organic farmer and conservationist Mariann Holm. She will be covering pasture renewal, grazing as conservation, and grazing livestock on pasture with trees. NRCS staff will join us, and talk about how NRCS programs have benefitted Mariann’s farm. Connect with women farmer and landowners, and learn and see how soil regenerates through pasture rotation and renewal. Examples of interseeding to increase biomass through the NRCS CSP program, and tree harvest to improve woodlands, also supported through NRCS.
Details here.

Valuing Aquatic Ecosystem Health at a National Scale: Modeling Biological Indicators Across Space and Time
2021-09-29 13:00 - 14:00
EPA estimates the benefits of preserving aquatic resources using the water quality index (WQI). The WQI focuses on metrics related to human use, such as recreation, but fails to fully capture aspects important to nonuse values of aquatic ecosystems, such as existence values. Stated preference surveys can quantify the nonuse values of streams and lakes but require an appropriate index of biological health to be able to measure and compare biological condition.
In a recent effort, EPA researchers identified an appropriate biological health index to be applied in a forthcoming national stated preference survey that will estimate nonuse values of streams and lakes throughout the conterminous United States (CONUS). Through a literature review and focus groups, researchers compared two aquatic indices that are regularly used to quantify biological health by EPA’s National Aquatic Resources Surveys: 1) multimetric indices (MMIs) and 2) the observed-to-expected ratio of taxonomic composition (O/E). This webinar will discuss this comparison, implications for estimating benefits of preserving aquatic resources, and forthcoming work to link O/E with water quality and habitat models, which would forecast changes in O/E resulting from future regulatory action.
Details here.

Multi-Discharger Variance in BITS, pt. I: Applications and Plans
2021-09-30 09:00 - 11:00
This webinar will go through the process of using BITS to apply for MDV funding and submit a plan for funding you’ve received. We’ll talk strategy for applying for MDV funds and planning in the highest-impact watersheds as we walk through the system step-by-step.
Intended audience: Counties participating in the MDV program, counties considering participating in the future, or any conservation staff interested in learning more about BITS.

If you cannot attend the webinar, the recordings will be posted on the UW-Extension’s DNR webinar YouTube page in the weeks following the session.
Details here.

Everyone's Earth: Conversations on Race and Environment
2021-09-30 11:30 - 13:00
Join us for a conversation with those leading the nation’s effort to address racism and the outdoors. Together, we will explore ways we can increase diversity and equity as it relates to outdoor accessibility and engagement. Leaders will also showcase a recently developed Anti-Racism in the Outdoors Resource Guide.
Details here.

Economic Guidance for Coastal Management Professionals
2021-09-30 14:00 - 15:30
When coastal managers need to estimate project value and incorporate economic data, they have several approaches to consider. This training provides information about a benefits-cost analysis, economic impact analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and more. Understanding these basics will help participants identify the appropriate approach and the data needed.
You will learn how to

Recognize and understand basic economic terminology
Recognize relevant economic approaches and analyses
Identify the approach to use based on project objectives, level of expertise, and funding
Locate support tools and data
Conceptualize appropriate questions to ask an economist or an expert

Details here.

National Farm Viability Conference
2021-10-01 - 2021-10-29
Oregon Tilth & Oregon State University’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems will be co-hosting the 5th National Farm Viability Conference in October 2021! Featuring an array of virtual programming, the conference will bring together professionals in the fields of farm and food business planning, financial planning, agricultural financing, crisis management, farmland conservation, agricultural market development, and food hub management. Attendees will have the opportunity to network, learn from industry leaders and other professionals in their fields, and develop new knowledge and skills.
Details here.

Midwest Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Conference
2021-10-01 - 2021-10-02
Theme: “Changes in Amphibian & Reptile Populations Throughout the Midwest.”
Midwest PARC (MWPARC) invites you to its virtual annual conference — hosted by the Turtle Survival Alliance. The conference will feature keynote speaker Dr. Michael J. Lannoo, Indiana University School of Medicine. Throughout the conference there will be sessions for oral presentations, posters, state updates, task teams (e.g., a crawfish frog task team), networking events (e.g., student networking lunch, social hour and trivia), student presentation awards, and an online auction.
Details here.

Wild Rice in Wisconsin's Wetlands
2021-10-01 10:30 - 11:30
Peter David is a wildlife ecologist with the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission. He originally hailed from a northeastern Wisconsin community best known as Titletown USA. He received his BS and MS degrees in Wildlife Ecology from UW-Madison and then headed north to work for GLIFWC, which was only in its third year of existence at the time. At GLIFWC, he has been fortunate to focus on several resources, especially manoomin or wild rice.
Details here.

