Virtual Workshop Recording Available
The Natural Areas Association (NAA) and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (VDCR), Natural Heritage Program will host a VIRTUAL professional training on managing sensitive natural communities concurrently for biodiversity conservation and public access.
Filmed during an in-person event during September 2021, the virtual field workshop will feature unique case studies in Virginia, Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve, Bull Run Mountain Natural Area Preserve, and The Channels Natural Area Preserve.
Virtual field workshop participants will consider how the VDCR Natural Heritage Program is addressing three ecologically significant and sites that are subject to high levels of public visitation. The workshop will include documented natural resource degradation, implemented strategies to reduce ecological damage due to recreation traffic, and approaches to monitoring restoration success.
Sustainable Summits Managing Public Access for the Protection of Rare Plant Communities is a compact, interactive, virtual field workshop that will include expert-led discussions in connection to three high elevation sites with frequent public access in Virginia. Along with the natural history, the field workshop will explore innovative stewardship strategies for improving the sustainability of public access to rare plant communities on public lands.
Registered participants will also receive a downloadable PDF that contains information about each site, maps, and the specifications related to the implemented strategies such as hard and soft barriers, interpretive signs, and other relevant materials for your reference.
Time | Agenda Item | Content |
12:00pm - 12:05pm EST | Welcome & Opening Remarks
| Background, Purpose and Format of the Workshop |
12:05pm - 12:20pm EST | Stewarding Virginia's Natural Area Preserve System: 25 Years of Balancing Resource Protection with Public Access
| The mission of VDCR - Division of Natural Heritage, areas managed, and scope of responsibilities. |
12:20pm - 12:50pm EST | Public access management at Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve: Balancing Sustainable Visitation Biodiversity Conservation
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12:50pm - 1:15pm EST | Restoration Challenges of a Mountaintop Natural Community at Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve in Northern Virginia
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1:15pm - 1:35pm EST | Public Access Management of a Geologically Unique Heath Bald in the Southern Appalachians
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1:35pm - 2:00pm EST | Sustainable Summits: Practitioners Panel Additional experiences from other practitioners managing public access on high biodiversity sites in the Appalachian Mountains.
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2:00pm EST | Conclusion
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Natural Areas Association Board Member
Regional Supervisor
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation - Natural Heritage Program
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation - Natural Heritage Program
Michael Lott is the Regional Supervisor for the Northern Region of the Virginia Natural Heritage Program which he joined in 2012. Michael works to protect rare species, natural communities and monitor ecological resources at the preserves in the Northern Region, particularly those found at Crow‘s Nest Natural Area Preserve. Prior to moving to Virginia, Michael spent 8 years working on a variety of research projects in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. He has a B.A in Geography/Ecosystems from the University of California, Los Angeles and a M.S. in Environmental Science from Florida Atlantic University.Natural Areas Stewardship Manager
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation - Natural Heritage Program
Natural Areas Public Access Coordinator
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation - Natural Heritage Program
Regional Supervisor / Western Fire Manager
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation - Natural Heritage Program
Preserve Manager
Virginia Outdoors Foundation
This Natural Areas Association (NAA) Stewardship in Action Virtual Workshop is being offered in partnership with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation - Natural Heritage Program.
Join the people who protect and manage our natural areas.