By Ben McFarlane, Chief Resilience Officer
The 34th Annual Environment Virginia Symposium was held this past April on the campus of the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Founded in 1990, the symposium brings together environmental professionals and stakeholders from federal, state, and local governments, researchers, non-governmental organizations, and interested members of the public to learn about and discuss the major environmental issues and challenges that affect Virginia’s communities. At this year’s conference, major topics included wetlands restoration, PFAS, flood resilience, the Chesapeake Bay, stormwater management, solar development, wildlife protection, and stakeholder engagement.
The symposium regularly hosts Virginia’s political leaders as well as other notable guests. This year’s featured speakers included Governor Glenn Youngkin, EPA Region 3 Administrator Adam Ortiz, Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matthew Lohr, and Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources Travis Voyles. These speakers highlighted the progress that has been made in protecting and enhancing Virginia’s natural resources, while also noting the work that remains.
This year, HRPDC staff organized two sessions. One session was on the intersection between land cover data, local policies, and implementation, moderated by HRPDC Senior Water Resources Planner KC Filippino. Speakers included Sarah McDonald, a geographer with the U.S. Geological Survey, and two HRPDC staff, Jill Sunderland, Senior Water Resources Planner, and Ben McFarlane, Chief Resilience Officer. The panel explored how new, high-resolution land cover data can inform land use decisions and policies from the regional scale down to the parcel scale, as demonstrated by the HRPDC’s planned parking lot retrofits to better manage stormwater runoff.
The other panel focused on the Community Flood Preparedness Fund. HRPDC’s Ben McFarlane gave an overview of how the fund has been used to help Virginia’s communities better understand, plan for, and protect themselves from flooding since its establishment in 2021. The panel also featured two Hampton Roads locality staff representatives. Kathie Angle, Chief of Design, Newport News Department of Engineering, presented on the city’s resilience planning work. C.J. Bodnar, Stormwater Technical Services Program Manager, Virginia Beach Department of Public Works, closed out the session with a presentation on the city’s Back Bay Marsh Terrace and Restoration project.
In addition to the formal sessions, the conference also provided opportunities to meet potential partners and collaborators. Environment Virginia remains a unique event in Virginia focused specifically on the needs and issues facing the Commonwealth. This year’s attendees are already looking forward to the 35th Symposium in 2025!
