Environmental lawyer, teacher, and author, Jim Blackburn, will be presented with the 2018 Armand Yramategui Conservation Award for his exceptional commitment to conservation and preservation of Galveston Bay and the greater Gulf Coast region.

The Armand Award, presented by Armand Bayou Nature Center, recognizes those who make a significant impact communicating the environmental vision Armand Yramartegui inspired more than 40 years ago. Previous recipients include the City of Seabrook, master naturalist and environmentalist Emmeline Dodd, Galveston Bay Foundation, and Lady Bird Johnson.

Visit abnc.org or call 281-474-2551 to reserve your spot.

This 90-minute webinar, sponsored by ASU in partnership with NCSE and SSF, will explore resilience risk and financial mechanisms to advance climate resilience. Joyce Coffee, Senior Sustainability Fellow, Global Institute of Sustainability, ASU and President of Climate Resilience Consulting, will moderate. She’ll be joined by

• Kurt Forsgren, Managing Director of U.S. Public Finance, S&P Global Ratings;
• Samantha Medlock, Head of North American Capital, Science and Policy, Willis Towers Watson; and
• Jame McMahon, CEO of The Climate Service.

Panelists will discuss risk and opportunity in the resilience finance marketplace and financial mechanisms to identify, evaluate and transfer climate risk.

The Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group will hold its annual public meeting via an interactive webinar on November 14, 2018. During this meeting, NOAA’s Gulf Spill Restoration will present updates on the Open Ocean Restoration Area’s early restoration projects, first and second restoration plans, and monitoring and adaptive management activities. They will also provide an opportunity for questions and answers after the updates are presented.

This is the third webinar in ASWM and NRCS’s jointly-developed nine-part wetland training webinar series. The first half of the webinar will focus on explaining general wetland ecology concepts, including succession, thresholds, disturbance, sensitivity and resilience. The second half of the webinar will identify how source waters (surface and groundwater) and soils define the character of a wetland, including an introduction to the Hydrogeomorphic Wetland Classification System (HGM). Participants will come away from the webinar with an increased understanding of how to consider these key concepts as they plan conservation and management activities that include wetlands.

Presenters: Stacey Clark, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and
Kendra Moseley, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Keep Pearland Beautiful’s Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner, including the annual report, is a great chance for members of KPB and residents to join in a celebration of all that KPB has accomplished throughout the year. Guest speaker, Shanna Lopez, from Waste Management will speak on the State of Recycling during this uncertain time in the recycling industry and what you can do as residents to improve recycling at home and the workplace.

This meeting of the Bay Area Sierra Club will feature a slideshow that will help you take more interesting photos of all of your holiday guests, of all of the flowers you receive, etc. Local Member Peter Bowman will teach four techniques that he learned from his famous Vietnamese teacher Do Anh Tuan.

At the end of the lesson, attendees themselves get a chance to identify these four techniques in photos which Peter will show without comment.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for social hour.

The Houston Zoo has extremely generously donated the use of the Brown Education Center for the annual HNPAT & CPP (Coastal Prairie Partnership) Prairie Stampede – the Awards Potluck. More information, including a signup sheet for the potluck, will be coming about this event. Some of the awards to be presented are:

Dick Benoit Upper Texas Coast Prairie Award – This award recognizes someone from the Upper Texas Coast area, oftentimes Greater Houston, who is contributing to coastal prairie conservation, education, etc. This award is for recent work not a career of achievement. This award is voted on by the general public. Send nominations to prairiepartner@gmail.com.

Prairie Excellence Award – This award recognizes career achievement in coastal prairie conservation. This award is selected by the CPP Board. The CPP board will gladly take suggestions for this award. Send suggestions to prairiepartner@gmail.com.

Please plan to arrive at 6 p.m. to avoid full parking.

This is the fourth webinar in ASWM and NRCS’s jointly-developed nine-part wetland training webinar series. The webinar will begin with a presentation on the variability in wetlands across the country, including how specific wetland functions and services vary by wetland type. The webinar will then move to a second presentation on wetland benefits and their impact on other resources at the watershed scale.  Participants will come away from the webinar with an increased understanding of variability of wetlands and their associated functions and services nationwide, as well as how wetland loss and wetland restoration can have impacts at the watershed scale.

Presenters: Doug Norris, Wetland Program Coordinator, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and Andy Robertson, Executive Director, Geospatial Services, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

In November 2018, new HHS Physical Activity Guidelines were released. They confirmed what America Walks already know- that when people move more, they are healthy, active, and engaged. Join America Walks for “Let’s Get Moving: The Power of Physical Activity” as they explore the guidelines and how communities are promoting physical activity with this webinar. This webinar is intended for those just starting out on the walking path as well as those interested in learning more about the topic.

Attendees of this webinar will:

• Learn about programs, policies, and projects that support walk-ability in rural communities and small towns
• Hear inspiring stories of communities on the walking path
• Explore resources that can help you in your work to create walk-able communities