Tracks

• Track 1 — Integrated Watershed & Agricultural Solutions
• Track 2 — Water Quality & Public Health
• Track 3 — Water Quantity: Flood & Drought Resilience
• Track 4 — Nature-Based & Green Infrastructure for All Communities
• Track 5 — Water Recreation, Tourism, and Economic Vitality
• Track 6 — Fisheries, Wildlife & Aquatic Ecosystem Health

Day 1 – September 16

General session – Roof Garden

7:00 – 9:00   Exhibit set-up – Majestic Pavilion
8:00 – 9:00   Registration / Light Breakfast
9:00 – 9:30  Welcome — Rick Cruse, Iowa Water Center, Director, Dale Gentry, Audubon Upper Mississippi River, Conservation Director, John Wills, Iowa State Legislature
9:30 – 10:15  Keynote — Mary Skopec, Executive Director, Iowa Lakeside Laboratory
10:15 – 10:45   Award ceremony — Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance (IAWA) & Iowa Water Center (IWC)
10:45 – 11:30   Keynote — Mike Hawkins, Regional Fisheries Management Supervisor at Iowa DNR
11:30 – 12:30   Lunch (provided)
12:30 – 12:45   Break- Visit our Sponsor Tables and Research Posters in the Majestic Pavilion

Breakout sessions (12:45 – 2:25)

Time	Track 1 — Integrated Watershed Hedberg Room	Track 2 — Water Quality & Public Health Roof Garden 1	Special Panel Roof Garden 1
12:45 – 1:15	Finding Your Conservation Professional: Launching the Iowa Conservation Professional Interactive Map Catherine DeLong, Josh Obrecht, Colton Clack	Microcystin Biodegradation Potentials of Water and Sediment Microbiomes from Iowa Lakes Emily Rehmann	Wicked Problem Panel: At the Crossroads — Balancing Growth and Stewardship 12:45 – 2:25
1:20 – 1:50	The Conservation Compass: Your Guide to Funding Rebekah Jones	Positive Bias in Nitrate Concentrations Measured Using High-Frequency Sensors Jenny Murphy
1:55 – 2:25	Tracking the History of Sediment Loss in the Skunk River Watershed Elliot Anderson	From Brief Bursts to Long Memories: Using High-Frequency Observations to Understand Nitrate Dynamics Jesus Gomez-Velez

2:25 – 3:20   Break

Breakout sessions (3:20 – 5:00)

Time	Track 4 — Nature-Based Infrastructure Roof Garden 1	Track 3 — Water Quantity Roof Garden 2	Track 6 — Fisheries & Wildlife Hedberg Room
3:20 – 3:50	Permission to Play: Developing a Plan for a River Corridor within a Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan Charles Ikenberry, Kasey Hutchinson	A Prototype of the New Iowa Flood Center Hydrologic Modeling System Felipe Quintero, Marcela Rojas	A Deep Dive into the Water and Nutrient Budgets of the Iowa Great Lakes Thomas Doyle
3:55 – 4:25	Enhancing Floodplain Aquifer Recharge through Engineered Wetland Systems in Drought- and Flood-Prone Rural Iowa Julie Blackburn, Owen Oeltjenbruns, Mark Hungate	Living with Water: Lessons from the Netherlands for Iowa Kate Giannini	More than Stabilization: Stream Restoration and Aquatic Ecosystem Recovery in Ames’ Brookside Park Meghan Funke, Jess Dunagan
4:30 – 5:00	City Sampler of Paths Forward with Low Salt Design Connie Fortin, Lori Haak	Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs: Floodplain Permitting Lessons from Iowa’s Largest Stream Restoration Project Mark Jacobs	Exploring Trumpeter Swan Use of Water Quality Wetlands in Iowa Jayden Jech

5:30 – 7:30   Networking Reception – Lake View Deck, sponsored by JEO Consulting Group
Optional 1-hour lake cruise on the Queen II (no additional cost – registration required)

Day 2 – September 17

7:00 – 8:00   Breakfast
8:00 – 8:30   General session (Roof Garden): Water Quantity and Quality Challenges Faced by Iowans, 1900–1940: My, How Far We’ve Come! — Keith Schilling

Breakout sessions (8:35 – 10:15)

