Climate Change in Virginia

Learning to Adapt

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Robert H. Smith Center at Montalto Charlottesville, Virginia Open to the Public

Climate Change in Virginia

Learning to Adapt
8:30-9:15 a.m. Buses from Monticello Parking Lot to Montalto Registration and Coffee 9:30 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks Ann Gordon Evans President Garden Club of Virginia

Anne Irving & Tuckie Westfall Co-Chairmen Conservation Forum 9:40 a.m. Global Overview of Climate Change Robert Tally President Talley & Associates, Inc. 10:10 a.m. 10:40 a.m. Sea Level Rise Adaptation Skip Stiles Executive Director Wetlands Watch Planning for Wildlife in a Changing Climate Chris Burkett Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries

Cover photo: Norfolk Botanical Gardens Green Roof by Roy A. Bahls / The Virginia Pilot

11:10 a.m.

Gardening in an Era of Climate Change Austin Kane Policy Specialist National Wildlife Federation

11:40 a.m. 11:55 a.m. 12:15 p.m. 1:00 p.m. 1:20 p.m. 3:00 p.m.

Presentation of the Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award for Meritorious Achievement in Conservation Anne Beals Conservation and Beautification Committee Chairman Garden Club of Virginia Remarks Susan Stein Richard Gilder Senior Curator and Vice President of Museum Programs Thomas Jefferson Foundation Lunch at Montalto Buses depart for Monticello Guided Tours Mulberry Row Restoration Project of the GCV Monticello House Thomas Jeffersons Vegetable Garden Visitors Center Official Program Ends

Speakers
Robert Talley

Forum

Robert Talley is President of Talley & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm that supplies general political consulting, association advisory consulting, as well as regulatory and legislative lobbying services to clients with issues before the legislative and executive branches of government. Mr. Talleys primary areas of expertise include the energy and environmental sectors with an emphasis on climate change policy. He is a regular speaker and commentator for trade associations, trade publications, has been a guest commentator on national news and has presented to the United Nations. Prior to forming Talley & Associates, Mr. Talley was a founding partner in The McMillan Group, a firm specializing in political consulting and merchant banking with offices in Washington, DC and Charlotte, North Carolina. Before co-founding The McMillan Group in 1995, Mr. Talley worked on Capitol Hill. Mr. Talley is a graduate of the George Washington University School of Business and Public Management where he received a Master of Business Administration and was invited into the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia. Mr. Talley lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife Frances and three children. His free time is filled with as many outdoor activities as possible, including kayaking, hiking, and hunting.

Skip Stiles
William A. (Skip) Stiles, Jr., is Executive Director of Wetlands Watch, a statewide nonprofit environmental group based in Norfolk, Virginia. Wetlands Watch is the only grassroots environmental group in the country working to encourage local governments to implement sea level rise adaptation measures. Mr. Stiles was hired by Wetlands Watch in 2006, having previously served as president of the group. From 1976 to 1998, Mr. Stiles served in a number of senior staff positions in the US House of Representatives including Legislative Director of the House Committee on Science and Technology from 1990 to 1998. Prior to his current position, Mr. Stiles was an independent consultant, providing editorial and public policy services to a number of clients on issues related to science, the environment, and public policy. A partial list of his clients includes: the White House Office of Science Policy, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Pew Center on Agricultural Biotechnology, RAND Corporation, and the National Academy of Sciences. He was a member of the Virginia Commission on Climate Change during its tenure in 2008. Wetlands Watchs website became the repository for the Commissions work when the State of Virginia eliminated the Commissions website in 2012. Mr. Stiles has written extensively about the social marketing approaches developed under the auspices of Wetlands Watch. He has moved Wetlands Watch to engage the private sector and the group is currently involved in a social marketing effort with shipbuilding and insurance companies in Virginia. In the absence of any state government effort on sea level rise adaptation Wetlands Watch has become the de facto coordinator of statewide adaptation efforts. Mr. Stiles received a degree in sociology from William and Mary. He is married to Dr. Margaret R. Mulholland, an assistant professor of Oceanography at Old Dominion University. They have two children who inspire their work on natural resource protection.

