Several members of the SGI team headed to Louisville on October 3-6 to attend the 12th Eastern Native Grassland Symposium. This symposium is held every two years in different parts of the eastern U.S. and brings together people from all walks of life – researchers, land managers, seed growers, private individuals, resource managers, students, and others – who love grasslands.

We had many inspiring conversations with other grassland enthusiasts and practitioners, attended some very educational presentations and field trips, and enjoyed meeting new friends while also catching up with ones who we hadn’t seen in a while. It was a great place to celebrate our 5th anniversary. Our friends at Roundstone Native Seed did an amazing job organizing the Symposium.

Some of the team got to learn about using native grasses for forage on one of the field trips.

Other members of the team attended a field trip to Roundstone Native Seeds where they got a glimpse behind-the-scenes of what it takes to produce and harvest native seeds at a commercial level.

Several of our partners, like Ashley Bennett with Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), also attended the Symposium and gave presentations about some of their projects.

The informal, after-hours conversations with friends, like Kyle Lybarger of the Native Habitat Project, and colleagues were often just as inspiring and productive as the formal sessions during the day.

On Wednesday, SGI’s co-founder and Executive Director, Dwayne Estes, gave a presentation to a packed room about restoration efforts for Southeastern grasslands. His presentation just happened to be on SGI’s 5th birthday!

The SGI team members who attended the Symposium celebrated our 5th birthday by eating dinner together.

SHANNON TRIMBOLI, INTERIM DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Shannon helps the Southeastern Grasslands Initiative tell the forgotten and untold stories of our Southeastern grasslands.