In 2018 the annual meeting of the Midwest-Great Lakes Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) will be held from April 20 to April 22, 2018 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  The Annual Chapter meeting is being held in conjunction with the 40th Annual Wisconsin Lakes Partnership Convention and Water Action Volunteer Symposium.

The 2018 meeting represents a milestone, because it will be our tenth annual meeting and it will be the first time that the Chapter has held a joint meeting with another organization.  This joint meeting has been structured so that April 18 to 20, 2018 are the dates of the Wisconsin Lakes Partnership Convention and April 20 to April 22, 2018 are the dates of the 2018 SER Midwest-Great Lakes Chapter meeting.  Notably, April 20th will be the dates that both groups will be present together. The Annual Meeting Committee is working with the Wisconsin Lakes Partnership Convention to identify ways to promote cross-meeting discussion and interaction.  More details to come on this aspect in the future.  We are grateful for the generous support of this year’s meeting hosts – The College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and the University of Wisconsin Extension-Lakes.

Our meeting theme is “Heeding the Call”, which represents our primary goal of exploring how to promote the call to expand restoration efforts and partnerships beyond the typical site scale to larger spatial scales encompassing multiple ecosystem types.  Our secondary goal is to bring together all who are interested in ecological restoration and wish to contribute to advancing the field of ecological restoration.  Our meeting agenda will be similar to our past meetings and will include technical presentations, symposia, workshops, social events, and field trips

We are seeking proposals for workshops or organized symposia to be part of the annual meeting agenda.  We encourage the submission of workshop and symposium proposals that are directly related to the meeting theme and our meeting goal, as well as proposals involving any topic related to ecological restoration.  Workshops and symposia are allocated a two hour block of time.  Workshops focus on practical applications and are intended to convey specific technical knowledge, skills, or methodologies.  In contrast symposia provide a forum for the exploration and discussion of special topics or themes.   So if you have an idea for a workshop or symposia proposal, then we encourage you to develop and submit a proposal.  The deadline for submitting a workshop or symposia proposal is 11/1/2017.  Feel free to contact us if you have questions about potential workshop or symposia proposals.   Details on submitting a workshop or symposia proposal can be found at the website below:

https://chapter.ser.org/midwestgreatlakes/current-meeting/call-for-workshop-and-symposia-proposals/

We are also seeking contributed oral and poster presentations to be presented at the Annual Chapter meeting.   We welcome the submission of abstracts for oral and poster presentations that are directly related to the meeting theme and our meeting goals, as well as abstracts involving any topic related to ecological restoration.  The deadline for submission of abstracts for contributed oral and poster presentations is December 1, 2017.  Details on submitting a contributed presentation abstract can be found at the website below:

https://chapter.ser.org/midwestgreatlakes/current-meeting/call-for-abstracts/

In conclusion, I want to encourage everyone to Heed the Call and submit a workshop proposal, a symposia proposal, or a contributed presentation abstract.  Additionally, please share this information with your colleagues whom you think would be interested in contributing and attending our upcoming annual meeting.  If you have any questions about the Annual Meeting please contact us via email.

 

Rocky Smiley

Annual Meeting Chair/At Large Representative

SER Midwest-Great Lakes Chapter