November 16, 2021, 9:30 AM - 1:30 PM (US Central)
Agriculture, Soil Health and Water Quality Through the Ages
Virginia Chapter SWCS Fall Meeting
Tuesday, November 16, 2021; 9:30 am to 1:30 pm
Education Center
Pamplin Historical Park & The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier
6125 Boydton Plank Road, Petersburg, VA 23803
Registration is $25 ($20 students) and includes lunch and a park pass, which allows you to tour the park and museum until 5:00 pm.
Speaker Bios
Kathy Holm is the President of the Virginia Chapter SWCS and the Assistant State Conservationist for Field Operations in
Area 1 of Virginia. She manages seven field offices from northern Virginia through the Shenandoah Valley for the Natural
Resources Conservation Service. Prior to that, she was an NRCS Resource Conservationist for three years and RC&D
Coordinator with NRCS for almost eight years. She was Director of Public Policy for the Valley Conservation Council, a
local land trust, for five years.
Tim Talbot Tim Talbott is the Director of Education, Interpretation, Visitor Services, and Collections at Pamplin Historical
Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier. He received his master’s degree in Public History from
Appalachian State University and has bachelor’s degrees in History from East Tennessee State University and
Communications from Milligan College.
Dr. Erin Mauldin is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of South Florida – St. Petersburg. She is the author
of the award-winning book, “Unredeemed Land: An Environmental History of Civil War and Emancipation in the Cotton
South”, now available in paperback from Oxford University Press. She is also the co-editor of the Wiley-Blackwell
Companion to Global Environmental History and co-edits the book series, "Environmental History and the American
South," at the University of Georgia Press.
Mary Sketch is the Coordinator of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition and is based in Richmond, Virginia. She has
experience working with collaboratives and coalitions across the country at the intersection of economic and
environmental wellbeing with a focus on working lands and rural communities. Prior to working with the Virginia Soil
Health Coalition, she worked at the Center for Rural Strategies where she helped coordinate the Rural Assembly, a
coalition of rural stakeholders across the US. She received her Master’s degree in Fish and Wildlife Conservation from
Virginia Tech and her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Brown University. Through her graduate research
she worked directly with agricultural producers and conservation practitioners to gain a deeper understanding of how
farmers and ranchers approach conservation and land management decisions.
James Martin is the Chesapeake Bay Program Manager for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality where his
work includes management of Chesapeake Bay Grants, WIP and 2-year Milestones development and reporting and
coordination of partner agencies for WIP implementation. His education in Marine Science is supplemented by work
experience with the Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Coast Guard and 20
years with the Commonwealth of Virginia working on Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts. James is the current Co-Chair
of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Water Quality Goal Implementation Team where he works in cooperation with the
Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions, EPA and numerous Bay stakeholders to chart the course for Bay restoration. James
enjoys spending time on the water boating, swimming, fishing and exploring the beauty and bounty of the Chesapeake
Bay ecosystem.
Cory Hoar is the incoming President of Virginia Chapter SWCS and a Conservation Specialist with the Virginia Dare Soil
and Water Conservation District, which serves the cities of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. Cory is involved in the
Agriculture, Technical, Virginia Agriculture Cost-Share Program and Virginia Cost-Assistance Program. He also serves as
the President for the Virginia Association of Conservation District Employees.
About the Pamplin Historical Park & The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier
What began in 1991 as an effort to preserve a threatened Civil War battlefield near Petersburg, Virginia, has evolved
into one of America’s finest history and heritage travel destinations. Pamplin Historical Park & The National Museum of
the Civil War Soldier is a 424-acre historical campus that features world-class museums, antebellum homes, a National
Historic Landmark Civil War battlefield, a slave life exhibit, educational programs, and special events. It has been called
“the new crown jewel of Civil War sites in America” by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson.
In the early 1990’s, a tract of land in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, became available for purchase. The tract included a
stretch of well-preserved Civil War earthworks constructed by Confederate troops of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of
Northern Virginia. It was on this site on April 2, 1865, that 14,000 Union soldiers under Gen. Ulysses S. Grant broke
through Lee’s defensive line, ending the nine-month campaign for Petersburg and setting in motion the events leading
to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House one week later.
The Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (the forerunner of today’s Civil War Trust) alerted Dr. Robert
B. Pamplin, Jr., a businessman and philanthropist living in Portland, Oregon, that the land, which had belonged to his
ancestors during the Civil War, could be purchased and preserved. Dr. Pamplin operates the R.B. Pamplin Corporation, a
Fortune 400 company. He also manages the interests of the R.B. Pamplin Foundation, which provides significant funding
for charitable and educational causes.
Dr. Pamplin saw the purchase of his ancestral lands as not only an opportunity to preserve but also to educate. He
acquired the original one-hundred acres of historic land and funded the construction of a $5,000,000 development,
including an interpretive center and a one-mile trail, which opened in June 1994 as Pamplin Park Civil War Site. Soon
thereafter, the Pamplin Foundation purchased an adjacent parcel that contained Tudor Hall, the plantation home of the
Pamplins’ ancestors, and authorized its restoration.
9:30-9:35 Welcome: Kathy Holm, President of Virginia Chapter SWCS
9:35-9:45 Pamplin Historical Park Overview: Tim Talbott, Pamplin Historical Park, Director of Education, Interpretation, Visitor Services & Collections
9:45-10:45 Civil War Era Agriculture and Soil Conservation: Dr. Erin Mauldin, Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of South Florida - St. Petersburg
10:45-11:00 Break
11:00-11:15 What’s New with the Revitalized Virginia Soil Health Coalition: Mary Sketch, Virginia Soil Health Coalition Coordinator
11:15-12:00 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan Update: James Martin, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
12:00-12:15 Business Meeting: Kathy Holm, President of Virginia Chapter SWCS
12:15-1:15 Lunch and Awards Program: Cory Hoar, President of Virginia Chapter SWCS
1:15-1:20 Closing remarks: Cory Hoar, President of Virginia Chapter SWCS
1:20-5:00 Tour the Pamplin Historical Park on your own or with SWCS Group (park pass included with your meeting registration)