On September 7th and 8th, Virginia’s conservation community convened in Williamsburg for the Virginia Environmental Assembly and Virginia Conservation Network (VCN)’s Annual Meeting, an annual two-day conference bringing experienced and emerging conservation leaders together to learn, strategize, and network.
This year’s event had record attendance from VCN Network Partners, elected officials, and members of the public, with over 250 participants. Through our partnership with W&M Sustainability, we were able to engage a record number of students over the two days, as well.
Delegate Mike Mullen gave his remarks at the Conservation Reception, a part of the Virginia Environmental Assembly. The reception took place on Friday evening at Billsburg Brewery.
Highlights from the Environmental Assembly
There are a lot of things exciting things to highlight from about this year’s Environmental Assembly — here are just a few.
VCN Partners Welcomed Three New Board Members
VCN’s Board of Directors is voted on by our 100+ Network Partners. On Friday, VCN voted to welcome Carol Carter (Charlottesville), a longtime volunteer with the Garden Club of America, Garden Club of Virginia, and Albemarle Garden Club; Kendyl Crawford (Richmond), Director of Virginia Interfaith Power & Light; and Clarence Tong (Alexandria), Legislative Affairs Manager at the Environmental Defense Fund. Partners also voted to support an additional term for six board members and celebrated five members who are stepping down after serving VCN for many years. Go to www.vcnva.org/about-us/ for a full list of board members.
Field Trips Highlighted Regional Conservation Efforts
Each year, the Environmental Assembly is hosted in a different region of the state to highlight Virginia’s distinct natural resources. After a full morning of in-depth strategy conversations, participants got outside to see examples of regional conservation efforts (and have a little fun too!). James River Association led a canoe trip along the James River, which was kicked off by a discussion on current threats to our waterways. Preservation Virginia hosted a walking tour of historic Jamestowne and discussed their work to protect our nation’s heritage and natural resources. Chesapeake Bay Foundation led a tour of stormwater and agricultural best management practices around the region in light of organizations working to identify project ideas for Phase III of the Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Plan.
Attendees on the William & Mary Campus Sustainability Tour learned about the research taking place at the college’s greenhouse. Photo credit: W&M Sustainability.
Canoe tour attendees out with the James River Association learning about the ecology of the river.
A Rock Star Lineup of Panelist Led Discussions on Timely Topics
Friday and Saturday were packed with an impressive lineup of panelists who led discussions on everything from sea level rise and environmental justice to pipelines and Chesapeake Bay cleanup. Panelists from RGGI states joined us to talk about unique programs other states are implementing to reduce carbon pollution; Deputy Secretary Ann Jennings discussed the Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Plan; Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, a rising star amongst VA’s freshman class, spoke about what she’s doing to help clean up toxic coal ash in her district; former top-level Obama appointees from the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of the Interior helped breakdown the federal rollbacks happening in D.C.; Delegate Sam Rasoul joined Red Terry to highlight the many outlets of pipeline resistance; Senator Lynwood Lewis moderated a discussion by leaders in the field of sea level rise in Virginia; Chante Coleman, Director of the Choose Clean Water Coalition, led a discussion on what groups are doing to start addressing environmental justice in Virginia; DEQ Deputy Director Chris Bast led a discussion on reducing carbon emissions from the transportation sector in Virginia; and, much, much more. Click here to view the full conference program.
This conference is the only one of its kind, designed specifically for Virginia’s environmental nonprofit community. It is organized each year by Virginia Conservation Network, this year in partnership with W&M Sustainability.
Thank You to Our Event Partner and Sponsors!
We owe a very special thank you to our event partner, W&M Sustainability. Serving as our direct Williamsburg/William & Mary connection, they helped us secure this year’s venue and brought in dozens of students to attend the event. We are very grateful to have worked so closely with them over the past few months to ensure this event’s success.
Student attendees talking about career paths with alumna Samantha Lockhart, National Campaigns Manager with the National Wildlife Federation. Photo credit: W&M Sustainability
In addition to our featured local organizations — Chesapeake Bay Foundation, James River Association, and Preservation Virginia — we also would like to thank the many Network Partners who put time into making this event a success by helping organize the event and/or serving on panels: Appalachian Voices, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Garden Club of Virginia, Piedmont Environmental Council, Potomac Riverkeeper Network, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Southern Environmental Law Center, and Wild Virginia.
A special thank you also goes to our event sponsors: National Wildlife Federation, Amalgamated Bank, and Foundation Earth.