Please join the founders of the Oklahoma Monarch & Pollinator Collaborative, and pollinator champions from across the state for REWILDING OKLAHOMA, a day-long Symposium highlighting statewide successes in pollinator conservation. The event will include presentations from pollinator partners across Oklahoma, including Okies for Monarchs, The Nature Conservancy, Pheasants Forever, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and more. Acclaimed author, Benjamin Vogt, will deliver the keynote address and will be available to autograph copies of his newest book, “A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future“.

This event is for everyone, from the least to most experienced in pollinator gardening and large-scale land management. Our guest speaker will dissect the “why” of traditional residential and urban landscaping and challenge us to re-think development design for people and pollinators. Our Okie experts will delve into trees, tribes, the tallgrass prairie and even tourism as we explore Oklahoma’s role today and tomorrow in saving the monarch butterfly and help all interconnected declining native species.

Your registration includes a catered lunch from the Oklahoma City Zoo. Vendors from across the state will be on site with materials and ways to engage in pollinator conservation in Oklahoma.

Event sponsorships are now open.

Registration/ticket prices will increase after July 28th.

Grab you tickets before they go up! Price rises after 7/28!

Learn more about pricing, parking, location, vendor options, etc.

SPEAKERS

We are so pleased at this time to share the full roster of speakers committed to share their knowledge and insights with our attendees!

Our garden and wildlife experts will be:

Keynote – Benjamin Vogt
Owner, of prairie-inspired landscape firm, Monarch Gardens LLC, in Lincoln, NE
Author, The New Garden Ethic
Presentation – “A New Garden Ethic: Challenging Mindsets and Cultivating Change in Landscapes.”

1) Katie Hawk
Director of Communications and External Affairs, The Nature Conservancy of Oklahoma
Hawk will share a highly visual and data-rich look at “Okies for Monarchs’ First 1.5 Years.”

2) Dustin Lamoreaux
Oklahoma State Coordinator, Pheasants Forever, Inc. and Quail Forever
Presentation – “OMPC Lands Working Group: Oklahoma BMP’s for Pollinator Habitat Restoration/Management.”

3) Katie Boyer
Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Austin Ecological Services Field Office
Boyer will discuss the petition deadline extension for federal protection of the Monarch as well as “how Danaus Plexippus led to an international conservation movement.”

4) Bob Hamilton
Preserve Director, the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, The Nature Conservancy of Oklahoma
Presentation – “Bison, Burns and Biodiversity.”

5) Kevin Mink
Urban Soil Health Specialist, Oklahoma County Conservation District
Presentation – “TREE-mendous Pollinator Habitats: The role of trees in the fight to save pollinators in Oklahoma.”

6) Matt Pinnell
Lt. Gov. and Secretary of Tourism & Branding, State of Oklahoma
Pinnell will share his insights, and excitement, about Oklahoma’s wild spaces.

7) Rebeca Quinonez-Pinon
Monarch Outreach Coordinator, National Wildlife Federation, Texas Field Office
Pinon will share up-to-date news on the status of the monarch and explore ways we can work beyond our Oklahoma borders to help the species.

8) Katie Gillies
Director of Conservation, The Nature Conservancy of Oklahoma
Gillies will discuss the collaborative work we have still to do as a community to protect and to rewild our State’s existing and future urban, suburban and rural habitats.

“I have dedicated my career to conservation, which has taken me all around this world. But I have found my home here in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is an incredibly diverse state, filled with incredible species from butterflies to bats and beauty berry to button bush. We all have a role to play in conservation here, whether we live in a Tulsa condo, or a ranch in Woodward County. Each of us can take steps to contribute and make a difference to ensure that Oklahoma always retains its beauty and wildness.” – Katie Gillies, TNC Director of Conservation and Rewilding Oklahoma Guest Speaker