Virtual Policy Forum Series
Beginning in summer 2020 and continuing into 2021, the Network for Landscape Conservation is hosting a Virtual Policy Forum Series on the Future of Landscape Conservation. The purpose of this series is to foster a national dialogue on collaborative landscape conservation and the challenges and opportunities necessary for success. Through these conversations, we fill an important information-sharing and network-building niche by engaging policy leaders from a broad and diverse spectrum of organizations with the aim of improving the policies, resources, collaboration, and clarity on an emerging framework for landscape conservation in North America. We hope these Forums provide a useful resource for policy-makers and practitioners alike as we navigate the changing political, economic, social, and environmental landscapes.
Funding to support this forum series has been provided by the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, US Fish & Wildlife Service Science Applications Program, the California Landscape Stewardship Network, and the Network for Landscape Conservation.
- Sally Jewell, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior
- Collin O’Mara, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation
- Mamie Parker, former Assistant Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and current Board chair of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
- Lynn Scarlett, Chief External Affairs Officer at The Nature Conservancy and former Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Department of the Interior
- Tony Wasley, Director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife and chair of the Executive Committee of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.
Note: due to problems with the original recording, the introductory remarks prior to the start of the panel discussion have been re-recorded.
The second forum in the series brought together thought-leaders to discuss the substantial role of private lands in collaborative landscape-scale conservation, with an eye towards identifying policies and approaches to better engage private landowners in landscape conservation activities. Lesli Allison (Executive Director of the Western Landowners Alliance) offered a keynote, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Lynn Scarlett (Chief External Affairs Office of The Nature Conservancy) and featuring:
- Jimmy Bullock – Senior Vice President of Forest Sustainability, Resource Management Service LLC
- Adam Kiel – Iowa Soybean Association and Senior Vice President, AgOutcomes, Inc.
- Jim Lyons – past Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Vice President of Landscape Conservation for Defenders of Wildlife
- Sara Parker Pauley – Director of the Missouri Department of Conservation, and President of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.
This third Forum focused on the fundamental importance of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in collaborative landscape conservation. This conversation builds from the Weaving the Strands Together: Case Studies in Inclusive and Equitable Landscape Conservation report, which the Network released in early 2021 in partnership with the Salazar Center for North American Conservation.
Dr. Mamie Parker opened the Forum with a keynote address and then moderated a panel discussion featuring:
- Curtis Bennett – Director of Equity & Community Engagement at National Aquarium, and steering committee member of Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition;
- Patrick Gonzales Rogers – Executive Director of Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition;
- David Lamfrom – Vice President of Regional Programs at the National Parks Conservation Association;
- Martha Williams – Principal Deputy Director of USFWS, acting director.
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The fourth event in the policy forum series focused on needed investments in science and collaborative processes to meet contemporary biodiversity, climate and culture conservation goals. Hosted in collaboration with the California Landscape Stewardship Network, the 90 minute Forum opened with a keynote address from Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, who then moderate a panel discussion featuring:
Jeff Allenby – Director of Geospatial Technology for the Center for Geospatial Solutions, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Bray Beltrán – Science Director, Heart of the Rockies Initiative
Leroy Little Bear – Blackfeet researcher, Professor Emeritus at University of Lethbridge, Kainai First Nation
Deb Rocque – Assistant Director of the Science Applications Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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