Start/End times vary

Optional Pre-Conference Workshops (Pre-registration required/transportation provided)

• Classroom/Lab-based

  • Lichens Unlocked
  • Learn to Identify Southeastern Asters
  • Mosses, Liverworts and Hornwarts: Why Bryophytes Matter

• Field Workshops

  • Hurricane Helene Impacts in High Elevation Conifer & Hardwood Forests
  • Parking Lot to Paradise
  • Post-Helene Landscape Driving Tour to Around Asheville and the Surrounding Area

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Welcome and Opening Plenary Session

• Welcome

  • Lisa Smith, Executive Director, Natural Areas Association

• Keynote
  Natural history of the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains: A Core Relic Eco-region Conserving the Ancient Biological Diversity of Eastern North America

  • Alan Weakley, Ph.D., Director of UNC-CH Herbarium, North Carolina Botanical Garden, and Adjunct Professor

5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Welcome Reception

7 a.m. - 8 a.m.

Breakfast

8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

Plenary Session

• To Do or Not To Do? Challenges Faced In Recovering Nature After Hurricane Helene

  Facilitators:

  • Josh Kelly, Resilient Forests Director, MountainTrue
  • Megan Sutton, Program Director, The Nature Conservancy - North Carolina

9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Beverage Break

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Concurrent Breakout Session

11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Lunch | Chow-N-Chat 
There is nothing better than lunch with your peers in land stewardship. Each table will feature a topic to encourage those with common interests to meet and exchange stories, interests, and ideas. 

1:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Transition Break

1:15 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.

Concurrent Breakout Session

2:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Transition Break

3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m

Concurrent Breakout Session

4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Beverage & Snack Break

5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Concurrent Breakout Session & Round Table Discussions

Start/End times vary

Optional Field Workshop Opportunities (Pre-registration required/transportation provided)

• Field Workshops

  • Mountain Bog Protection & Management
  • Ecological Restoration of Fire-Adapted Forests in Southern Appalachia
  • Stewardship in the South Carolina Blue Ridge
  • Ecology & Issues in Southern Appalachian Spruce-Fir Forests 
  • Buck Creek Serpentine Barrens: A Globally Endangered Natural Community
  • Hike to Carolina Hemlock Forest Atop Looking Glass Rock
  • Safe Passage: The I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Wildlife Crossings
  • Restoring Resilient Rivercane (Arundinaria gigantea)
  • DuPont State Recreational Forest Half-Day Guided Mountain Bike Ride
  • Southern Appalachian Grassy Balds- Diversity, Management & Monitoring in an Iconic Landscape

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Transition Break

5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Poster Reception

7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.

Breakfast

8:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.

Plenary Panel Session & "Plant People" Trailer Premier

• An Inflection Point: The Next 250 Years of Plant Conservation in the United States

  Panel:

  • Emily Coffey, Ph.D. - President & CEO, Naples Botanical Garden
  • Gary Kauffman - Retired Botanist, National Forests in North Carolina
  • Wesley Knapp, Ph.D. - Chief Executive Officer, Center for Plant Conservation
  • Tara Littlefield - Biological Assessment and Plant Conservation Branch Manager, Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves
  • Peggy Olwell - Retired Botanist & Former Plant Conservation & Restoration Program Lead, Bureau of Land Management
  • Lesley Starke - Chief of Natural Areas Stewardship, Division of Natural Heritage, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
  • Alan Weakley, Ph.D. - Director, UNC-Chapel Hill Herbarium, North Carolina Botanical Garden

• "Plant People" Trailer Premier - Presented by Holden Films
  • McKenna Asakawa - Director, Producer & Writer, Holden Films
  • Brady Holden - Filmmaker & Cinematographer

9:45 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Beverage Break

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Natural Areas Association's Annual Awards Luncheon
Join us as we celebrate the 2026 George B. Fell Lifetime Achievement Award, the Carl N. Becker Stewardship Award, and the Rising Leader Award. The Awards Lunch is included in the conference registration. An RSVP is required.

1:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Transition Break

1:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Concurrent Symposia

• Safe Passage: Eight Years of Science and Advocacy for Wildlife Corridors and Connectivity in the Southern Appalachians
• Managing Mountain Bogs: Strategies for Climate Resiliency
• Stewardship of Culturally Significant Plants: Indigenous Science, Leadership, and Collaborative Conservation Partnerships
• Using the Popularity of the Outdoor Recreation Movement for Natural Area Conservation
• Invasive Species Management and Operations with GIS
• Old-Growth Forests: Identification, Stewardship, and Recovery

4:30 p.m. 

Conference End