2024 Annual Conference: Waterways for Indiana Wildlife-registration closes Friday, January 26

Saturday, February 3, 2024
Drury Plaza Hotel Indianapolis, Carmel
9625 North Meridian St
Indianapolis, IN 46290

Join IWF and other wildlife lovers to learn about how waterways throughout our state are benefiting wildlife. From the Ohio River to the South, all the way to the Kankakee River in the North, Indiana has an abundance of waterways where wildlife can thrive. Unfortunately many of these waterways are seriously impaired. Learn what IWF and our partners are doing to improve water quality throughout the state to benefit humans and wildlife alike. In person attendees will receive a catered lunch as well as a happy hour following the conference where they will have the opportunity to sample Copi (invasive Asian Carp) and chat with speakers and fellow attendees. As always there will be a silent auction where registrants can bid on a variety of items and experiences, all to help advance common sense conservation in Indiana.

Registration for our Annual Conference has closed.

AGENDA: (times may adjust slightly)

8:30 Check-in begins, coffee + light breakfast items
9:00 Rick Cockrum, IWF Board President
Welcome + housekeeping
9:15 Jordan Lubetkin, National Wildlife Federation
Seizing the Day for Ohio River Restoration and Protection
10:00 Bob Barr, Research Scientist at Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences, IUPUI
What is required to achieve and maintain healthy stream systems in a continually changing landscape
10:45 Break, Silent Auction, Exhibitors
11:05 Panel discussion
Jill Hoffman – White River Alliance
Scott Pelath – Kankakee River Commission
Missi Sawtelle – Blue River Commission
12:00 Buffet lunch
1:15 IWF’s Distinguished Wildlife Supporter Award
Senator Sue Glick, Assistant President Pro Tempore, District 13
Representative Mike Aylesworth, District 11
1:30 Dan Boritt, Executive Director
IWF update, IWF Annual Members Meeting
1:45 Elizabeth Mabee, Ph.D., Department of Natural Resources
Managing our water on loan: what the State Wildlife Action Plan can do to help
2:30 Break, Silent Auction, Exhibitors
3:00 Nick Burgmeier, Research Biologist & Extension Wildlife Specialist, Purdue University, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
Facilitating Eastern Hellbender Recovery in Indiana
3:45 John Goss
Keeping Invasive Carp Out of the Great Lakes and Managing Invasive Copi for the Future
4:00 Closing comments, Reception, cash bar/Copi appetizers

Waterways for Indiana Wildlife Speakers

Keynote

Jordan Lubetkin

National Wildlife Federation, Director, Ohio River Restoration

Jordan Lubetkin oversees the National Wildlife Federation’s efforts to restore and protect the waters of the 14-state Ohio River Basin. He also serves as communications director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. Prior to joining NWF, Jordan served as a reporter and editor at community newspapers around the country. He oversaw marketing and development efforts at the Toledo Jazz Society and gained media for the non-partisan Americans Discuss Social Security, based in Washington, D.C. Jordan earned a degree in English from Case Western Reserve University.

Robert C. Barr

Research Scientist, Center for Earth and Environmental Science, Department of Earth Sciences, Indiana University-Indianapolis

Robert Barr is a research scientist (fluvial geomorphology and hydrology) at the Center for Earth and Environmental Science at Indiana University - Indianapolis. His primary research focus is on understanding the physical processes necessary to achieve, maintain, and preserve healthy stream systems in a changing climate. Current projects include the Indiana Fluvial Erosion Hazard Mitigation Program, the School Branch National Water Quality Initiative, and the Indiana Stream Quantification Tool. Bob has also served as a consulting hydrologist and fluvial geomorphologist for over 16 years.

Jill Hoffman

Executive Director - White River Alliance

Jill Hoffmann is the Executive Director of the White River Alliance – a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization based in Indianapolis focused on protecting and improving the White River and its 16-county watershed. She has a Master’s in Environmental Science and a Master’s in Public Affairs from Indiana University, as well as a BS in Biology from the University of Wisconsin. Jill has split her career between public government service, private consulting, and non-profit management - giving her a wide range of experience on water quality issues. Her recent work on behalf of the White River Alliance is gaining national recognition as a model for watershed partnerships and programs.

Elizabeth Mabee

Conservation Partnership Coordinator: Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Elizabeth Mabee is the Conservation Partnership Coordinator for the Indiana DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife. She holds both a B.S. in Environmental Science and a Ph.D. in Plant Community Ecology from Indiana University. She has previously worked as the Grassland Botanist for the Missouri Department of Conservation and as a post-doctoral fellow with Chicago Parks District. In her current role, she oversees the Indiana State Wildlife Action Plan, finding and fostering connections between communities that share common values around conservation. While she loved her time spent alone with plants on prairies, her work is now motivated by connecting people and nature.

Nick Burgmeier

Research Biologist and Wildlife Extension Specialist, Purdue University

Nick Burgmeier's current work focuses on two separate facets of Eastern Hellbender conservation: 1) species repatriation and 2) outreach and education. In Indiana, the Eastern Hellbender population has been reduced to only the Blue River. Several Ohio River tributaries seem to possess suitable Hellbender habitat and by evaluating the environmental conditions in these tributaries we hope to determine if the habitat, water quality, and food base would be suitable for Hellbender repatriation. Expanding hellbender populations to additional suitable habitat will ensure Indiana’s hellbenders are protected from stochastic events and will help restore these river systems to a more functional state.

John Goss

John Goss is currently a Board Member of IWF and is also a member of the National Wildlife Federation Board representing Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. John served as the Director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources from 2000-2004 and was appointed by Governor O’Bannon. He joined the IWF Board in 2005, and then became the Executive Director of IWF 2006-2010. In 2010, John was selected as the Asian Carp Control Project Director, reporting to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. John led the Great Lakes coordinated efforts of the EPA, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Geological Survey, Corps of Engineers and all 8 Great Lakes States Natural Resources Departments to stop the spread of invasive Asian carp, now known as COPI. In 2018, John retired and now volunteers on several conservation organization boards including the Indiana Parks Alliance, and the Little River Wetlands Project.