8:00 – 8:30am – Registration
8:30-8:35 Welcome and Overview
Morning Session Focus – Understanding Carbon in the Landscape.
- 8:35-9:30am – Keynote: Courtney White – 2 Percent Solutions for the Planet Human activities have impacts. With better understanding humans can be positive agents for change as they choose how to manage their small corner of the world. Mr. White will delve it the soil carbon connection, carbon cycle and how soil, plants, animals, and the soil food web (diversity and complexity), and will show how human activity fits in.
- 9:30-10:00 Eric T. Fleisher – Understanding Compaction Severely compacted soil has poor structure and soil foodweb diversity which results in poor carbon harvesting. T. Fleisher will explain compaction causes and cures (across all managed landscapes).
- 10:00-10:30 Bryan O’Hara – Digging Deep into Soil Practices Continuing the compaction discussion, Mr. OHara will focus on boosting soil biology with no-till farming, cover cropping, and Korean Natural Farming practices. The common thread is the focus on beneficial fungal growth and the role that Fungi play in carbon sequestration.
10:30-10:45 Break
- 10:45-11:15 – Jim Laurie – Building Biodiversity Restoring biodiversity to the land is the key to a healthy water cycle, building carbon rich organic matter in soils, and improving plant health and immunity to disease. Mr. Laurie will show how the symbiosis of mycorrhizal fungi, insects, nematodes, and beaver once built soils tens of feet deep. Jim will also discuss how improving the infiltration of rainwater into the soil can ameliorate the flood and drought cycles we have seen in recent years.
11:15-12:00 Moderated Panel with Morning Speakers White, Fleisher, O’Hara, Laurie
12:00- 1:15pm LUNCH (Organic lunch is included with registration)
Afternoon Session Focus – Humans as Agents for Positive Change Speakers offer their “Top 5 List” of what YOU can do!
- 1:15-1:45 – Paul Wagner – Understanding Soil Biology (the trophic levels) and how to make sure that at least the first three levels are present to build landscape health. Mr. Wagner will discuss specific techniques for making sure that they ARE present. Beyond the basics of bacteria and fungi, Mr. Wagner will help us to understand the third trophic level (the shredders, predators and grazers).
- 1:45-2:15 – Bruce Fulford – The Importance of Compost Mr. Fulford explains compost from multiple feedstock streams and how to apply it for best long term soil stabilization. We will learn about the carbon release of traditional compost applications and how different feedstocks have different long term effects. Every plant pulls in carbon and we learn how to maximize the results.
- 2:15-2:45 – Hugh McLaughlin – Biochar’s Role in the Landscape Creating biochar is an ancient technique brought forward in time to keep carbon both stabile and active in the soil for much longer than compost. What does it take to access and use modern biochar – and what is needed to inoculate it before large scale application. Dr. McLaughlin will help us to understand net Carbon – carbon sink, carbon neutral, carbon emitting – and how we can work toward the goal of becoming a carbon sink
- 2:45-3:15 – Chip Osborne – Turf – Ecological Options Mr. Osborne takes a close look at how grass roots and their seasonal surging (expansion and contraction) can help to create soil. We learn to increase biodiversity by allowing broadleaved plants (weeds!) to mix into conventional turf and how this can heighten the quality of soil life supported by root exudates. With lawns covering large expanses of the landscape, even small changes can have a big impact.
BREAK (3:15 – 3:30)
3:30- 4:00 Moderated Panel with Afternoon Speakers Osborne, Wagner, McLaughlin, Fulford
4:00-4:30 – Wrap-up with Courtney White
One person makes a small contribution but many people, acting with intent and carbon awareness, can make a much bigger contribution to carbon sequestration and global climate stability. Take the information from today and work it into all of your land management decisions – whether you’re managing (or helping to manage) a back yard, a farm, or an institutional land management program.
CEU Processing and Networking (4:30-5:00)
