PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

Tuesday, Sept 15th

 

  8:00-9:00am   coffee/pastries/snacks
  9:00-11:00am   Welcome, Keynote Speakers, Conference    Overview
  9:00am   Welcome – David Gressly & Kim Schonek
  9:15am

  Yavapai-Apache Nation Blessing,
  Vice Chairperson,  Charlie Baca IV
  9:20am   Chairperson, Buddy Rocha, Jr. Welcoming
  9:40am   Camp Verde Mayor- Marie Moore
  10:00am   Keynote – Craig Childs
  10:45am   Conference Overview (David)

11:00-12:00pm Lunch

Tuesday Afternoon Session 12:00-4:30pm

  12:00-1:30pm   Watershed as Witness:
The Verde’s Natural and Human History
  1:30-2:40pm

  Yavapai Land and Culture Collective

Thomasene Cardona, Graduate Student NAU / Founder of the YLCC, former councilmember, YAN Tribal Citizen

Dr. Emanuel Preciado, Assistant Teaching Professor, NAU /Yavapai Land and Culture Collective

Dr. Maurice Crandall, Associate Professor, ASU /Yavapai Land and Culture Collective

Tia Hatton, Graduate Student, NAU / Yavapai Land and Culture Collective

2:40-3:00pm Break

  3:00-4:30pm   Shared Water, Shared Responsibility:
  Policy Solutions for Growth and Drought
  Resilience in the Verde

4:30pm Adjourn/Socializing

5:30pm Dinner/Social @ DA Ranch

Wednesday, Sept 16th

8:00-9:00am Breakfast

Morning Breakout Sessions 9:00-10:20am

Breakout Room A

Community Vitality (Housing, education, healthcare)

 9:00am

 Boots on the Ground: Community
 Engagement, Workforce
 Development, and Land Stewardship
 along the Verde

Dorothy Settles, 
Arizona Conservation Corps 
 9:20am

 From Tiny Camp to Gather: lessons in
 building River Friendly Communities

Darin Dinsmore, 
Tiny Camp 
 9:40am

 Water Conservation in the Verde
 Valley: Community Partnerships and
 Small Business Education

Lisa Page, 
Local First 
 10:00am  Panel Discussion

Breakout Room B

Upland Habitat

 9:00am

 Low-Tech Process Based Restoration
 in The Pine Creek-Stringtown Wash
 Watershed: The Good and The Bad

Chad Yocum, 
Prescott National Forest, US Forest Service
 9:20am

 Pronghorn Connectivity in North
 Central Arizona: Challenges and
 Potential Solutions

Jeff Gagnon, 
Arizona Game and Fish Department 
 9:40am

 The 3 W’s in shaping ecological
 resilience within the Verde
 River Watershed

Katie Vold, 
National Forest Foundation 
 10:00am  Panel Discussion

10:20-10:40am Break

Mid-Morning Breakout Sessions 10:40-12:00pm

Breakout Room A

Community Engagement and Education

 10:40am

 Ripple Effect: A public-private
 partnership success story

Kalli Naylor and Sarah Estrada, 
Arizona Water Company / City of Sedona 
 11:00am

 Meeting Kids Where They Are in
 Watershed Education: The New
 Outdoor Education and Conservation
 Program at Mingus Union High School

Jared Biciolis, 
Mingus Union High School 
 11:20am

 Strengthening Sustainability Through
 Educator Collaboration: A Working
 Model Connecting Teachers and FVR
 Watershed Experts

Laurie Altringer, 
Science Vortex 
 11:40am  Panel Discussion

Breakout Room B

Recreation

 10:40am

 Benefits of Del Rio land acquisition to
 a community

Heather Reading and Jody Norris, Land Advisors Organization/The Nature Conservancy
 11:00am

 Managing Trails in a High‑Use
 Landscape: Adaptive Strategies from
 the Red Rock Ranger District

Phillip Waldrod, 
Coconino National Forest, US Forest Service
 11:20am

 Encroachment of an understudied
 subspecies of Phragmites australis
 (common reed) on the Lower Verde

James Holderer, 
Elder Botany & Ecological 
 11:40am  Panel Discussion

12:00-1:00pm Lunch + Presentation

“State of the Headwaters of the Verde and its Tributaries”

Afternoon Breakout Sessions 1:00-2:20pm

Breakout Room A

Water Quality

1:00pm

 The Volunteer Dance: How We
  Connect, Collaborate &
  Protect Arizona

Meghan Smart and Audrey Ridge,
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
1:20pm

 Developing a Real-time Public
 Advisory System using Predictive
 Modeling of E. coli in Oak Creek:
 Linking Turbidity, Streamflow,
 Seasonal, and Visitor Dynamics

Ron Tiller and Nick Paretti,  
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality/ United States Geological Survey
1:40pm

 Arizona’s Groundwater Quality
 Monitoring Program (GQMP)

Dalton Zingali,  
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
2:00pm  Panel Discussion

Breakout Room B

Aquatic Systems

 1:00pm

 Native Sucker Populations in the
 Lower Verde River

Regan Doss,  
University of Arizona  
 1:20pm

 Native Fish, Changing Waters: The
 Upper Verde River’s Aquatic Habitats
 and Our Role in Restoration

Shaula Hedwall,  
US Fish and Wildlife Service  
 1:40pm

  Springsnails: our tiny, but
  remarkable neighbors

Jeff Sorenson,  
Arizona Game and Fish Department  
 2:00pm  Panel Discussion

2:20-2:40pm Break

Late Afternoon Breakout Sessions 2:40-4:00pm

Breakout Room A

Water Quantity

 2:40pm

 ADWR Data Collection – Groundwater
 Conditions within the Verde
 River Watershed

Scott Stuk, 
ADWR 
 3:00pm

 Clarkdale’s efforts to reduce
 groundwater demand and
 increase recharge

Virginia Smith, 
Town of Clarkdale 
 3:20pm

 Modeling Collaboration – Updates on
 the Yavapai-Apache Nation and TNC
 Integrated Hydrologic Model

Susan Montgomery, 
Montgomery & Interpreter, PLC 
 3:40pm  Panel Discussion

Breakout Room B

Riparian Habitat

 2:40pm

 Snake Trained: The Scientific Value of
 Verde River Watershed Biomonitoring

Erika Nowak, 
Northern Arizona University 
 3:00pm

 40 Years of Riparian Health and
 Change in the Lower Verde River Basin

Kelly Mott Lacroix, 
Tonto National Forest 
 3:20pm

 Collaborations and Considerations for
 Riparian Invasive Plant Management
 Along the Verde

Emily Dewing and Elaine Nichols, Friends of the Verde River
 3:40pm  Panel Discussion

4:00-4:30pm Break & Networking

4:30-5:00pm Conference Wrap-Up

5:30pm Informal social at Verde Brewing Company

Thursday, Sept 17th

Check Out our Field Trips Here