2013 Leopold Conservation Award Symposium 

Register Now!Note: Leopold Conservation Award Recipients, please contact Cassie White at Sand County Foundation before registering or making room reservations.  

Telephone: (608) 608.729.1385

Email: cwhite@sandcounty.net

Hotel Accomodations 

Embassy Suites - Downtown Lincoln

The room block closes July 1, 2013, or whenever the block has been filled, whichever comes first.  

Please click on the provided link to access discounted hotel rates for your symposium accomodations: 

Reservation made under group name Nebraska Land Trust

http://embassysuites.hilton.com/en/es/groups/personalized/L/LNKESES-NL7-20130721/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG  * Link does not open in Safari

Innovations on the Land: Private Conservation for the Public Good

2013 Symposium Draft Agenda

Thursday, July 25

Breakfast
Welcome
Opening remarks: Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman (invited)

Break

Morning Session: Conservation and Economics - A discussion of successful and emerging conservation practices that are economically beneficial.  

• Moderator –  Brent Tanner – (2010 Utah Leopold Conservation Award (LCA) Recipient)
• Todd Mortenson – (2011 South Dakota LCA Recipient) 
• Ryan Fieldgrove – (2011 Wyoming LCA Recipient)
• Dino Giacomazzi – (2012 California LCA Recipient) 

Panel discussion – Above speakers and other invited LCA recipients

Break and Transition

Lunch

 Keynote Speaker

• Dr. Stanley Temple, Beers-Bascom Professor Emeritus in Conservation in the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology 
• Tom Vilsack – US Secretary of Agriculture (invited) 

Afternoon Session: Public/Private Partnerships - A discussion of award-winning private land conservation efforts done in partnership with government organizations.

• Moderator – Jim Hebbe (2012 Wisconsin LCA Recipient) 
• Russell Davis – (2012 Colorado LCA Recipient) 
• Sarah Mitchell – (2012 Texas LCA Recipient) 
• Homer Buell – (2012 Nebraska LCA Recipient) 

Panel discussion – Above speakers and partners

Dinner

• Speaker:  Michael Forsberg - A Nebraska native, noted photographer Michael Forsberg has focused much of his work in North America’s Great Plains, once one of the greatest grassland ecosystems on Earth. His goal has been to try to capture the wild spirit that still survives in these wide-open spaces and put a face to the often overlooked native creatures and landscapes found there. His hope is that the images can build appreciation and go  to work to inspire conservation efforts on the land far into the future. 

Friday, July 26

8:00 a.m. - 12 noon: Optional half-day bus tour of The Rainwater Basin Wetland Complex

The Rainwater Basin lies at the narrowest portion of the migration route known as the Central Flyway.  A 160-mile-wide region gathers up millions of migrating ducks, geese, shorebirds and other water birds that have wintered along the Gulf Coast, across Texas and Mexico, and farther south.  The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Partnership will host a special tour of the Rainwater Basin Wetland Complex to highlight the Working Lands Initative.  The initiative was established to support integration of cattle production back into the Rainwater Basin Region.  This four-hour coach bus tour will begin in Lincoln, and will include stops to highlight projects that exemplify the Working Lands Initiative.