***Please note: The Symposium is now full and we cannot accept new registrations***
Keynote speakers and panels of experts will examine the threats to pollinators and their critical role in preserving Vermont's working lands and wild places.
Hands-on round table discussions will offer in-depth opportunities to explore efforts to support pollinators and share individual experiences and ideas.
Hosted by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and its Endangered Species Committee.
Co-sponsors include: Audubon Vermont, The Farm Between, Gardener's Supply, Green Works - The Vermont Nursery & Landscape Association, National Wildlife Foundation, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) of Vermont, The Gund Institute of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, The Nature Conservancy, Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE), US Fish and Wildlife, Master Gardener program of UVM Extension, Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets, Vermont Beekeepers Association, Vermont Berry and Vegetable Growers Association, Vermont Center for Ecostudies, Vermont Coverts: Woodlands for Wildlife, Vermont Natural Resource Council, Vermont State-Wide Environmental Education Program, Vermont Woodlands Association and the Xerces Society.
Evening reception sponsored by: the Gund Institute, Gardener's Supply, and the Vermont Natural Resources Council.
When
March 17, 2016
8:30 AM – 5 PM, evening reception to follow.
Where
ECHO Aquarium and Science Center
One College Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Fee
$35 (includes lunch and reception to follow)
Click here to register.
For more information, contact Charlee Drury,
Charlee.Drury@vermont.gov or 802-828-1000.
Draft Agenda
8:30 Open for registration and coffee
9:00 Welcome and opening remarks - Deb Markowitz, Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, and Chuck Ross, Secretary of the Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets.
9:15 – 10:00 – Pollinators and their importance to crops, wild plants, and people - Taylor Ricketts, Director, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics.
Nearly ninety percent of flowering plants in the world, including two-thirds of crops, rely on pollinators. Pollination accounts for roughly 10% of the annual economic value of agriculture in the United States, worth more than $10 billion per year. Managed honey bees are often deployed as pollinators on farms, but for many crops, including apple, blueberry, tomato and squash, the most important pollinators are wild bees, of which there are more than 4,000 species in North America. The abundance and diversity of these pollinators depend on farm management (including pest control and tilling practices), and landscape factors (including proximity to natural lands and other flowers). Ongoing losses of managed and wild bee populations threaten natural plant communities, farm productivity, and the human food supply. These problems are being felt globally, across the U.S., and here in Vermont.
10:00 – 11:00 – Status and trends of wild insect pollinators in Vermont and beyond – Leif Richardson, Gund Institute Research Fellow, Moderator; Kent McFarland, co-founder, Vermont Center for Ecostudies and Mark Ferguson, Natural Heritage Zoologist, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.
There are widespread reports of pollinator declines, with corresponding concern about potential negative consequences for agriculture and ecosystem function. Honey bees are threatened by a number of factors related to their intensive management for crop pollination, including worldwide transport of parasitic mites and diseases, and nutritional stress and pesticide exposure related to the practice of migratory beekeeping. By contrast, threats to wild bees and other pollinators (e.g. files, butterflies and beetles) include habitat loss, pesticides, pathogens and climate change. A recent study identified critical gaps between supply of and demand for pollination services by wild bees at a national scale. There is also evidence of pollinator decline in Vermont, where nearly half of native bumble bee species have been imperiled. Three bee species were recently afforded protection by the state’s Threatened and Endangered Species law, and changes to land management practices could aid restoration of these important pollinator pollinations.
11:00 – 11:15 - Break
11:15 – 12:00 – Towards land management practices that conserve pollinators: Vern Grubinger - UVM Extension Professor, and Toby Alexander - State Biologist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Speakers will address the challenges and opportunities for farmers, landowners and land managers to engage in pollinator conservation efforts in Vermont. Current land management practices and policies that affect pollinators will be discussed such as pesticide use, cropping patterns, pollinator habitat protection, management and restoration, and efforts to incorporate pollinator conservation into state and federal programs aimed at people that work the land.
12:00 -1:15 Lunch and Keynote: The National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and other Pollinators and what it means for Vermont - Rick Keigwin, Deputy Director for Programs, EPA Office of Pesticide Programs.
With introduction by Cary Giguere, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets and member of the Vermont Pesticide Advisory Council
1:30 Lightning Rounds: A series of experts on protecting pollinators will provide five minute presentations that we expect will lead to lively discussions and debate. These lightning talks are intended to serve as a spring board for the round table discussions immediately following.
Producing with pollinators in mind – John Hayden, The Farm Between
Landscape design for protecting our pollinators and the important role of home gardeners – Jane Sorensen, Landscape Architect
Managing habitat for pollinators – Jarrod Fowler, Pollinator and Conservation Biocontrol Specialist, New England and Northeast Region, The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Importance of pollinators to our native flora – Jenny Ramstetter, Professor of Conservation Biology, Marlboro College and member of the ESC Science Advisory Group
The economics of pollination, should we be paying for ecosystem services, and if so, how? – Charlie Nicholson, Ph.D. candidate, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, UVM
The State of Vermont Pollinator Protection Committee – Rep. Carolyn Partridge, D-Windham
Vermont's Threatened and Endangered Bumblebees - Mark Ferguson, Natural Heritage Zoologist, Vermont Fish & Wildlife
Developing a program to monitor the trends and status of pollinators – Kent McFarland, co-founder, Vermont Center for Ecostudies
The Challengs of keeping honeybees: Beekeeping 101 – Michael Willard, Vermont Beekeepers Association
Alternative pollinators for agriculture – Leif Richardson, Gund Institute Research Fellow
2:00 Roundtable discussions: Participants will have an opportunity to have an in depth discussion of some of the issues raised in the lightning round session. Groups will be asked to consider the pros and cons of potential approaches to addressing the complex challenges of protecting our pollinators.
3:30 Report back and next steps
5:00 Lake View Reception
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