VNPS Annual Workshop 2026 (via Zoom)

Date/Time
Wednesday, March 18 to Wednesday, March 25
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Categories

• Video Conferences
• Workshops

Enjoy two evening workshops, Wednesdays, 18 March and 25 March 2026, via Zoom starting at 6:30 PM for meet and greet. Sessions start at 7 PM and 8 PM both evenings.

View video recordings of both sessions.

Wednesday, 18 March 2026

6:30 PM
Zoom Meet & Greet

6:50 PM
Welcome and Introduction
Nancy Vehrs, VNPS President
Maeve Coker, VNPS Education Chair

7:00 PM

Eelgrass Restoration in Virginia’s Coastal Bays: An Ongoing Success Story

Bo Lusk, The Nature Conservancy

We’ll discuss the natural history of native eelgrass on the Eastern Shore’s Atlantic coastal bays. I’ll talk about why seagrasses like eelgrass are important, how we lost our eelgrass, how we are bringing it back, and what benefits we are experiencing as a result of that restoration.

Bo Lusk grew up playing and working in the waters of the Eastern Shore. He leads the Volgenau Virginia Coast Reserve’s marine restoration work, including ongoing projects to restore oyster and eelgrass habitats, as well as working with partners to re-introduce the bay scallop to Virginia waters.

8:00 PM

Wetlands and Virginia’s Regulatory Landscape: Why Delineation and Permitting Matter

Eli Wright, W3 Environmental Solutions

Wetlands are among Virginia’s most ecologically valuable landscapes, yet many people are unfamiliar with how they are formally identified and regulated. This presentation will provide an overview of how wetlands are delineated in the field, how state and federal regulatory frameworks apply, and why permitting plays an important role in balancing conservation and development. Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of the science behind wetland determinations, the legal structure that governs impacts, and how regulatory processes influence real-world land use decisions across the Commonwealth.

Eli Wright, PWS, PWD, VSWD, is the Founder and President of W3 Environmental Solutions, a Virginia-based natural resources consulting firm focused on wetlands, waters, and regulatory compliance. He is a certified Professional Wetland Scientist and Virginia Certified Professional Wetland Delineator with over a decade of experience in environmental consulting and research across the Mid-Atlantic. Eli works with public and private clients to navigate Clean Water Act permitting, wetland delineations, rare plant surveys, and related environmental reviews. He also serves on the Board of the Flora of Virginia Project, is actively involved with the Virginia Association of Wetland Professionals (VAWP), and is approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Virginia Field Office to conduct surveys for all listed vascular plant species in Virginia.

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Wednesday, 25 March 2026

6:30 PM
Zoom Meet & Greet

6:50 PM
Welcome and Introduction
Nancy Vehrs, VNPS President
Maeve Coker, VNPS Education Chair

7:00 PM

Life in the SWMP: A restoration journey through Virginia’s streams and wetlands.

Kelly Ridenhour and Grayson Harlow, The Nature Conservancy

TNC Virginia’s Stream and Wetland Mitigation Program (SWMP) has been working for 30 years to restore and preserve stream and wetland communities across Virginia through strategic large-scale conservation. To date, the program has protected and restored more than 20,000 acres—nearly half of which is public land—and prevented many tons of sediment from entering Virginia’s waterways. This talk will bring you through some of Virginia’s most important stream and wetland communities and highlight how TNC establishes healthy, functioning systems from highly degraded ones.

Kelly Ridenhour is a land protection specialist at TNC Virginia and is a licensed professional landscape architect and conservation ecologist. Kelly has previous experience as Conservation Designer at Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects for conservation agriculture projects and ecological parks around the country. As a former Associate Director at Trees Atlanta, she managed the native landscape of the world’s largest linear arboretum and created the City Forest Certification Program to grow and connect a network of urban forests (big and small). Kelly pulls from these interdisciplinary experiences to help find, plan, and implement stream and wetland restoration and preservation projects across the state.

Grayson Harlow is a restoration ecologist at TNC Virginia who is responsible for ecological monitoring of mitigation sites across the state. He has previously worked as a park naturalist, market gardener, piping plover monitor, and ecological technician. The varied nature of his interests and experience gives him a unique perspective on the dynamic and complex nature of ecology. His work with TNC involves working in a diverse array of ecosystems to monitor the success of wetland and stream mitigation sites.

8:00 PM

Tidal Freshwater Wetlands in Virginia: Habitat, Trends, and Conservation

Doug DeBerry, The College of William & Mary

Doug DeBerry is a Research Assistant Professor of Environment & Sustainability at William & Mary. He teaches courses in restoration ecology, applied ecological methods, and contemporary issues in environmental science, and he conducts research on ecosystem dynamics in restoration, biological invasion, ecological integrity, and floristics/conservation. He is also a Senior Environmental Scientist and Associate at VHB where he works on projects in similar disciplines.