Conference Schedule
The following schedule of events for the 2024 Northeastern Transportation & Wildlife Conference is subject to change (as of 4/25/2024). Please check back for updates.
Sunday, September 8, 2024 | ||||||
12:00pm - 6:00pm | Registration Open | |||||
12:00pm - 6:00pm | Exhibitor and Poster Set-up | |||||
2:00pm - 4:30pm | Botany Walk (sign-up during registration) | |||||
6:00pm - 7:00pm | Welcome Cocktail Hour with Exhibitors | |||||
Evening | Dinner On Own | |||||
Monday, September 9, 2024 | ||||||
7:00am - 5:00pm | Registration Open | |||||
7:30am - 8:30am | Breakfast | |||||
7:30am - 3:30pm | Exhibits & Posters Open | |||||
8:30am - 10:15am | Welcome & Keynote Remarks Beth Pratt, The Wildlife Federation |
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10:15am - 10:30am | Coffee Break with Exhibitors | |||||
10:30am - 11:30am | Concurrent Sessions
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11:30am - 1:00pm | Lunch & 2024 NETWC Achievement Award Presentation | |||||
1:00pm - 2:20pm | Concurrent Sessions
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2:20pm - 2:30pm | Coffee Break with Exhibitors | |||||
2:30pm - 4:00pm | Concurrent Sessions
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4:00pm - 5:15pm | Poster Reception | |||||
6:00pm - 9:00pm | Dinner | |||||
Tuesday, September 10, 2024 | ||||||
7:30am - 12:00pm | Registration Open | |||||
7:30am - 8:30am | Breakfast | |||||
7:30am - 12:00pm | Exhibits & Posters Open | |||||
8:30am - 9:00am | Field Trip Morning Check-in | |||||
9:00am - 10:30am | Concurrent Sessions
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10:20am - 10:40am | Coffee Break with Exhibitors | |||||
10:40am - 12:00pm | Concurrent Sessions
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12:00pm - 12:30pm | Grab and Go Lunch | Board Buses | |||||
12:30pm - 5:30pm | Field Trip | |||||
Evening | Dinner On Own | |||||
Wednesday, September 11, 2024 | ||||||
8:00am - 12:00pm | Registration Open | |||||
8:00am - 9:00am | Breakfast | |||||
8:00am - 11:30am | Exhibits & Posters Open | |||||
9:00am - 10:20am | Concurrent Sessions
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10:20am - 10:30am | Coffee Break with Exhibitors | |||||
10:30am - 12:00pm | State of the State Address | |||||
12:00pm - 12:30pm | Wrap Up Plenary |
Keynote Speaker
Beth Pratt, National Wildlife Federation
A lifelong advocate for wildlife, Beth Pratt has worked in environmental leadership roles for over thirty years, and in two of the country’s largest national parks: Yosemite and Yellowstone. As the California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, Pratt leads the #SaveLACougars campaign to build the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which broke ground on Earth Day in 2022. The largest wildlife crossing of its kind in the world, it will help save a population of mountain lions from extinction. Her innovative conservation work has been featured by The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC World Service, CNN, CBS This Morning, the Los Angeles Times, Men’s Journal, The Guardian, NPR, AP News, and more.
Her books include When Mountain Lions are Neighbors, published by Heyday in 2024, and I Heart Wildlife: A Guided Activity Journal for Connecting With the Wild World, by Di Angelo Publications in 2020. Her new book, Yosemite Wildlife: The Wonder of Animal Life in California’s Sierra Nevada, will be published by the Yosemite Conservancy in 2025. Beth has also given a TEDx talk about coexisting with wildlife called, “How a Lonely Cougar in Los Angeles Inspired the World,” is featured in the documentary, “The Cat that Changed America,” on CNN’s Heroes in Conservation series, and the new reboot of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.
Beth obtained a BS/BA from the University of Massachusetts, an MBA from Regis University, earned the LEED AP credential, and trained with Vice President Al Gore as part of his Climate Reality Leadership Corps. In 2007, she traveled to Japan as part of a month-long Rotary International Professional Exchange to study business and national park operations. Beth also served as a founding board member and the board chair for the nonprofit Outdoor Afro for eight years. The Western Section of the Wildlife Society named her “Conservationist of the Year” in 2023, and in 2024, she received the Alan Rabinowitz Conservation award from the Explorers Club.
