2021 Virtual Symposium on Conservation Impact

In 2021, the symposium served as the first major public convening focused on next steps for the Biden administration’s America the Beautiful initiative. Top-level officials from the U.S. Departments of Interior and Agriculture, as well as the White House Council on Environmental Quality, explored how to conserve 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030.

The two-day event featured researchers, practitioners, and political leaders from Canada, Mexico, and Indigenous territories, who—along with their U.S. counterparts—explored the state of progress toward similar large landscape conservation goals at the continental scale, and highlight lessons learned from other national-level efforts, such as Canada’s Pathway to Target One. A variety of keynote presentations and panels events focused on transboundary partnerships, the role of Indigenous nations, and best practices to achieve large landscape goals in the face of climate change in North America. Together, we looked at science and data, policies, and case studies to better understand the benefits that transboundary work can deliver for biodiversity, climate, and human resilience.

You can watch the full recording of Day 1 and Day 2, and session recordings from the symposium include:

• Where did landscape-scale conservation goals come from? and Seeing Things Whole, by Dr. Stephen Woodley and Karl Burkart
• The state of practice and policy: National commitments to conservation in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, featuring Nadine Spence, Brian O’Donnell, and Andrew Rhodes Espinoza
• Implementing the vision for Indigenous leadership in conservation, by Valérie Courtois
• Indigenous-led conservation: Models and opportunities, featuring Karlin Itchoak and Henry Lickers
• Some remarks on connectivity from a holobiont keynote address by Doug Chadwick
• Transboundary Conservation: Lessons learned from U.S.-Canada transboundary dialogues, featuring Jodi Hilty, Eli Enns, and Leanna Heffner
• Transboundary conservation at the US-Mexico border, featuring Louise Misztal, Juan Carlos Bravo, and Jeremiah H. Leibowitz
• Keynote addresses by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, and Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory
• Leaders from North America discuss opportunities and challenges for 30×30 moving forward, featuring Sally Jewell, Harvey Locke, and Martha Delgado Peralta
• The link between climate change and conservation goals, pre-recorded remarks by former Vice President Al Gore
• Strengthening partnerships to meet climate change challenges to sustaining and conserving nature and Expanding nature-based solutions to achieve landscape-scale climate change and biodiversity goals, by Dr. Dennis Ojima and Wade Crowfoot
• The intersection of climate change and biodiversity conservation, featuring Michael Mantell and Tiernan Sittenfeld
• The intersection of Indigenous conservation, climate change resilience, and biodiversity, by Erik Stegman
• Listen to our pre-event partner podcast with Mountain & Prairie, featuring Lesli Allison of Western Landowners Alliance and Tuda Libby Crews of Ute Creek Cattle Company in a conversation about the critical role of private and working lands in achieving durable conservation outcomes in the U.S.
• Check out the graphic recordings of Day 1 and Day 2 the event, as well as a timelapse from each day, by Heartwood Visuals

Thriving Cities Challenge Finalist Pitch Fest

• Watch the funding announcement, and meet the eight teams awarded implementation funding
• Watch prize pitches by finalist teams: Blueprint Foundation, Canfield Consortium, Council for Watershed Health, Ecoworks Detroit, EEECHO, Festival Beach Food Forest, Friends of Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, GreenRoots, LINK Houston, National Wildlife Federation, Pronatura Sur, Trees, Water & People, Turner Station Conservation Teams, Western Reserve Land Conservancy, and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice
• Hear a progress update from Borderlands Restoration Network, the team who won the 2020 Connectivity Challenge
• Check out the graphic recording of the event, as well as a timelapse, by Heartwood Visuals