Nation's largest gathering of conservation leaders arrives in Portland
Portland, Ore. — This week, the Land Trust Alliance is hosting the nation’s largest gathering of land conservation leaders and practitioners — the 36th Rally: National Land Conservation Conference. This year’s event is taking place in Portland, Oregon, at the Oregon Convention Center.
Water quality, wildfires and air quality are among the top environmental concerns here and across the country — case in point, the recent Camp Creek Fire in the Bull Run watershed and reservoir complex that supplies water to Portland. Land trusts in Oregon and nationally are working to address resiliency and are perfectly positioned to lead high-profile water quality initiatives that are critically important to the communities where they work. For more information on land trust projects addressing these issues in Oregon, we highly recommend reviewing the Coalition of Oregon Land Trust's new State of the Lands report.
More than 2,200 people from throughout the United States and beyond will attend Rally 2023, which begins Sept. 6 and concludes Sept. 9, and projects to generate a direct economic impact for the city of Portland of more than $2 million. Rally offers learning sessions focused on land conservation topics, networking events, exhibits, plenary sessions, field trips highlighting a variety of Oregon conservation projects, and an awards presentation celebrating conservation leadership.
The welcome dinner, plenaries and field trips are open to the media, and attendees will hear from several speakers and panelists discussing topics like protecting working lands and community-centered conservation. Speakers and panelists include:
Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of the Land Trust Alliance.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden. (Video)
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley. (Video)
U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer.
National Park Service Director Chuck Sams, enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. (Video)
USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie.
U.S. Forest Service Deputy Regional Forrester Laura Schweitzer.
David Lewis, member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, author, and an assistant professor of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies at Oregon State University.
Aja DeCoteau, a citizen of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.
Terry Cross, an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation, author, and senior advisor (and founding executive director) for the National Indian Child Welfare Association.
Wenix Red Elk, public outreach and education specialist for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation's Department of Natural Resources.
Zoraida Lopez-Diago, vice president of development, communication and strategic partnerships for the Glynwood Center and co-founder of Conservationists of Color.
Jessica McDonald, executive director of Greenbelt Land Trust.
Ashley Demosthenes, president and CEO of Lowcountry Land Trust.
Melissa Kalvestrand, executive director of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
Bonnie Lewkowicz, program manager with Access Northern California.
Attendees will also have the option of attending “field trips” to examine a variety of Oregon conservation and restoration projects. These trips include:
“Restoring Watersheds: River Restoration, Dam Removal and Forest Conservation” hosted by Columbia Land Trust.
“Conservation Partnerships and Funding in the Willamette Valley” hosted by Greenbelt Land Trust.
"Agriculture and Land Use in the Columbia River Gorge” hosted by Oregon Agricultural Trust.
“Urban Land Conservation: Conserving the Greater Forest Park Ecosystem” hosted by Forest Park Conservancy.
The Alliance has also partnered with the U.S. Forest Service on our 2022 Scholars for Conservation Leadership program — a career-and-leadership-development program aimed at expanding opportunities for student leaders majoring in environmental studies to pursue careers in natural resource management and conservation. The program was initiated in 2019 to provide undergraduate students an opportunity to participate in a professional development experience here at Rally. All ten scholars will be attending Rally, in addition to our three fellowship recipient alumni.
More information about Rally is available at www.alliancerally.org.
About Land Trust Alliance:
Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents approximately 950 member land trusts supported by more than 250,000 volunteers and 6.3 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and operates several regional offices. Learn more at landtrustalliance.org/.