2015 Joint Annual Meeting: Common Ground, Common Goals, Common Solutions Schedule

Greetings ORTWS and OSAF Members! The schedule for our upcoming Annual Meeting is provided below. We will update this schedule with changes as more events get locked in.

2015 Joint Annual Meeting: ORTWS and OSAF
Common Ground, Common Goals, Common Solutions
April 29 – May 1 2015
Hilton Eugene

For special lodging rates, book via Hilton Eugene here: JAM 2015 Lodging Reserve your room by April 14 to lock in these rates!

Schedule

April 29th Wednesday

7:30 AM – Registration Opens
8:00 – 12:00 PM Workshops CANCELED
12:00 – 1:00 Buffet Lunch (purchasable add on)
1:00 – 2:30 PM Plenary Session 
Reframing the debate:  Popular Support for Active Forest Management in a Changing Climate
John Audley, President of Sustainable Northwest
Has Science Become Just About Irrelevant in Informing Policy Debates? 
Robert T. Lackey, Professor of Fisheries at Oregon State University
Scientists in natural resources, environmental science, ecology, conservation biology, and similar disciplines are collectively slipping into a morass that risks marginalizing the contribution of science to public policy.  Advocating personal positions on ecological policy issues has become widely tolerated as acceptable professional behavior and is even encouraged by a substantial fraction of the scientific community.  Public confidence that scientific information is technically accurate, policy relevant, and politically unbiased is central to informed resolution of environmental policy and regulatory issues that are often contentious, divisive, and litigious.  Especially, scientists should watch for the often subtle creep of normative science (i.e., information that appears to be policy neutral, but contains an embedded preference for a particular policy or class of policies).  Failing to do so risks marginalizing the essential role that science and scientists ought to play in informing decisions on important public policy questions.
2:30 – 3:00 PM – Networking Break
3:00 – 4:30 PM Communicating Science to the Public Symposium

  • 3:00 – 3:30 – Liz Cawood from Cawood, http://cawood.com/ Liz will be discussing the importance of communicating science to the public, the power of the message, and strategies for being effective.
  • 3:30 – 4:00 – Bruce Cappelli from Cappelli Miles http://www.cappellimiles.com/ will share strategies for using traditional media methods
  • 4:00 – 4:30 Allison McCormick and Pat McCormick from am:pm http://www.ampmpr.com/ will discuss creative nontraditional media methods

5:30 – 7:00 PM – Student Mentor Mixer
7:00 – 11:30 PM – Poster Session and Welcome Reception 

April 30 Thursday

8:00 – 5:00 PM – All day concurrent sessions on wildlife and forestry! There will be something for everyone.

  • 8:00 – 9:30 AM – Concurrent Sessions (draft schedule here: Session Details)
  • 9:30 – 10:00 AM – Refreshment and Networking Break
  • 10:00 – 12:00 PM – Concurrent Sessions (draft schedule here: Session Details)
  • 2:00 – 12:30 PM – Buffet Lunch
  • 1:00 – 2:30 PM – Concurrent Sessions (draft schedule here: Session Details)
  • 2:30 – 3:00 PM – Refreshment and Networking Break
  • 3:00 – 5:00 PM – Concurrent Sessions (draft schedule here: Session Details)

5:15 – 6:15 PM ORTWS Business Meeting, OSAF Business Meeting
6:30 – 9:30 PM – Awards Banquet 

May 1 Friday

7:00 – 8:30 AM – Alumni Breakfast – wear your school colors proudly! SAF President Bob Alverts will speak
9:00 – 4:00 PM – Field tours! These are included in the registration cost, as is a brown bag lunch
Tour 1 – Forests Forever

  • Private Timberland Visit – common ground, goals, solutions in forestry and wildlife management
  •  Private Timberland visit – Carbon Studies related to residual material following logging
  •  Forests Today and Forever: Visit an FTF site where middle school students learn about forestry and wildlife management and interactions.

Tour 2 – Restoration

  • Oak restoration theme – visit several local sites related to oak restoration including conifer removal projects.
  • Gravel pond reclamation – visit several sites that address: How can you get ecological uplift from abandoned gravel pits? How do you create side channel habitat?
  •  Prairie restoration theme – visit several local sites and talk about restoration research results, best practices, incorporating vernal pools for amphibians/Streaked Horned Lark/Meadowlark habitat.

Tour 3 – Working for Raptors

  • Cascades Raptor Center Work Party – Work party at the Cascades Raptor Center in S. Eugene. Help construct protective enclosures for birds in rehabilitation and tour this well known facility.

Tour 4 – Wildlife and Forestry

  • Long Tom Watershed Tour – Visit sites on the Long Tom Watershed that includes wildlife and forestry themes.
  •  Invertebrate theme – visit several sites focusing on invertebrate species including Wilama Restoration Project’s pollinator meadow in Alton Baker Park.
  •  Cogeneration Facility Tour – Depending on time, visit a cogeneration facility utilizing forest residuals to create power.

Tour 5 – Birds and Birds

  •  Fern Ridge birding trip and habitat management tour.
  •  Cascades Raptor Center Tour