Internal Phosphorus Loading: Where It Is and What It Does to Cyanobacteria During Climate Change
2021-10-01 11:00 - 12:00
Gertrud Nürnberg is head of Freshwater Research, a limnological company focusing on the restoration and modeling of eutrophic lakes and reservoirs. She founded this company in 1984, after completing her Ph.D. in biology/limnology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She’s worked with lake associations, governmental agencies, NGOs, engineering companies and the private sector in the US, Canada, and Europe. She has about 60 peer-reviewed papers on comparative research, empirical lake models on phosphorus, iron and anoxia, and on lake management techniques in numerous scientific journals. She has been involved with the North American Lake Management Society (NALMS.org) in various positions where she presented the Internal Phosphorus Workshop since 2003. She is winner of several awards (Secchi, Technical Excellence, Best paper) in recognition of outstanding research and publications in lake restoration.
Details here.

Satellite Algal Bloom Monitoring in Pigeon Lake
2021-10-01 12:00 - 13:00
Evan DeLancey is a Spatial Data Scientist with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute working on landcover mapping and monitoring with satellite data in Alberta. He has a M.Sc. in remote sensing from the University of Alberta and specializes in using satellite data and machine learning to solve ecological monitoring problems.
Details here.

Muir Park Invasive Plant Field Day
2021-10-02 09:30 - 13:30
Presentation topics include park history, invasive plant identification and control, and how to report invasive plants using your smartphone. Lunch will be provided, and after lunch we will put our new knowledge to good use removing invasive plants on-site.
Details here.

Vineyard Walk
2021-10-02 13:00 - 15:00
Attendees will take a walk through the station’s vineyards with UW-Madison experts and learn about cold-hardy table grape varieties, the Petite Pearl wine grape variety, disease resistance evaluations, insect monitoring efforts, and general vineyard management.

National Association of State Conservation Agencies and the National Watershed Coalition (NASCA & NWC) Conservation Conference
2021-10-04 - 2021-11-06
The National Association of State Conservation Agencies and the National Watershed Coalition would like to welcome you to our joint conference!
Details here.

Wisconsin Wastewater Operator's Association (WWOA) 55th Annual Conference
2021-10-05 - 2021-10-08
Details here.

Fishing for Food: Quantifying Recreational Fisheries Harvest in Wisconsin Lakes
2021-10-05 13:00 - 14:00
Recreational fisheries have high economic worth, valued at US$190 billion globally. An important, but underappreciated, secondary value of recreational catch is its role as a source of food. This contribution is poorly understood due to difficulty in estimating recreational harvest at spatial scales beyond a single system, as traditionally estimated from individual creel surveys. Here, we address this gap using 28-year creel surveys of ~300 Wisconsin inland lakes. We develop a statistical model of recreational harvest for individual lakes and then scale-up to unsurveyed lakes (3,769 lakes; 73% of statewide lake surface area). We generate a state-wide estimate of recreational lake harvest of ~4,200 metric tons and an estimated annual angler consumption rate of ~1.1 kg, nearly equal to the total estimated United States per capita freshwater fish consumption. An important ecosystem service, recreational harvest makes significant contributions to human diets and plays an often-unheralded role in food security.
Details here.

Phenology and YOU: Bringing Leopold into Our Time
2021-10-05 19:00 - 20:00
Aldo Leopold, best known as the author of A Sand County Almanac, was a keen observer of the natural world. Throughout his life, he kept daily journals recording observations of seasonal events, especially those occurring at his beloved “Shack” on the Leopold farm which was the setting for many essays in A Sand County Almanac. Leopold’s meticulous phenological observations have provided us with an unparalleled record of when plants bloomed, birds migrated, and other natural events occurred. Comparing his observations of hundreds of natural events to recent records helps us understand how climate change is affecting the ecological community. One lesson from Leopold’s journals is clear: For those who love nature and take time to observe it closely, keeping records enhances the enjoyment and value of our time and effort, both now and in the future.
Details here.

The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
2021-10-05 19:00 - 20:30
Hazel Thornton, Programme Officer for the United Nations (UN) Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre. 2021 marks the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration – a ten-year effort to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. Join us as we explore the how, what, where, when, and why of this global movement that aims to tackle poverty, combat climate change, and prevent mass extinctions through the restoration of degraded ecosystems.
Details here.

