SPIEL 2026 Abbreviated Schedule

​

*Note that Sewanee is on Central Standard Time. Unless otherwise indicated, all times listed are on Central Time.​​​

​

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9th

​

3:00 – 6:00 pm Central Time/4:00 – 7:00 pm Eastern Time   

​

Field Trip: The Domain as a Living Laboratory: Forest Ecology, Conservation, and Policy

​

Jonathan Evans, PhD, Professor of Biology, Sewanee: University of the South, TN

​

This field trip will visit sites of long-term faculty-student research across the Domain, Sewanee's 13,000-acre campus and living laboratory. Stops will include a vernal pool, long-term forest monitoring plots, ancient hill cane and sassafras clones, and sites illustrating the effects of deer browsing, dogwood anthracnose, and changing patterns of oak regeneration, as well as the importance of mycorrhizal associations in sustaining forest ecosystems. These sites have generated peer-reviewed publications documenting the ecological processes and long-term changes we will observe firsthand. Along the way, we will discuss how these findings have shaped our understanding of forest ecology and how they inform forest management, conservation policy, and ecological stewardship in the region. Current Eastern forest ecological research will be explored in two panels at SPIEL. To join the field trip, meet on campus at 3pm Central Time/4pm Eastern Time on Friday at the parking lot behind Dupont Library at 178 Georgia Avenue, Sewanee, TN 37383.

 

6:00 – 9:00 pm Central Time/7:00 – 10:00 pm Eastern Time

​

Friday Evening Welcome Social - As you arrive to town on Friday evening, please join us for a social gathering upstairs at local pub and restaurant Shenanigans from 6-9pm Central Time/7-10pm Eastern Time. After 9pm Central, enjoy the bar downstairs until closing time at 11pm. Shenanigans, 12595 Sollace M Freeman Hwy, Sewanee, TN 37375. Food and beverages are available for purchase all night at the upstairs and/or downstairs bars.

 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10th

​

7:00 am Central Time    (6: Spencer-Harris Commons, a.k.a. Spencer Hall atrium)

​

Registration – Upon arrival, all attendees must check in at registration and collect their name tags. All volunteers must sign in and out and wear a volunteer badge. If you require a community service letter, please let us know. Attendance is free for students and Sewanee faculty members; please be prepared to provide your college ID. If you have not already paid your conference fees online, please complete payment at the registration table. A QR code linking to our secure payment portal will be available onsite; online payment is preferred. Cash and checks are also accepted. At the registration table, you may register and pay on-site, or visit the organization tabling area.  Throughout the the day we will have Convene and Create across the hall from Registration.

 

Convene and Create -Explore your artistic side through a variety of self motivated activities provided by an artist, naturalist, and writer.  We will provide examples from nature that speak to natural processes and the importance of technical accuracy in creative writing and visual art. Throughout the conference this area will be open, providing everyone an opportunity to convene and create. 

​

Vickey Wheeler, Artist

Henry Hughes, Naturalist

James Braziel, Writer

 

8:00 - 9:15 am

​

            I.         Data Center Track Session 1. Big Tech, Big Impacts: Community Tools for Managing the Data Center Boom 

                         [CLE session] (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium)                          

​

Ashley Wilmes, Attorney and Executive Director, Kentucky Resources Council, KY

Audrey Ernstberger, Attorney, Kentucky Resources Council, KY  

William Snow, Associate Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, GA

Trey Bussey, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, TN

Chloe Allen, Associate Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, TN

Charline Whyte, Attorney, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, AL

 

             II.        Small Grantwriting for Beginners (4: Gailor auditorium)

​

Davis Mounger, Director, Tennessee Heartwood, TN

 

9:30 - 10:45 am

​

              III.      Data Center Track Session 2. The Data Center Boom: Power, Pollution & Public Impacts                                                                  [CLE session] (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium)

​

Cassandra McCrae, Senior Attorney, Earthjustice, CA

Mary Cromer, Attorney, Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, KY

Byron L. Gary, Senior Attorney, Kentucky Resource Council, KY

Keri Powell, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, GA

 

              IV.        A Boatload of Dam Work Ahead: How and Why to Engage in the Upcoming Wave of Hydropower                                            Licensings in the Southeast [CLE session] (4: Gailor auditorium)

​

Jack West, Attorney, Alabama Rivers Alliance, AL

Bob Nasdor, Northeast Stewardship & Legal Director, American Whitewater, MA

Jacob Bernal, Associate Director of Northwest Hydropower Reform, American Rivers, ID

​

 

11:00 am - 12:00 pm -- KEYNOTE ADDRESS/PLENARY SESSION

 

Mystery, Commitment, Community, and Hope  (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium)

 

Rev. Mark Johnston, Retired Episcopal Priest, Justice and Care of Creation Entrepreneur, AL

​

​​

12:00 - 1:30 pm -- Lunch

​

Lunch – We recommend sampling the convenient, diverse, quality dining options at Sewanee’s on-campus McClurg Dining Hall , but off-campus dining options also exist on and around University Avenue.

