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NCAEP Meetings & Events
» Meetings
Each year NCAEP holds up to four dinner meetings in Raleigh, and over the last several years we have been expanding our meetings to Charlotte and Wilmington. Topics range throughout the diverse interests of our membership including natural resources, stream and wetland restoration, NEPA/SEPA, stormwater issues, regulatory updates, environmental ethics, and a variety of other topics. Our past speakers have included senior members of NCDENR, NCDWQ, local governments, and the Whitehouse Council of Environmental Quality. Many of our speakers' past presentations are available on the Past Meetings link. Most of our dinner meetings provide 1 Professional Development Hour of credit for those needing to keep up with certifications.
Each meeting begins with a social hour and gives our members the chance to catch up with old acquaintances and news from other specialties or interests. We then ask our speakers to present from 15 to 30 minutes, followed by a question and answer session. Come join us and learn something new!
» Workshops
In order to provide our members (and non-members) with the most relevant training opportunities, we have established relationships with several agencies such as the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Each of these agencies coordinates with the NCAEP each year and we provide workshops on a topic of interest to our members. Examples of these workshops include:
- 2008 Natural Communities of N.C. Workshop
- 2008 Historic Preservation Workshop
- 2007 Fall Rare Plant Identification Workshop
- 2007 Spring Rare Plant Identification Workshop
NCAEP members get advanced notice to sign up for these extremely popular workshops, and the agencies benefit through a revenue sharing agreement that helps to fund their lower priority activities (that are often difficult to find monies for) such as database updates.
In addition, NCAEP has co-sponsored numerous workshops and conferences that pertain to our members' professional interests. In 2006, we sponsored three "Planning for Growth" workshops held by NCDENR, and continued our annual sponsorships of the NC Water Resources Research Institute annual conference as well as others. If you are involved in planning a workshop or conference that you think we should consider sponsoring please contact an officer to discuss.
 » Social Gatherings
NCAEP continues to have social gatherings for the members to network, generate and share their wealth of knowledge, and just have a good time. As always, NCAEP invites members to come early to the dinner meetings for the Social Hour prior to dinner and the speaking engagement. Each spring we hold our annual Pig Pickin at Lake Montague in Cary. What a great event to catch up with old friends! NCAEP is also continuing the relatively new tradition of a Holiday Social each January.
» Grants & Scholarships
NCAEP is committed to advancing our profession and is always looking for opportunities to do so. Currently, we are providing grants and scholarships to the following groups:
- NC Natural Heritage Program Database Update - Since 2005, NCAEP has provided grant money to NCNHP to help them update their Natural Heritage Element Occurrence database. After raising an initial $11,000 (thanks mostly to our corporate sponsors), we continue to fund this worthwhile cause by revenue shares from our NCNHP/USFWS Workshop series.
- In 2006, NCAEP helped provide volunteers for a local festival in Raleigh and generated $8,000 to start our scholarship program. In the last two years we have given out $5,000 in scholarships to two PhD students, one Masters student, and two undergraduate students in North Carolina Universities. We continue to maintain this scholarship program through our revenue from workshops and other events.
- In 2007, we entered into an agreement with the NC State Historic Preservation Office to provide funding for their database maintenance. This program generated $1,500 in initial funds and we began offering workshops in 2008 to continue this effort. Look for more SHPO workshops in the future.
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