Vernal Pool Conservation Workshop

About

Are you a naturalist or professional working on vernal pool conservation? Join us for this workshop exploring the ecology and conservation of vernal pools in the region, featuring experts doing work from Pennsylvania to Virginia. Learn what people in the region are doing to protect and restore these fragile ephemeral wetlands. This one-day workshop will bring together land managers, naturalists, herpetologists, agency staff, and conservation practitioners to share knowledge about vernal pool conservation. The workshop will include the following topics: vernal pool conservation, restoration techniques, inventories & monitoring, and community science. The presentations will emphasize conservation efforts across the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and DC. The speakers will include experts from government agencies, academia, non-profit organizations and private companies. Event is FREE but registration is required. Please register to secure your spot at the workshop! Schedule Download Speaker Bios Mark Southerland, Vernal Pool Partners (Maryland) Mark Southerland has a Ph.D. in ecology and has spent the last 35 years working as a consultant to monitor, assess, and restore ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. He was the primary author of the EPA national program guidance on biological criteria and has been supporting healthy watersheds and stream health projects for EPA and CBP for the last 10 years. He has also been the lead consultant on the Maryland Biological Stream Survey for the Maryland DNR since its inception in 1993. Mark has chaired the Maryland Water Monitoring Council (MWMC), Patapsco Heritage Greenway (PHG), and Howard County Environmental Sustainability Boards and received the MWMC Carl Weber Life Achievement Award in 2024. He is also the author of successful legislation to allow environmental landscaping, require bird safe buildings at state and local levels, and inventory vernal pools statewide. Mimi Sanford, State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) Coordinator, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Mimi Sanford serves as the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) coordinator in the Natural Heritage Program at the Department of Natural Resources. She has a masters degree in community planning from the University of Maryland and has previously worked in the fields of urban planning, community engagement, and environmental justice. Though not a trained scientist herself, Mimi has enjoyed learning about wildlife conservation on the job and applying skills from previous jobs to the coordination of Maryland’s SWAP. Gwen Brewer, Science Program Manager, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Dr. Gwen Brewer is the Science Program Manager for the Natural Heritage Program in the Wildlife and Heritage Service, Maryland Department of Natural Resources. In this capacity, she supervises statewide staff carrying out monitoring, research, habitat restoration, and conservation planning for rare species, rare plant communities, and nongame animals. She holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Ecology from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Zoology from Michigan State University. Before coming to the DNR, Gwen was a professor at Frostburg State University. Diana Devers, Director of Environmental Programs and Engagement, Patapsco Heritage Greenway Diana Devers is a born and raised Marylander, who developed a love for the natural world through a childhood filled with time in Girl Scouts, Carroll County Outdoor School, and family camping trips. She completed both a Bachelors in Biology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and M.S. in Environmental Science from University of Maryland, College Park. While her love of nature started in Maryland, she also taught environmental education and performed research on a variety of environmental topics in Florida, Oregon, Australia, New Zealand, and Belize. Diana then continued her education by becoming a Maryland Master Naturalist and a certified Save our Streams monitor. As the Environmental Program Manager at PHG and now the Director of Environmental Programs; Engagement, Diana works to inspire all ages to fall in love with the Patapsco Valley, and give them the tools they need to protect it. Emily Benoit, Ecologist, Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (Virginia) Emily Benoit is an ecologist with Fairfax County’s Watershed Assessment Branch, where she conducts biological monitoring and ecological assessments to support watershed management and natural resource conservation. Before joining Fairfax County, she worked as a biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, conducting habitat assessments of ephemeral wetlands to support conservation of the federally endangered reticulated flatwoods salamander and frosted flatwoods salamander. David Neely, Biologist, Tetra Tech, Inc. Dave Neely has a Ph.D.