2026 Conference Schedule-at-a-Glance
This page shows all events, meetings and workshops that will take place over the two days of Conference. More detailed descriptions of workshops will be available soon.
This schedule is now final.
Tuesday, April 28 – 7:30-8:30 am
Early Morning Bird Walk
- FREE
- Limited to 25 participants; must pre-register
- UMA’s Nature Trails adjacent to the Civic Center
Tuesday, April 28 – 7:30-8:30 am
Early Morning Yoga with Amelia Nadilo, executive director of York Land Trust, at Augusta Civic Center in Augusta
- FREE
- Limited to 40 participants; must pre-register
- Bring your own mat!
Tuesday, April 28 – 9:00-4:00 pm
- Augusta Civic Center, 76 Community Drive, Augusta
- $55 per person, includes box lunch
- Register for evening social separately
- Land Fair tables available for addition cost to those who wish to exhibit. Contact Katia for more information.
8:30am – Workshop Registration and coffee
9:00am-12:00pm –Trail Project Success: Life Cycle, Contracting, and Maine Trails Program Strategies
9:00am-1:00pm (includes lunch break) – Leadership Strategies for Navigating (Bumpy, Sometimes Thorny) Change
12:00-2:00pm – Lunch, Land Fair, and networking. Conversational lunch hosted by First Light.
2:00-4:00pm – Topical Cohort Gatherings
Choose a topic and join your peers for discussion, problem solving, and community connection! Cohorts include:
- Executive Directors – limited to land trust executive directors or those serving in a comparative role, such as Board Presidents of all-volunteer organizations
- Regional Conservation Partnerships
- Giving Outdoor Learning a Place to LAND! Continuing the Conversation (Environmental Education)
- Approaches to Co-Stewardship of Conservation Lands with Wabanaki Communities: Navigating Intellectual Property and Building Right Relations
- Conservation Easement Stewardship Roundtable
- Building Connections between Land Trusts and Housing Trusts
- Building Momentum for Conservation in Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance
- Mission Maturity: A conversation about conservation work through the lens of community, equity, inclusion, and justice (A Brave Spaces Conversation)
Tuesday, April 28 – 4:00-7:00 pm
Sponsored by our special Lead Sponsor The Nature Conservancy in Maine, the Conference Reception is your chance to gather with friends old and new for our fun and festive Taco Tuesday buffet. This is a popular part of our annual event, so grab your tickets early!
- Augusta Civic Center, 76 Community Drive, Augusta
- $30 per ticket includes dinner
- Cash bar
- Raffle
Wednesday April 29 – 7:30-4:30 pm
- Augusta Civic Center, 76 Community Drive, Augusta
- $110 per person includes breakfast, lunch, snacks, and registration for the plenary session, workshops, and closing session
- Land Fair tables available for addition cost to those who wish to exhibit. Contact Katia for more information.
7:30-8:30am – Registration, breakfast, and Land Fair in the auditorium
8:30-9:50am – Plenary session in the North Wing
- Welcome & Land Acknowledgement
- This year our plenary session will feature Forrest King-Cortes, Director of Community-Centered Conservation at the Land Trust Alliance. Forrest and co-presenters will discuss the evolution of conservation and how land trusts around the country and in Maine continue to change to meet the needs of local communities – their people, plants, wildlife, and environment.
- Presentation of the 2026 Espy Land Heritage Award
9:50-10:30am – Break, Land Fair
10:30am-12:00pm – Workshop Session A, 8 concurrent topical workshops
12:00-1:30pm – Lunch
1:30-3:00pm – Workshop Session B, 8 concurrent topical workshops
3:00-3:30pm – Break, coffee, snacks
3:30-4:30pm – Closing session, all return to the North Wing
We will all come back together for a collaborative session including graphic notetaking with inputs from throughout the two days of the conference. As a group, we will consider answers to key questions raised during the presentations, and identify steps we can take to move this work forward.
4:30pm – Adjourn