The National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration (NCER) will take place April 14-19, 2024 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
I (Storm Cunningham) can attest to the fact that this is an excellent conference, well worth attending. I keynoted the conference back in 2007 when it was in Kansas City, Missouri. My keynote was sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
NCER features four days of presentations dedicated to both small and large scale ecosystem restoration.
The conference opens Monday with a full day of talks focused on the region in which we are meeting – the desert southwest – where communities and ecosystems are on the front lines of climate change and drought. During the summer of 2022, the Rio Grande dried in Albuquerque for the first time in 40 years, while New Mexico’s largest wildfire in recorded history raged in the Santa Fe National Forest.
In the neighboring Colorado River Basin, drought and climate change have sparked emergency water management negotiations while the largest reservoir in the United States is at its lowest level since 1937.
In the face of these challenges, innovative partnerships have emerged to address dire threats, conserve, and restore ecosystems, and more effectively allocate water for fish, wildlife, and people. Where better for the ecosystem restoration community to gather, learn from each other, and advance restoration in the face of unprecedented change?
Concurrent sessions on Tuesday through Thursday feature technical talks on large-scale and small-scale restoration in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems from across the country. Sessions are designed to provoke new ideas by engaging audience participants and facilitating interdisciplinary dialogue among experts, furthering our understanding of restoration challenges, lessons-learned, and future opportunities.
Attendees will have a chance to make new connections, establish collaborations, discover potential new approaches, and gain valuable experience — just a few of the many benefits of participating in NCER!
The Albuquerque area also boasts a variety of opportunities for field trip visits, and our downtown location boasts numerous places to gather and enjoy the nightlife along Route 66 – so plan to have some fun while you’re there.
NCER recognizes and acknowledges that NCER 2024 will be happening on the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Pueblo, Diné (Navajo), Apache, and other displaced Indigenous Peoples. Please take a moment to read our Full Land Acknowledgment.
Albuquerque balloon festival photo via Pixabay.