2021 Invasive Species Research Conference – Turning Science into Action
2021-10-06 - 2021-10-07
The 2021 Invasive Species Research Conference will take place virtually in an online event portal. Learn about current and published research from over 40 presenters in a variety of themed sessions. The event will also facilitate connections between invasive species researchers and practitioners in the Pacific Northwest.
Details here.

Climate Policy Forum
2021-10-06
The La Follette Forum: Climate Policy will feature morning and evening keynote addresses and six breakout sessions. The in-person event will feature several networking opportunities for participants, including an evening reception.
“We have an exciting agenda, top-notch panelists, and high expectations for engaging conversations about innovative solutions to one of our most challenging policy issues,” said Professor Greg Nemet, who is leading the conference with Assistant Professor Morgan Edwards.
Participants may watch the presentations in real-time or online after the conference. Breakout sessions will focus on:

Climate Science, Risk and Resilience
Climate Communication and Youth Mobilization
Agriculture and Negative Emissions
Utilities, Regulation, and Electricity
National and International Climate Policy
State and Local Climate Policy

Timber Marking for Wildlife
2021-10-06 09:00 - 15:30
More often than not landowners own their properties for aesthetic and wildlife purposes. In this workshop, we will explore in-field examples of how white-tailed deer and turkey habitat components can be incorporated into forest management plans. Specifically, while touring our recently developed Wildlife Habitat Demonstration Areas we will cover:

habitat considerations of white-tailed deer and wild turkey,
how to incorporate habitat components into MFL plans,
how to use silvicultural techniques (shelterwood, coppice, reserve islands, etc.) to create cover and forage, and
how to incorporate divergent goals (aesthetics, wildlife habitat, age class diversity, etc.) into management.

Details here.

Brine 101
2021-10-06 12:00 - 13:00
Looking for a primer on how to incorporate salt brine into your winter maintenance toolbelt? Matt Wittum, Town of Linn Highway Superintendent, is your man. Matt helped design and lead the smart salting training program in northern Illinois before jumping across the border. He has published several articles on brine use and is eager to assist others in any way he can.
Details here.

Grant-writing 101 and Grant Programs for Farmers
2021-10-06 12:00 - 13:30
Learn about grant programs for farmers and tips for putting together a successful grant project in this 2 day webinar series.
On October 6th Margaret Krome from the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute will cover basic principles of grant-writing, including how to design a sound project, when applying for a grant does or does not make sense, and how to find potential funding sources.
On October 7th a panel of grant program staff from USDA and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, and a farmer who has successfully applied for grants will cover some of the ins and outs of applying for specific grants.
You can register for just one day, but we encourage you to attend both days!
Details here.

Challenges Getting There in Relation to Production and Conservation
2021-10-07 10:30 - 11:30
A part of the Yale Forest Forum: The Future of Wood Building Products in a Changing Climate
Wood is a renewable resource that has wide material applications in many industries. Wood products sourced from sustainably managed forests store carbon and can play an important role in combating climate change. Recent innovations in the use of wood have led to the development of new products that can replace traditional fossil-based carbon-intensive materials, particularly in the construction and energy sectors. Understanding the potential environmental impacts and societal implications of increases in both conventional and emerging wood products across their respective life cycles, as well as their possible reuse in a circular construction economy, is critical in assessing the climate mitigation potential of wood vs. other materials.
What is the future role of forest products in addressing climate, resources, societal, and environmental challenges? What are the environmental, economic, and societal implications for using more forest products? Hear from speakers representing forestry, industrial ecology, architecture, conservation, and academia.
Details here.

PaddockTrac: A Web-Based Mobile Application for Managed Grazing Systems
2021-10-07 12:30 - 14:00
Join us for this webinar in which we will discuss a new wireless sensor, tethered to a smartphone and GIS-based web application, built to improve the efficiency of measuring/monitoring/managing forage systems.
Our presentation explains background information about the ecological and economic reasons to invest in measuring pasture productivity. We describe how PaddockTrac improves the process of measuring/monitoring/managing pasture systems. We highlight the infrastructure built to automate the data collection process and the tools to facilitate easier data interpretation. Our information provides producers the ability to be more proactive rather than reactive in managing forage systems.
Details here.

North East Workshop: Establish a Conservation Plan for your Land
2021-10-07 13:00 - 15:00
What’s the first and the most important step to stewarding your land for generations to come? Developing a conservation plan specific to your property that blends tested strategies with the unique nature of your land and your goals for it. Join us for an intensive session with a team of conservation experts and Conservation Coaches to identify tools, resources and funding opportunities to create your unique land conservation plan. You’ll also have the opportunity to meet and network with other women landowners in your area.
Details here.
