Habitat Conservation Forum: Practices that Sustain Virginia's Wildlife and Native Plant Communities 

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED    

A regional forum sponsored by the VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) Habitat Partners© Program, with support from the Virginia Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program at the VA Department of Environmental Quality. DGIF and CZM are co-coordinators of the Virginia Native Plants Marketing Partnership, a consortium of organizations committed to developing and implementing statewide communication and marketing strategies that encourage the use of Virginia native plants in the landscape.

FORUM GOALS

• To promote the understanding of ecological interrelationships between native plant communities and wildlife species;
• To demonstrate conservation landscape design and management practices that restore and sustain biodiversity;
• To provide an opportunity for continued communication between organizations, agencies and individuals interested in or already promoting native plants.

EXHIBIT INFORMATION:
A few tables will be set up during the forum for you to give away any supplemental materials, handouts or related resources to the other participants - just bring the handouts with you, and we'll set them out as you arrive. LIMITED space may also be available for a few small table displays, at no additional fee, if you make advance arrangements by at least one week before the event. 

Please contact Carol.Heiser@dgif.virginia.gov to inquire about space availability for a formal table display.”  Only people who have registered and paid to attend the event will be able to request display space. 

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SPEAKERS

   KEYNOTE
   DOUG TALLAMY, PhD, Professor (Department of  
   Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware)-
   Author, Bringing Nature Home and The Living
   Landscape

•    A Chickadee’s Guide to Creating a Living Landscape
     In the past we have designed our landscapes strictly for our own pleasure, with no thought to how they might impact the natural world around us. Using chickadees and other wildlife as guides, Tallamy will show how plants that evolved in concert with local animals provide for their needs better than plants that evolved elsewhere. 

NANCY ADAMSON, PhD, Pollinator Conservation Specialist (Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service)

• Habitat Management to Support Pollinators and Other Beneficial Insects
  Hear about the importance of pollinators, reasons for their decline, and recommendations that provide  floral diversity and nesting habitat for a diversity of insect species.

CLAUDIA WEST, MLA, Ecological Sales Manager (North Creek Nurseries) - Author, Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes

• Ecological Planting Design
  West will illustrate practical landscape design and management strategies based on the core principles of native plant communities, with examples of projects she’s installed in Virginia.

ROD SIMMONS, Natural Resource Specialist, Plant Ecologist (Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities, City of Alexandria VA)

• Limits of Restoration
  Simmons has extensively surveyed the flora and natural communities of the mid-Atlantic region, especially the inner Coastal Plain and Piedmont of the greater Washington D.C. area.  His talk will focus on the ecological restoration and stewardship of natural lands, including the control of non-native invasive plants, and if, when, and how to re-introduce native plants into a landscape.

AUSTIN KANE, Project Associate (Conservation Management Institute, Virginia Tech)               

• Virginia’s Wildlife Action Plan
  The Wildlife Action Plan is a strategy to conserve Virginia’s wildlife resources and help keep species from becoming endangered.  It identifies and prioritizes key species and habitats in need of conservation, and it provides “Local Action Plan Summaries” for 21 planning regions across the state.  Kane will provide a short overview that describes the current status of Virginia’s wildlife. 
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REGISTRATION/PAYMENT

STEP ONE: Complete the on-line form (separate form for each person, please)

Click Here to Complete
On-line Form

STEP TWO: Submit your payment - see below

You must fill out the on-line form at the link above, and then in order to complete your registration and be added to the participant list, submit your $50.00 payment at the VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, per instructions below.  The registration fee covers participation in all sessions and lunch.    

Because spaces are filling up fast, we are adding registrants to the participant list in the order that their payments are being received.  It is therefore strongly recommended that you pay your registration fee as soon as you fill out the on-line form.  Once the Forum is full, we will close this online site.  If your payment has not been submitted before the Forum fills, we may not be able to add you to the participant list.

TO PAY BY CREDIT CARD (Visa or Master Card ONLY), CALL 1-866-721-6911, and at the first prompt select OPTION 2, then at the second prompt select OPTION 3, in order to speak to a DGIF Customer Service representative.  You will need to identify that you are making a registration payment for the Habitat Forum on February 24^th, 2016, and the Service representative will obtain additional information in order to process your credit card payment over the phone.  (Online payment is not available for this event.)

TO PAY BY CHECK, make $50.00 check payable to “Treasurer of Virginia,” and in the Memo line indicate “Habitat Forum” and the DATE (Feb. 24).  Mail check payment to:  VDGIF – ATTN: CUSTOMER SERVICE; 7870 Villa Park Drive, Suite 400; Henrico VA 23228. (Check payments must be received by 5:00 p.m. February 12, 2016.)

** Please note that pre-registration is required, as we will not have a process for taking payments at the door on the day of the event.

REFUNDS and CANCELLATIONS:

After you've paid for the event, if you later need to cancel, you must request the refund IN WRITING by sending an e-mail to customerservice@dgif.virginia.gov AT LEAST ONE WEEK PRIOR TO THE EVENT, whether you paid by credit card or check.  In the e-mail 'Subject' line, enter "Refund Request for Habitat Forum," and in the BODY of your message be sure to include your name, address, contact telephone number and a reason for the refund request.

In the event that the Daniel Technology Center at the Germanna Community College in Culpeper is CLOSED on February 24 due to inclement weather or other unforseen circumstances, we will make an attempt to reschedule for a later date (TENTATIVE SNOW DATE is March 9).  If we're able to postpone the event, we'll notify you by e-mail.  Please be patient before contacting us about the change of plans, as it will likely take us several days to try and reschedule. You'll be notified as soon as we have the new information, and at that point you'll have the option of remaining on the registration list for the new date, or you may request a refund IN WRITING (customerservice@dgif.virginia.gov) in order to cancel your registration, receive a refund and be taken off the list.