Photo courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Program

2023 Chesapeake Watershed Forum

Join us for our annual Watershed Forum November 3-5, 2023!

The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s 18th Annual Chesapeake Watershed Forum, held at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV, is a watershed-wide event reaching over 400 restoration and protection practitioners to inspire and empower local action towards clean water. We share successful tools and techniques, offer lessons and learnings from on-the-ground work, build capacities of local organizations, foster partnerships, educate on new initiatives and emerging practices, network with others, and celebrate our successes.

Our theme for 2023 is “Private Investment in Sustainable Partnerships to Achieve Clean Water Goals”

Consumer demand and preference help drive private sector priorities and investments. An increasing number of consumers seek to lead an ethical and sustainable lifestyle reflected in the products they consume and economies they support. As a result, an increasing number of partnerships between the private and the non-profit, governmental, academic, and other sectors have formed to respond to consumer demands around sustainability, conservation, and local community investment. In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, we see these partnerships act by adopting and promoting clean water and climate-resilient best practices, greening supply chains, investing in green economies in marginalized communities, reducing carbon footprints, and more.

This year’s Forum will highlight examples of successful, sustainable, and equitable examples of such partnerships. We are particularly interested in partnerships where there is investment of corporate resources, private dollars, and/or impactful business policy changes. We are further interested in how these partnerships reckon with and address historic injustices and are proactively working with under-resourced stakeholders.

We will showcase pathways for accessing new or existing partnerships of different sizes and scales, from landscape-scale restoration efforts with international corporations to local, community-based systems and endeavors. Additionally, we will feature innovative solutions and new scientific approaches that drive these partnership efforts towards achieving ambitious sustainability goals.

The Alliance is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in all partnerships and recognizes that systems have historically left out underrepresented communities. Therefore, we will emphasize partnerships that prioritize equity and justice in their decision-making processes and showcase examples of partnerships that are committed to creating equitable and sustainable solutions for all.

In-Person Registration

Unless otherwise communicated to you by an Alliance staff member, in-person registration is sold out. Virtual registration will be made available at a later date.  Updated at 1:30 PM on 08.28.23.

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Scholarships

The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay offers a limited number of scholarships for the 2023 Chesapeake Watershed Forum registration. 

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Sponsor the Forum

Drawing in over 400 professionals, a Forum sponsorship places your brand or organization front and center as an action-oriented advocate for clean water and resilient lands in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Your sponsorship directly supports the convening of this important watershed-wide event.

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Poster Session

The goal of the poster session is to provide the opportunity for individual presenters to share their work and/or research findings in a visual format with conference attendees. This is a juried event, with awards for the best poster in the new professional and professional categories.

Submission Guidelines

Important dates

  • April 10: Session Request for Proposals Opens
  • June 11: Session Request for Proposals Closes
  • July 24: Sessions selected and speakers contacted
  • August 1: Poster Session Request for Proposals Opens
  • August 2: Final confirmation by all speakers and session descriptions, titles, and bios from speakers.
  • August 21: Registration and Scholarship Application Opens
  • September 11: Scholarship Applications Due
  • September 18: Scholarship recipients announced.
  • September 22: Registration Closes
  • September 27: Speaker webinar
  • September 29: Poster Session Request for Proposals Closes
  • October 16 – 27: Speaker run-of-show practice sessions
  • November 3 – 5: 2023 Chesapeake Watershed Forum. See you in West Virginia!

2023 Watershed Forum COVID Policy

Last Update: April 17, 2023

The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) are committed to the safety of the staff, speakers, and all conference attendees. All staff, presenters, and attendees must abide by the Alliance’s and NCTC’s COVID-related policies. The following policies and procedures are in place to ensure all who visit the campus understand how we manage operations with your safety in mind.

  • Please read the NCTC COVID-19 information page in its entirety.
  • Please do not travel to NCTC if you are currently experiencing COVID-19 symptoms; if you have been exposed to COVID-19; or you have been ill within 10 days of the Forum.
  • Indoor mask wearing requirements will depend on COVID-19 Community Transmission levels in Jefferson County, WV.
  • If you develop symptoms at the Forum, there is a nurse on site that can conduct a covid test.

All COVID policies are subject to change based on local, state, and federal regulations or CDC recommended best practices.

Thank you to our 2023 Watershed Forum Sponsors!


Oak Sponsors

 

River Birch Sponsors

Redbud Sponsors

Pawpaw Sponsors

Want to get involved?

Contact Jenny McGarvey to find out more about the Chesapeake Watershed Forum.

Email Jenny