Regenerative Solutions for Resilient Landscapes 2024

Join ELA for the 2024 R & R Conference, in person at Delaware Center for Horticulture

Thank you to our sponsors!

Gold Sponsor	Silver Sponsor	Bronze Sponsors

Thursday, November 14 | 8:00 EDT-4:00 EDT

Registration is now open through Eventbrite

This will be a hybrid event with a virtual option for participation

Delving into the meaning of our conference title, this conference features expert speakers on the subjects of designing, installing, maintaining, researching, and experiencing regenerative and/or resilient landscapes in the context of ecological functionality in the age of climate change.

Program Schedule

8:00am – Registration and refreshments

8:30am – Welcome

8:45-10:00am Eva Monheim, Assisted Plant Migration Helps to Expand Our Native Plant Palette for Climate Change: How can we help plant species to move northward as temperatures rise? The disruption of our highways and other man-made structures inhibits plant movement including buildings and heavily paved surfaces. In this talk, we look at the role humans play in helping to move plants as well as helping animals to move more freely to aid in seed dispersal.

10:15-11:30am Kelly Gutshall, Restoring Historical Riparian Wetlands for Climate Resiliency: The impact of our agricultural heritage on the landscape is well documented. If you look closely; however, our seemingly pristine streams and woodlands are filled with clues of the dramatic alterations that resulted from massive deforestation and our water powered industrial past. A proliferation of abandoned mill dams, buried corduroy roads, conveniently relocated tributaries, and thick layers of fine laminated sediment all provide hints of how dramatically we have altered our stream valleys over the past 200 years. Restoring these stream and floodplain systems and exposing the buried remnants of the once vibrant, riparian wetland complexes, is resulting in projects with significant water quality, flood reduction and bio-diversity benefits …… the building blocks of climate resiliency.

11:30am-1:00pm Lunch

1:00-2:15pm Adam Welz, The End of Eden: Wild Nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown: Climate change is transforming ecosystems everywhere. Some species are being forced into extinction, others being forced to move, some becoming rare, others becoming more common. The traditional aims of nature conservation are rapidly becoming impossible to achieve; the field needs to be re-thought and its goals redefined. Landscapers, horticulturists and gardeners can help ensure a future for nature, but they must be part of this redefinition of theory and practice. Using examples from around the world (including from South Africa and the U.S.) Adam Welz will explore some of the problems with “pseudigenous gardening” and the native-plant horticulture industry, ecological traps in landscape architecture, and make a case for the open-sourcing of species conservation in a wide range of contexts including formal botanic gardens, urban spaces, and even inside private homes.

2:30-3:45pm Kesha Braunskill, Investing in Green Infrastructure: Advancing Climate Resilience and Equity through Urban Forestry: This presentation will explore the significant opportunities provided by the recent funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, allocated to the Urban and Community Forestry Program of the U.S. Forest Service. This historic investment is aimed at enhancing green infrastructure in underserved communities across the nation.

Speaker Biographies

Kesha Braunskill serves as an Urban and Community Forestry Specialist with the USDA Forest Service. In her role, Kesha works closely with grant recipients in the mid-Atlantic states with community forestry related projects. Prior to working for the USFS, Kesha served as the State Program Coordinator for the Delaware Forest Services’ Urban and Community Forestry program. Kesha’s professional background includes ecology, wildlife, and academia. Kesha continues to stay active outside of work as a beadwork artist and an advocate of black and indigenous   history, culture, and environment.

Kelly Gutshall, RLA, ASLA is president of LandStudies, Inc., an ecological restoration design/build firm providing design, engineering, construction, and maintenance services throughout the mid-Atlantic region.  Kelly and her team of 45 professionals including Landscape Architects, Engineers, Scientists and Restoration Ecologists, have pioneered solutions that utilize floodplain restoration and functional natural landscapes to solve some of the most pressing water resource and bio-diversity issues of our time.  She particularly enjoys working collaboratively with community leaders at the local and state levels to help change perceptions about the landscape from purely aesthetic, to one of working, functional environments.   Among other awards, in 2019, she was recognized by PennFuture with a Lifetime Achievement in Conservation for her contributions to the environment, community, water quality, land protection and conservation.

Eva Monheim is a speaker and an award-winning educator. She is a faculty member at Longwood Gardens for the Professional Horticulture Program and Continuing Education Department. She was an assistant professor at Temple University where she taught numerous subjects to undergraduate and graduate students in horticulture and landscape architecture. Monheim’s other endeavors in the green industry are the award-winning The Plant a Trillion Trees Podcast which is heard in over 110 countries. She is the author of Shrubs & Hedges: Discover, Grow, and Care for the World’s Most Popular Plants, which was nominated by The Council on Botanical & Horticultural Libraries for outstanding contributions to the literature of horticulture.  Monheim is co-principal of Verdant Earth Educators, LLC (VEE) a company that writes educational documents and standards, SOPs, landscape management plans, and trains professionals in the green industry.

Adam Welz is a South African writer, nature conservation consultant, photographer and filmmaker. He’s the author of The End of Eden: Wild Nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown (Bloomsbury 2023), a groundbreaking book that explores the impacts of climate change on wild species and natural ecosystems. Welz was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, and has lived, worked and travelled on six continents, including extended periods in the United States. He consults on conservation projects and is an experienced birder and keen all-round naturalist. His writing focuses on wildlife, nature conservation and climate change, and has appeared in numerous publications worldwide including The Guardian, The Atlantic and Yale Environment 360.  He’s directed, shot, researched and scripted a number of movies (mostly documentaries) and is seldom far from a stills camera or two. He lives in Cape Town with his wife, Sarah, and their rambunctious triplet daughters.

Member pricing is available for current ELA members. To check your membership status and find your Subscription (Member) number, visit your member profile.

Registration for this event is through Eventbrite and includes breakfast and lunch. Virtual registration is for virtual participation only and does not include admission to Delaware Center for Horticulture or meals.

Are you interested in sponsoring the Regenerative Solutions for Resilient Landscapes Conference? All sponsorships include complimentary registrations to attend. Those registrations can be either virtual or in-person. Sponsor logos will be displayed on the event webpage, included in communications to attendees, social media posts, and displayed throughout the day during breaks between sessions.

The sponsorship levels outlined below can be purchased through the registration page

• Conservation Sponsor (nonprofit): $250 | One complimentary registration
• Bronze Sponsor: $750 | Exhibitor table and two complimentary registrations
• Silver Sponsor: $1,500 | Exhibitor table and two complimentary registrations, company logo on event signage, and one banner ad in an upcoming ELA Bulletin
• Gold Sponsor: $2,500 | All Silver benefits, plus a one year company level membership, company logo displayed on podium, and an opportunity to address the audience during the event