Time	Track 4 — Nature-Based Infrastructure Roof Garden 1	Track 2 — Water Quality & Public Health Roof Garden 2	Track 5 — Water Recreation & Tourism Hedberg Room
8:35 – 9:05	Soil Quality as a Stormwater Management Strategy Loulou Dickey, Pete De Kock	Environmental Risk Factors and Iowa’s Cancer Crisis: Evidence for Action Colleen Fowle, Audrey Tran Lam	From Low-Head Dam to Destination River: Engineering Waterways for Recreation, Tourism, and Economic Vitality Kevin Kruse
9:10 – 9:40	Developing Planning-Level Hydrologic and Hydraulic Models in Data-Constrained Communities: Insights from Correctionville, Iowa Mary Sahraei, Josh James	The Venturi Nozzle: How to Neutralize an Acidic Pit Pond with Caustic Soda Wallace Greenlees	Using and Protecting the Missouri River as a Municipal, Domestic, and Rural Water Supply Ken Royse
9:45 – 10:15	Green Infrastructure to Expand the Public Realm Marcy Bean	A Statewide Comparison of Nutrient Load Estimation Methods Using Discrete Data in Iowa Lindsey Schafer	Clear Creek Mitigation Bank: Integrating Floodplain Restoration, Ecological Performance, and Community Recreation in Coralville, Iowa Reid Stamer, Kelsey Fritze

10:15 – 10:45   Break

Panel discussions  ·  10:45 – 11:45

Time	Panel 1 Roof Garden 1	Panel 2 Roof Garden 2	Panel 3 Hedberg Room
10:45 – 11:45	Statewide Farmer-Led Efforts to Impact Water Quality through Regenerative Agriculture Mridula Madhukumar Menon, Melissa Miller, Paul Kassel, Ethan Thies, Jason Opheim	A Policy Roadmap for Protecting Iowa’s Water Adam Shriver, Liz Garst, John Norris	From Eroding Banks to Economic Engine: How a Sponsored Project Turned Prairie Creek into Maquoketa’s Next Destination Meghan Funke, Josh Boldt, Nathan Jones

12:00 – 1:00   Lunch and General Session — The Lobe Rangers — Farmer-to-Farmer: We Must Do Better
1:00   Prize drawing: Water Trail Trivia — Majestic Pavilion (Must be present to win)

Breakout sessions (1:15 – 4:05)

Time	Track 1 — Integrated Watershed Roof Garden 2	Track 3 — Water Quantity Roof Garden 1	Track 6 — Fisheries & Wildlife Hedberg Room
1:15 – 1:45	Scaling Wetland Adoption Across Iowa Jon Rosengren	Shoreline Stabilization along Pillsbury Point State Park after Historic Flooding in Iowa’s Great Lakes Ryan Benjegerdes, Mike Weis	If You Build It, They Will Come: Ecological and Water Quality Benefits of Restored Oxbows and Wetlands Bryce Haines
1:50 – 2:20	Using the ACPF and Collaborative Storytelling to Bridge Farm and Watershed Conservation Goals Linda Shenk, Bryce Bearson	June 2024 Flooding in Northwest Iowa Mackenzie Marti, Padraic O’Shea	Collaborating for a Cause: Partnering to Overcome Large-Scale Urban Stream and Wetland Restoration Challenges Michael Heller
2:25 – 2:55	From Partnership to Practice: Lessons from the Cedar River Source Water Partnership Erin Heiden, Mary Beth Stevenson	From Recovery to Resilience: Bellevue and Papillion Housing Resilience Plan Greg Pierce, Maya Struhar, Kristina TeBockhorst	Internal Phosphorus Loading Assessment and Control in Iowa Lakes and Reservoirs Joseph Bischoff
3:00 – 3:30	Advancing Iowa Great Lakes Watershed Restoration through Strategic Drainage System Improvements Julie Blackburn	Water Data for the Nation: New Ways for Accessing U.S. Geological Survey Data Kendra Markland	Designing Is Only Half the Job: Lessons from the Field Carly Wagner,Mark Jacobs
3:35 – 4:05	Scaling Streambank Stabilization Across a Watershed: From Plan to Construction Adam Rupe	Design Intent vs. Field Reality: When Stream Projects Go Up a Creek Charles Ikenberry,John Swanson	Integrated Watershed County-Scale Groundwater Nitrate Modeling: Linking Agricultural Land Management and Groundwater Quality Alexander Reimers

Presented by Audubon Upper Mississippi River