​

Caucuses – Meet in the dining hall or in designated campus classrooms for self-organized discussion groups, mini-presentations, strategy sessions, or to launch new projects or coalitions. To organize and promote your caucus ahead of the conference, fill out this form by October 1st, and your caucus will be posted to our website by October 5th. See the whiteboard by Registration to organize a caucus on-site and to learn about the caucuses you can attend.

 

1:30 - 2:15 pm

​

             V.           Data Center Track Session 3. The Civil Rights and EJ Roots of Local Data Center Advocacy                                                             (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium)

​

Amanda Garcia, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, TN

Yolonda Spinks, Environmental Justice Policy Advocate, Southern Environmental Law Center, NC

Em Coakley, Climate & Energy Organizer, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, KY

 

              VI.          Forest Science Track Session 1. The Fate of Remaining Intact Upland Forest on the Southern                                                     Cumberland Plateau: Revisiting a 1981 Baseline. (4: Gailor auditorium)

​

Jonathan Evans, PhD, Professor of Biology, Sewanee: University of the South, TN

​

2:30 - 3:45 pm

​

              VII.         Clean Water Under Attack: Continued Rollbacks and Legal Updates for Protecting our Waterway and                                    Wetlands  [CLE session] (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium)

​

Ashley Wilmes, Executive Director, Kentucky Resources Council, KY

Albert Ettinger, Attorney, Private Practice, IL [CLE session] (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium)

Jack West, Attorney, Alabama Rivers Alliance, AL

Bob Nasdor, Northeast Stewardship & Legal Director, American Whitewater, MA

Jacob Bernal, Associate Director of Northwest Hydropower Reform, American Rivers, ID

 

                 VIII.         Playing the Long Game: The Polluter's Project to Dismantle New Source Review [CLE Session]                                                       (4: Gailor auditorium)

 

Keri Powell, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, GA

Byron L. Gary, Senior Attorney, Kentucky Resource Council, KY

 

3:45 - 5:00 pm

​

Free Time – Sewanee’s 13,000 acre Domain offers extensive recreational opportunities, including camping options.

​

5:00 - 6:30 pm

​

Environmental Film Screening – (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium) 

 

Please join us for a special screening of Southern Exposure Films, short documentaries from the Alabama Rivers Alliance and their partners throughout the Southeast. In this collection, we learn more about the beloved Hymenocallis coronaria (or, Cahaba Lily, to those who know) and meet the folks who have found themselves rooted in the river, spending their summer days protecting this unique plant and the wild waters it calls home. We shine a light on the exciting possibilities of harnessing the sun to meet increasing demand, and the complicated choices that come with it. Can we make room for solar without giving up the wetlands, waterways and wildlife that make the Southeast special? We confront the environmental impacts and costs of AI as massive data centers pop up across the Southeast, threatening to drain communities of precious water and energy. And we are taken along the Tombigbee River to the small town of McIntosh, where we meet the families who have lived for generations in the shadow of massive chemical plants. Residents claim they have been sickened through decades of exposure to legacy chemicals and modern leaks, while the rollback of environmental protections leaves them with even fewer options to protect their health and community. Stick around after the screening for a discussion with Alabama Rivers Alliance. See trailers of the films at https://alabamarivers.org/se-sewanee/  

​

6:00 – 8:00 pm

​

Dinner -You can sample the convenient, diverse, quality dining options at Sewanee’s on-campus McClurg Dining Hall  (the dining hall is open 7am-8pm), but off-campus dining options also exist along University Avenue.

​

7:30 pm – Late    

​

Party – (11: Convocation Hall on the corner of University and Georgia Avenues) Join us for fun and refreshments with Chattanooga’s own Rock and Soul outfit (Up) The Dose!

