Conference Fee: We expect the conference fee to be about $550. This fee, paid to Southern Oregon Land Conservancy, includes all facilitation; breakfasts, lunches, and snacks Monday though Thursday; and dinner on Thursday. 

Lodging: SOLC has arranged a group rate with a motel across the street from our host venue; room rates range from $90-$108 + tax/night. Colleagues can opt to share a room to keep costs down.

Food: Participants will be responsible for purchasing food on their travel days, and for dinners on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; Ashland has many dining options at various price points. All other meals and snacks Monday through Thursday are covered by the conference fee.

Travel: Participants are 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.

Although the focus of the Summit has historically been K-12 education, we believe strongly in “birth to earth” learning as a cornerstone of long-term community support for conservation. We also know that land trust educators can’t do their work alone. For this reason, anyone who leads land-based education programs or supports them in some way — from frontline educators, volunteer coordinators, and outreach managers to land stewards, development directors, executive leadership, and Board members — is welcome to attend. The more diverse our group, the richer our conversations will be!

To maximize the organization-specific visioning and strategic planning time that is a key component of our week together, we encourage organizations to send two or more representatives to the Summit if at all possible.

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.

December 31 - Application deadline

January 31 - Registration & payment deadline

I can say with confidence the growth and trajectory of our youth programming at Hudson Taconic Lands is thanks in large part to the mentorship, resources, and community the K-12 Leadership Summit gave me. I feel like the work we're doing now is thoughtful, sustainable, evidence based, and the impact of it this work will be as enduring as our land trusts conservation work. We're motivated and inspired by our colleagues across the country.
—Michala Hendrick, Hudson Taconic Lands, New York

Attending Summit was an amazing chance to share experiences and brainstorm with other people working in similar jobs. I was able to bring back a lot of new ideas for how to make my organization's programming better, and now I'm connected to an awesome network of people who I can keep bouncing ideas off of.
— Anna Rodgers, Yakona Nature Preserve & Learning Center, Oregon

The K-12 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

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

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.

Tara Laidlaw has worked at the intersection of outdoor and classroom learning for nearly 20 years. In her role at Southern Oregon Land Conservancy, she specializes in using nature journaling to help students of all ages establish a sense of place and a sense of wonder, while also developing scientific, language, social-emotional, and ecological literacies. Tara serves as the board chair for the Environmental Education Association of Oregon (the state affiliate with NAAEE) and she sits on the board of the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts.

Myco Schroeder supports youth and volunteer groups in fostering a greater sense of wilderness awareness and connection through Nature Journaling and stewardship projects. As a certified Naturalist and Outdoor Educator Myco celebrates the reciprocal learning experience between facilitator and participant with curiosity and gratitude. Myco is living out their passion in sharing magical moments outside while caring for the natural world. 

In March 2020, Rob Wade and the Feather River Land Trust hosted the first-ever Summit in Plumas County, California, with facilitated program planning and professional development for land trust educators from around the country. Since then, FRLT has hosted the program every year, developing it into an annual opportunity for practitioners to gather for peer-to-peer mentoring, camaraderie, and inspiration, in addition to program design, professional development, and strategic planning.

Founder Rob Wade says: “We have worked hard to forge a community built upon respect, trust, and a commitment to share resources, including care and connection with our fellow colleagues.”

Southern Oregon Land Conservancy is delighted to carry on this tradition as the first new Summit host. Our hope is that other land trusts will take on this role in the future, with the Summit traveling nationwide to maximize access and inclusion in the Community of Practice.

Beyond the Summit itself, in 2026, the Land Trust Alliance launched a peer network and learning pathway to support the Community of Practice that Rob and FRLT began, taking the connection and collaboration into the digital realm for all land trust educators, not just those who have attended an in-person Summit.

Most programming will take place in an ADA-accessible conference room on the Southern Oregon University campus. This facility is approximately 0.2 miles from the motel, with sidewalks and pedestrian paths connecting them.

Two days will include outdoor activities at SOLC preserves. At each site, participants will have the option to walk/hike on rustic trails and uneven terrain, or stay on flat unpaved/gravel areas.

Please reach out to Tara at tara@landconserve.org for more details or to discuss accessibility needs.