Chris Burkett
Chris Burkett works for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and serves as Virginias Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator. Wildlife Action Plans are the nations core program to prevent species from becoming endangered. Burketts career has focused on the social, economic, and policy aspects of natural resource management and his current duties involve working with agency personnel and partners to identify opportunities to implement proactive wildlife conservation. Burkett also participates in a variety of regional and national efforts related to climate change, strategic planning, project data management, and program effectiveness measures. Previously, Burkett worked for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department as a social scientist and planner. Burkett has worked extensively with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to evaluate, promote, and help implement the National Wildlife Action Plan program. Burkett earned his bachelors degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Alabama and earned his masters degree in Geography from the University of Wyoming.

Austin Kane
Austin Kane is a Science and Policy Manager for the National Wildlife Federations Mid-Atlantic Regional Center. Her work focuses on safeguarding wildlife and plants from climate change. Austin also works with fish and wildlife agencies and other partners to integrate climate change into State Wildlife Action Plans. She has worked on the National Wildlife Federation efforts related to gardening in an era of climate change. Austin also specializes in coastal climate change related efforts, such as developing climate-smart guidance for coastal projects and building state capacity to address climate change. Prior to joining the Federation, she worked as a Science and Policy Analyst with the Environmental Law Institute and as an Assistant Conservation Planner for the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources. Austin has a masters degree in Environmental Management from Duke University and a bachelors degree in Biology from the University of Virginia. Currently, she lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband, young son, and yellow lab. Like his parents, her son already has a love of gardening, especially picking and eating cucumbers.

SPECIAL THANKS to the Garden Club of Virginia Staff Members; Lynn McCashinExecutive Director, Ann Heller-Communications Coordinator, Karmen Gustin-Director of Development, the Garden Club of Virginia Conservation Committee Members, Sarah Bridenhagen-Charlottesville Liaison, Susan Stein and Natasha Sienitski, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Don Westfall Editing and Corporate Visions, Inc., Design.

Notes

The Dugdale Award

The Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award for Meritorious Achievement in Conservation was first presented in 1974, and in 1989 was named for Mrs. Arthur A. Dugdale of the Ashland Garden Club, an outstanding member of the GCV who originated the Conservation Forum. It is presented to an organization, industry or an individual who is not a GCV member for outstanding work in conservation.

Past Recipients of the Dugdale Award

2012 2011 2010 2008 2007 2006 Lynnhaven River Now Alliance to Save the Mattaponi Thomas J. Lipton, Inc. Stanley G. Breakell and Robert G. Burnley Union Bank and Trust Miranda Bryant Strutton 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 William H. Harrison Dr. Charles K. Price and Robert A. S. Wright The Friends of the Shenandoah Dimon, Incorporated Nancy Ross Hugo Georgie Hughes Morgan

The Garden Club of Virginia is an active association of forty-seven garden clubs, whose members collectively form a group of more than 3,300 civic leaders from around the Commonwealth. To accomplish our mission, the GCV sponsors three sanctioned flower shows annually, presents various educational programs, and makes monetary awards to encourage community conservation and beautification projects. Historic Garden Week in Virginia, a statewide house and garden tour held each spring, raises funds for restoring or preserving historic public grounds and landscapes. The Conservation and Beautification Committee was instituted in 1921 as the Garden Club of Virginias first formal committee. A statewide campaign to end the wholesale cutting and decimation of Virginias native holly and laurel was a first project. Over the course of nine decades, GCV has been instrumental in safeguarding Rockbridge Countys Goshen Pass from harmful development, helped secure the National Blue Ridge Park for Virginia, helped restore portions of the Great Dismal Swamp, planted thousands of trees across the state, encouraged stricter strip mining regulations and raised awareness on the need for curbside container recycling. Protecting natural landscapes along Virginias highways from the blight of billboards and litter has been an ongoing effort since our inception.

The Garden Club of Virginia exists to celebrate the beauty of the land, to conserve the gifts of nature and to challenge future generations to build on this heritage.

Kent-Valentine House 12 East Franklin Street Richmond, VA 23219 www.gcvirginia.org