Annual Winter Conference
VAWS will be voting on a new vice president at this year's Winter Conference during the short business meeting. How to be nominated or nominate someone else: No later than 7 days before the Annual meeting (Winter Conference, March 20, 2025), members may submit written nominations to the Board of Directors on behalf of themselves or other qualified candidates with the consent of the nominee, signed by at least five members of good standing, for upcoming vacancies.
Keynote Speaker Announced: Rep. Seth Bongartz
Seth’s election in 2024 marks his fourth stint in the Vermont legislature. In 2020 He was elected to the House, where he have served on the Environment and Energy Committee for the last four years. He is a recognized leader on both environmental protection and setting the stage for the construction of housing that is affordable for Vermonters. He has also served the House Natural Resources Committee, where he built on his experience as founder of the Manchester Community Land Trust and 18-year role as the visionary president of Hildene. He also served on the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR), which provides oversight as state agencies develop detailed rules to implement statutes.
For his keynote presentation, he will talk about the new Floodplain Bill (Act 121) with focus on the sections related to wetlands. He will also discuss other new and upcoming wetland related issues. He is currently working on updates to Act 250 and housing regulations, which will have wetland implications.
VAWS issues A Call for Presentations for the 2025 Winter Conference
Theme: Innovations in Wetland Science.
VAWS is now inviting submission of abstracts for the 3rd Annual Winter Conference, to be held March 20, 2025 at the Equinox Hotel in Manchester, VT.
A discount to attend the full day conference will be provided to all selected presenters.
We are currently accepting potential presentation topics for selection to provide a combination of engaging material that covers a variety of wetland oriented innovations, including:
Unique project case studies
Innovation/Industry advancements
Permitting/Regulatory updates
Examples of potential “wetland” innovative topics could include: overviews of new guidance documents, approaches to restoration, updates on new legislation, Living Shorelines/Riparian areas, approaches to flood resilience, describing new technologies or techniques, RTE information/protection, wildlife relationships/inventories, how we connect with communities (education/outreach). Be creative and let's share information!
Proposal submissions are due on January 15, 2025.
Submissions are invited from employees at the state, federal, and municipal level, as well as from the private sector, watershed and other related organizations, tribes and nations, and academia, student presentations are encouraged.
In order to determine which presentations will be selected for the upcoming Conference, we request that short abstracts (1/2 page) be submitted which summarize the key aspects of the presentation and who will be presenting. Please provide enough information for the review committee to be able to evaluate amongst a potentially wide range of topics. New this year, we are offering both 20-minute and 45-minute presentation options with Q&A time within 30-minute and 60-minute sessions. Please indicate if your abstract is being submitted for a 20 or 45-minute presentation. We may choose to run presentations concurrently in breakout rooms. If you are proposing a panel discussion, please confirm with all potential participants their attendance at the conference prior to submission.
Please submit these candidate abstracts to admin@vermontwetlandscience.org by January 15, 2025.
The review committee plans to have presentations selected and notifications sent to respondents by February 15, 2025.
The conference is open to all registrants, with registration opening in early 2025. Details about the conference and abstract submission can be found on the Events page
For any specific questions, please email: secretary@vermontwetlandscience.org
March 20, 2025; VAWS Annual Winter Conference with business meeting.
Equinox Hotel, Manchester VT
Potential field trip March 21, 2024
Keynote Speaker address: 9:00 am.
Annual Conference with a variety of speaker presentations, gratitude raffle, and networking opportunities. Lunch to be provided. Possible field trip on the morning of March 21 to nearby Ducks Unlimited Restoration Site; weather dependent. A new Vice President from the current Board of Directors needs to be nominated and voted in by membership. See our current Board of Directors.
Mary Beth to assume Immediate Past President role, Zapata to assume role of President.
Thank you to our 2024 Sponsors, making the Winter Conference a huge success!