Beth spends much of her time in Los Angeles, but makes her home outside of Yosemite, “my north star,” with her six dogs, two cats, and the mountain lions, bears, foxes, frogs, and other wildlife that frequent her backyard. More information at www.bethpratt.com or www.101wildlifecrossing.org.
Her books include When Mountain Lions are Neighbors, published by Heyday in 2024, and I Heart Wildlife: A Guided Activity Journal for Connecting With the Wild World, by Di Angelo Publications in 2020. Her new book, Yosemite Wildlife: The Wonder of Animal Life in California’s Sierra Nevada, will be published by the Yosemite Conservancy in 2025. Beth has also given a TEDx talk about coexisting with wildlife called, “How a Lonely Cougar in Los Angeles Inspired the World,” is featured in the documentary, “The Cat that Changed America,” on CNN’s Heroes in Conservation series, and the new reboot of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.
Beth obtained a BS/BA from the University of Massachusetts, an MBA from Regis University, earned the LEED AP credential, and trained with Vice President Al Gore as part of his Climate Reality Leadership Corps. In 2007, she traveled to Japan as part of a month-long Rotary International Professional Exchange to study business and national park operations. Beth also served as a founding board member and the board chair for the nonprofit Outdoor Afro for eight years. The Western Section of the Wildlife Society named her “Conservationist of the Year” in 2023, and in 2024, she received the Alan Rabinowitz Conservation award from the Explorers Club.
Beth spends much of her time in Los Angeles, but makes her home outside of Yosemite, “my north star,” with her six dogs, two cats, and the mountain lions, bears, foxes, frogs, and other wildlife that frequent her backyard. More information at www.bethpratt.com or www.101wildlifecrossing.org.
Sunday Botany Walk
2:00pm - 4:30pm, Sunday, 9/8
An informal nature walk will take place Sunday afternoon for those arriving to Mystic earlier in the day. We will meet in the hotel parking lot (exact time TBD) and carpool to nearby Bluff Point State Park. Bluff Point is a mix of coastal woodlands, beach and dune grasslands, coastal bluffs, tidal wetlands and mud flats. The park was designated a Coastal Reserve by the State legislature in 1975 and more recently has been included in the Connecticut National Estuarine Research Reserve as part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS), a NOAA partnership. Early September on the shoreline brings avian migration, monarch migration, seaside goldenrod in full bloom and the first hints of fall in changing leaves. Join us for a walk as we share our knowledge and love of birding, botanizing, and wave watching. Bring binocs if you have them, water and sturdy shoes to explore this 800-acre peninsula. The loop path is approximately 3.5 mi., generally level and gravel, but there are cut-offs or backtracking to provide a shorter walk for those who may enjoy something shorter. Bluff Point State Park is located approximately 2 miles from the Mystic Marriot Hotel.
Tuesday Field Trip
12:30pm - 5:30pm, Tuesday, 9/10
The 2024 NETWC Field Trip circuit will take in stops at coastal and inland sites. Projects presented include different mitigation strategies, unique approaches, partnerships and a little bit of history in the Connecticut River Valley. The stops will focus on different modes of transportation and representatives will be stationed at each location to discuss site constraints, mitigation goals, interesting design details and facilitate discussions among the groups. We will start at a tidal wetland and listed plant mitigation site that enabled safety improvements at Groton-New London Airport. Buses will then head off on routes that will stop to observe an area of drowned tidal marsh which is the subject of current and future a thin layer deposition projects to restore marsh elevations and vegetations; participants will get to take a ride on the county’s oldest operating river ferry system to look for eagles and take in the sites and sounds of the lower Connecticut River; make a stop at one of the oldest and longest remaining swing span bridges in the country where we will share an interesting osprey nesting; and a stop to view a unique off-site fisheries mitigation project that benefits not only the species of interest but also State sport fishing and is a great example of State agencies working together.