2024 Annual FNEP Gathering

Meach Cove Farms (image by Jim Westphalen)

FNEP Annual Gathering
Saturday May 11 – Sunday 12 | Shelburne

Register Here

🌿 Alumni and Student Potluck | May 11, 6 PM
The Coach Barn @ Shelburne Farms
A casual gathering in celebration of cohort AM’s graduation! Catch up with alumni and meet our students on this 40th anniversary of the Field Naturalist Program.

🌿 Birding and BioBlitzing at Meach Cove Farms | May 12, 7:30 AM
“The Bobcat Tract” @ Meach Cove Farms
This 120-acre forest parcel within Shelburne’s Meach Cove Farms is a private and scarcely visited Rich Northern Hardwood Forest and Dry Oak Hickory Hophornbeam Forest flush with mammal sign, birdlife, and botany. We’ll explore the place for spring biodiversity, in support of the property’s land steward, Lynn Wolfe (EP, 2018), who has requested the FNEP hivemind’s help to inform her management recommendations here.

🌿 Lunch & Discussion | May 12, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM
Porch & Salon @ Meach Cove Farms
BYO Lunch
A brown bag lunch and discussion on the spacious back porch of Meach Cove Farms’ historic homestead.

🌿 Nature Paddle on the LaPlatte River | May 12, 12:30 PM 
Shelburne Bay Boat Access
Canoes available or BYO Boat 
Spring is the best time to visit these Lakeside and Silver Maple Floodplain Forests in their prime. We’ll paddle upstream from the mouth of the LaPlatte River and around the lower reaches of this spectacular TNC natural area. Bring your own boat or borrow one from us.

🌿 Reception and Major Giving Campaign Launch | May 12,  4:30 – 6:30 PM
Drinks and hors d’oeuvres provided
The Coach Barn @ Shelburne Farms
An early-evening reception to gather and celebrate the official launch of the FN Program’s Major Giving Campaign, a four-year endeavor to build endowments guaranteeing sustainable financial aid packages for students and a permanent directorship position.

Reception Keynote – Global Conservation: Innovation in Achieving Durable Conservation by Kathleen Fitzgerald (FN Cohort O)
Kathleen will speak about the status of global conservation and highlight some of the innovation that is leading to durable conservation outcomes.  Kathleen has been leading integrated large landscape conservation, climate and development programmes for over three decades and has worked in more than 20 countries. Kathleen has created new conservation areas, improved management of protected areas, established innovative public, private partnerships with governments and private sector, and led community development programmes. She was Vice President at the African Wildlife Foundation, a partner at Conservation Capital, and co-founder and Executive Director of the Northeast Wilderness Trust. Kathleen is the Project Director at The Pew Charitable Trusts for Enduring Earth and serves as a Senior Advisor to the Global Wildlife Program of the World Bank.

 

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