 

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11th

​

7:30 am     (6: Spencer-Harris Commons, a.k.a. Spencer Hall atrium)

​

Registration – For anyone arriving for the first time on Sunday, you must check in and collect your name tag. All volunteers must sign in and out and wear a volunteer badge.  Attendance is free for students and Sewanee faculty members; please be prepared to provide your college ID. If you have not already paid your conference fees online, please complete payment at the registration table. A QR code linking to our secure payment portal will be available onsite; online payment is preferred. Cash and checks are also accepted. At the registration table, you may register and pay on-site, or visit the organization-tabling area.

 

8:30 – 9:45 am

 

            I.          Forever Fields? Biosolids, PFAS, and Tennessee’s Next Environmental Law Frontier                                                                     [CLE session] (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium)

​

Elise Karpinski, Attorney and Director of Tennessee Water Policy, Harpeth Conservancy, TN

Dan Firth, PhD, Analytical Chemist, Eastern Tennessee State University, TN

Jess Wilson, Tennessee Policy Advisor, Southeast Tennessee Young Farmers, TN 

 

            II.           Federal Lands Fire Policy in the East (4: Gailor auditorium)

​

Tom Nickell, PhD, Retired Neuroscientist, KY

Davis Mounger, Director, Tennessee Heartwood, TN

 

10:00 - 11:15 am

​

             III.           Conservation at the Water’s Edge: the Confluence of Science, Community, Policy, and Law to Conserve                                Riparian Habitat in Rapidly Urbanizing Regions [CLE session] (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium)

​

John Tucker, Attorney and Professor of Environmental Science, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, TN

Jason Houck, Ecological Practice Director, Ardurra Group, Orlando, FL

Nyssa Hunt, Assistant GIS Director, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, TN

Emma Omeragic, Honors Undergraduate Student, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, TN

Renee Radford, Undergraduate Student, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, TN

 

               IV.          Grassroots Permit Advocacy Workshop: Building Stronger Records Across Permit Programs Through                                  Two Coal Mining Case Studies (4: Gailor auditorium)

​

Albert Ettinger, Attorney, Private Practice, IL

Lesley Sneed, Senior Scientist, Kentucky Resources Council, KY

​

11:30 - 12:45 pm

​

              V.            A Tale of Two Wildernesses—Threats to the National Wilderness Preservation System [CLE session]                                            (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium)

​

Katie Bilodeau, Attorney and Legislative Director, Wilderness Watch, ID

Jessica Howell-Edwards, Executive Director, Wild Cumberland, GA

Sam Stearns, Founder, Friends of Bell Smith Springs, IL

John Wallace, President, Shawnee Chapter Illinois Audubon, IL

 

               VI.            Legislative Restrictions on Scientific Evidence in Rulemaking [CLE session] (4: Gailor auditorium)

​

Elise Karpinski, Attorney and Director of TN Water Policy, Harpeth Conservancy, TN

Charles Miller, Policy Director, Alabama Rivers Alliance, AL

Nathaniel “Than” Hitt, PhD, Senior Scientist, WV Rivers Coalition, WV

 

12:45 – 2:00 -- Lunch

​

Lunch – We recommend sampling the convenient, diverse, quality dining options at Sewanee’s on-campus McClurg Dining Hall , but off-campus dining options also exist on and around University Avenue.

Caucuses – Meet in the dining hall or in designated campus classrooms for self-organized discussion groups, mini-presentations, strategy sessions, or to launch new projects or coalitions. To organize and promote your caucus ahead of the conference, fill out this form by October 1st, and your caucus will be posted to our website by October 5th. See the whiteboard by Registration to organize a caucus on-site and to learn about the caucuses you can attend.

 

2:00 - 2:45 pm

​

              VII.           Forest Science Track Session 2. The Hidden Drivers of Forest Dynamics: How Tree Neighbors and                                         Fungal Partners Shape Forests (6: Woods-Blackman auditorium)

​

Rob Phillips, MS Student at TN State University, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, TN

 

              VIII.           Coal Mining Law Today: SMCRA & ESA Litigation Update/OSMRE’s Ten Day Notice Process for                                              Citizen Complaints and Federal Oversight [CLE session] (4: Gailor auditorium)

​

Perrin de Jong, Attorney, Private Practice, NC

Andrew Young, Attorney, Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, VA

 

3:00-3:15 pm

​

Feedback Session and Organizing Meeting for SPIEL 2027 – (6: Spencer-Harris Commons, a.k.a. Spencer Hall atrium) If you’re interested in helping to organize next year’s SPIEL conference, pop in to sign up and give your feedback on what went well and what could be improved from SPIEL 2024 as we look forward to next year’s event.

​

​

​

​

​​