Announcing the LINPI-LIISMA Symposium

Symposium 2022

LINPI & LIISMA Symposium

Resilient Long Island:

A Symposium on Invasive and Native Species for Long Island's Future

We are thrilled to officially announce our 2022 Symposium! Hosted in partnership by the Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI) and the Long Island Invasive Species Management Area (LIISMA), this year's conference will focus on resiliency in the face of climate change.

We have been hard at work planning this upcoming event and cannot wait to share it with you. With COVID persisting to be an issue, we have decided this year's symposium will be a fully virtual event. While we would love to be able to see everyone's faces in person, keeping things virtual best ensures everyone's health as well as enables a greater public access and reach.

We are grateful to once again host the fantastic author, garden designer, and pollinator advocate Heather Holm as our keynote speaker this year. Holm's latest book, Wasps, has lifted the veil over an often overlooked and unwarrantedly feared family of insects that are essential for the functioning of a healthy ecosystem. Her work has highlighted the role that these insects play in our world and has provided an accessible and exciting tool for identifying and supporting these essential beneficial insects and educating others about how they can, as well.

Along with Heather Holm, our roster of speakers also includes Fran Chismar (Pinelands Nursery), Uli Lorimer (Native Plant Trust), and Dr. Christopher Neill (Wood Well Climate Research Center), all of whom will be discussing a wide range of topics, from varying disciplines, with a focus on the reestablishment of native plant species and the mitigation of the damaging effects of invasive species.

Over the past two years, the pandemic has forced humanity to slow down, or sometimes stop altogether, leading many to become reconnected to the natural world around them. This has helped bring many of the issues that are common knowledge within the horticultural and natural resource industry, such as invasive species, to become mainstream, gaining the attention of the masses and warranting action. We hope this reconnection with nature will continue into the future and for the momentum gained to continue for positive change. States all over the country, including our neighbor Pennsylvania, continue to create legislation banning the sale and use of invasive species as well as providing a pathway for the further implementation and reestablishment of native plant communities. In fact, right now on Long Island, Suffolk County is in the preliminary stages of creating a Pollinator Pathway, envisioning a vast network of plantings connecting public and private land specifically designed and maintained with pollinators in mind.

We hope you will join us for our symposium and appreciate your continued support of the joint LINPI-LIISMA mission.

Some of our speakers & presentations to look forward to include:

Heather Holm (Keynote) - Biologist, Author

"Creating and Managing Landscapes for Native Bees"

Fran Chismar - Pinelands Nursery

"Bring on the Bugs! The Importance of Native Plants & How to Get Your Neighbors on Board"

Uli Lorimer - Native Plant Trust

"How Local is local enough? Importance of Native Ecotypes"

Dr. Christopher Neill - Wood Well Climate Research Center

"The Science Behind Yard Management to Increase Plant, Insect and Bird Biodiversity"

Nancy Pau - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

"Perennial Pepperweed in MA"

Moses Curcura - Entomologist, Suffolk County Department of Public Works "Landscape Management for Ticks "

Date: April 7, 2022

Time: 8am-5pm

Please visit Symposium.LIISMA.org for more information.

If you are unable to join us, but would still like to support LINPI-LIISMA, please click here to donate, or scroll down to view our volunteer opportunities.

Click Here for Registration

Click Here to View Our Full Agenda

Continuing Education Credits

Continuing Education Credits will be available to professionals who attend our conference through the NYS DEC CEU Program.

Credits for this conference are currently pending for the DEC Pesticide Applicator, LACES, ISA, SAF, and CNLP programs.

Sponsorship Opportunities

If you are professional within the natural resource management industry on Long Island, we're extending an invitation to you to help support the LINPI-LIISMA 2022 Symposium: “Resilient LI: A Conference on Invasive and Native Species for Long Island's Future.”

Going virtual will enable us to reach a larger target audience, as attendees can tune in regardless of location with no need for travel expenses or adjustment to their working schedule. Our Virtual Expo Floor provides all of the benefits of a physical expo, without the hassle of travel and booth assembly for our sponsors. As a sponsor, you will have full access to the symposium, and also an easily viewed tab displaying your organization's information with images, video, and downloadable information. You can also message with attendees during the symposium, and even sponsor a session. If you opt-in to have a virtual booth, you also have a chance to talk with attendees over audio/video at the mid-day expo. See the full tier breakdown by clicking the Sponsor Form button below.

We hope that this virtual platform will enable even more access to horticultural and conservation professionals, designers, educators and students who would like to attend our symposium this year.

The continued production and incorporation of native plants into our nation's landscape will require many partners. We predict that there will be increased business opportunities for professional horticulturalists, landscape designers, environmental educators, entomologists and others to get involved with this massive initiative to recolonize America with its indigenous flora in support of wildlife and humans alike. As at all of our symposiums, LINPI-LIISMA will bring together top professionals who will share their ideas, successes, and experiences, as well as the public, to help you take advantage of the greener future that lies ahead.

As a 2022 LINPI-LIISMA Symposium sponsor, you will be supporting a valuable educational opportunity for both the public and professionals in our community. Your donation will help offset the costs of hosting this event while providing necessary support to LINPI. As a 501C(3) not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to protect genetically native plant populations and promote their use, LINPI relies on the generous support of sponsors like you.

Thank you in advance for the support you provide to LINPI-LIISMA. We are extremely grateful for your donation, and look forward to seeing you at this year’s symposium in April.

All donations can be conveniently provided online through Pledge with zero service fee.

If you prefer to mail in your donation: please make all checks payable to: Long Island Native Plant Initiative, Inc.

Mailed to: PO Box 1279 Hampton Bay, New York 11946

Click Here to Become a Sponsor

Poster Slam!

Researchers of various levels from high school to undergraduate, graduate and professionals alike are invited to submit an abstract for the Resilient LI Symposium Poster Slam.

We are seeking research on invasive species, native plants, habitat restoration, novel tools for management, or any related topic. Selected poster presenters will give a live 3 minute "slam" or elevator pitch of their poster to all symposium attendees, followed by a half-hour poster session, where symposium attendees then have the opportunity to visit the posters in Zoom breakout rooms and further engage with the poster presenters on their research.

In this dynamic one hour session at the heart of the event, we look forward to hearing research from local and regional researchers in order to celebrate collaboration, learning and science communication.

Click Here To Apply

Special Thank You

The Long Island Native Plant Initiative and the Long Island Invasive Species Management Area wish to show our gratitude for support by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. LIISMA is funded, in-part, by the Environmental Protection Fund as administered by the NYS DEC.