Land Trust Education Summit 2026

March 2-6, 2026 in Ashland, Oregon

A week of learning, planning, and connecting for land trust educators

Join us for the 5th annual Land Trust Education Summit, a planning and retreat week for land conservation organizations that currently offer youth education programs or are planning to do so in the near future.

Summit programming takes place Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; Monday and Friday are travel and check-in/check-out days.

What you’ll gain from the week:

Tools and personalized support to guide visioning and strategic planning for your organization’s education program, so it can be successful in perpetuity
Examples of proven practices from land trust education programs around the country
Support in using the new Program Evaluation Toolkit, developed specifically for land trust education programs
An on-the-land experience of Southern Oregon Land Conservancy’s nature journaling field trip program, based on the work of John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren
An introduction to the Next Generation Science Standards, and how to articulate your program’s alignment with them to meet public schools’ needs
[maybe something about working with volunteers that Myco could lead??]
[hopefully a workshop about collaborating with Tribes, led by Stasie]
Membership in a nationwide community of practice that meets regularly throughout the year for support and accountability

Costs

Conference Fee: The $500 conference fee, paid to SOLC, includes all facilitation, and most meals and snacks Tuesday breakfast through Thursday dinner.

Lodging: SOLC has arranged a group rate with our host venue, the Ashland Hills Hotel, at $498 (inclusive of all taxes and fees) for the four nights of the Summit. Colleagues can opt to share a room to keep costs down.

SOLC is sponsoring two shared hotel rooms for participants whose land trusts cannot cover the $498 lodging; these rooms will be offered at $50 per person for the four nights of the Summit.

Food: Participants will be responsible for purchasing food on their travel days, and for Tuesday dinner (when we will carpool into downtown Ashland, where folks can choose their own restaurant) and Wednesday breakfast (when food will be available at the hotel’s cafe before we head into the field). All other meals and snacks Tuesday through Thursday are covered by the conference fee.

Travel: Participants will be responsible for planning and booking their own travel. SOLC will provide free ground transportation to and from the closest airport, MFR (Medford), for those flying in.

Testimonials from Previous Summit Participants

I am increasingly feeling really privileged and honored to have joined this cohort. The take-aways are still revealing themselves; supportive, potent and greatly appreciated. —Leah Trommer, Coastal Mountains Land Trust, Maine

After attending this summit, I was able to find myself, my why, and my purpose. Through impacting my life by providing an opportunity I never could have had otherwise, and convincing me to stick with it, Rob’s hard work in this summit has in turn positively affected the lives of nearly one hundred teens in the court systems and foster care. And I’m just one of so many educators who found this same solace. —Andrea Foster, Little Forks Conservancy, Michigan

The K12 Summit provided an invaluable opportunity to learn from other land trusts across the country, while focusing on exploring the possibilities to leverage the resources we have within our own communities—land, partner organizations, schools and more—to map out the expansion of our own programs in the future. —Charli Williams, Lemhi Regional Land Trust, Idaho

As a small land trust just launching a systematic K-12 outreach, this workshop was invaluable to learn from other experts and build a continuous support network to sustain and grow our programs. —MaryAnn Rozum, Western Wildlife Corridor, Ohio

Process & Timeline

Start by completing the short application form (available here) to indicate your interest in participating — please only fill in one application per organization. After SOLC staff have reviewed your application, we will send you a registration form. Please note that if you are requesting reduced-rate lodging, we will be in touch in late November.

November 15 - Application deadline for reduced-rate rooms

December 31 - General application deadline

February 1 - Registration & payment deadline

Accessibility Notes

Programming on Tuesday and Thursday will take place at the Ashland Hills Hotel in an ADA-accessible conference room.

Programming on Wednesday will include visits to the SOLC office (indoors) and Pompadour Bluff (outdoors). The trail to the top of Pompadour Bluff is short but rustic and steep in some parts; participants will have the option to stay at the unpaved parking area for facilitated activities there. The SOLC office building has an entry with no stairs, but that route includes going down a narrow hallway to get to the meeting space.

The 2026 Summit Team

Rob Wade was a founding board member of the Feather River Land Trust. Since 2004 he has been the creator and coordinator of Learning Landscapes, FRLT’s nationally recognized K-12 program that engages every public school student throughout the region. He has worked in local schools since 1995 focused on place-based learning, environmental literacy, teacher development, and land stewardship. Rob has been facilitating the K-12 land trust Community of Practice in collaboration with the Land Trust Alliance and other land trust leaders since 2016.

Leia Lowery has worked in education for over 20 years. Her commitment to engaging whole communities in conservation has led to the expansion of the Trust in Education program at Kennebunkport Conservation Trust in Maine and the development of the Kennebunkport Climate Initiative. Spreading her passion for conservation through place-based education connects people to their local landscape, their local heritage and each other, creating a stronger sense of place and encouraging a future of empowered conservationists.

Tara Laidlaw …

Myco Schroeder…