Summit Schedule

Check-in

Drop by the CNC Nature Education Center to sign in, pick up Summit materials, and introduce yourself!

Networking Social

Enjoy a relaxed atmosphere to connect with fellow professionals. Beverages will be provided.

Dinner

Summit Welcome

A warm welcome and introduction with ANCA and CNC staff.

Early Morning Activities

• Birding at Chippewa Nature Center (7:30-8:30am) — Join Tom Lenon, CNC’s Director of Land and Facilities and life-long naturalist, for a casual stroll through CNC’s ecosystems. With mature forests, fields, wetlands, and rivers, CNC is a birding hotspot in the region. Binoculars will be available to borrow.
• Riverfront Hike and Bridge Tour (7-8:30am) — Enjoy a morning walk along the Tittabawassee River. This 2.5 mile walk on paved and unpaved paths will include a tour of Midland’s five downtown bridges and three riverfront parks. If you’re looking for a shorter walk, you will be able to return to downtown about halfway through.

Field Workshops

Field Workshops are your opportunity to visit nature education sites and learn firsthand from their operations. Choose one Tuesday Field Workshop from five options when you register.

Lunch

Facilitated Discussions and Workshops

In these sessions you will learn alongside peers and explore new ideas to apply in your work. With a variety of topics and formats to choose from, sessions are designed to support your professional growth and strengthen your leadership.

Networking Social

Enjoy a relaxed atmosphere to connect with fellow professionals, featuring live music from CNC's own Executive Director Dennis Pilaske. Beverages will be provided.

• Special Activity: Guided Hike — Take a brief stroll through the grounds with CNC staff.

Dinner

Leadership Awards Ceremony

Celebrate excellence in our field at the 2026 ANCA Leadership Awards Ceremony, a special evening honoring individuals who exemplify outstanding leadership in the nature center profession.

Evening Activities

• Evening Explorations at Chippewa Nature Center – Choose from a Bat Hike, Salamander Search or Wetlands Stroll and enjoy a nature-filled evening on the trails of CNC.
• Downtown Midland Evening – Visit The Commons in downtown Midland where you can grab a drink or dessert, visit with friends, play bags and enjoy a summer night. There are several restaurants, ice cream shops, a cookie store, a few bars, a tap room and a distillery all located within The Commons.

Early Morning Activity

• Bird Banding at Chippewa Nature Center — Spend the morning learning about bird banding and watching the process happen. August brings many young-of-year birds to the nets along with residents and early migrants. All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a state and federally-authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey's Bird Banding Lab.

Field Workshops

Field Workshops are your opportunity to visit nature education sites and learn firsthand from their operations. Choose one Wednesday Field Workshop from five options when you register.

Lunch

Open Space Sessions

Open Space sessions provide an opportunity for you to create your own meeting, continue a session that needs more time, or find a group to address an issue that was not presented elsewhere during the Summit. We'll first go through a collaborative process to design the session topics and develop a session schedule, then break into two one-hour sessions.

Evening at the Ballpark: Great Lakes Loons

Enjoy a summer evening with the Great Lakes Loons, Midland's own Minor League Baseball team. Summit participants will gather in the Northern Lights Pavilion for a lively night of baseball and connection. Dinner will be served 6-8pm, and the game starts at 7pm. A shuttle will run from Chippewa Nature Center, and the stadium is also within walking distance of both Summit hotels.

Early Morning Activities

• Birding at Chippewa Nature Center (7:30-8:30am) — Join Tom Lenon, CNC’s Director of Land and Facilities and life-long naturalist, for a casual stroll through CNC’s ecosystems. With mature forests, fields, wetlands, and rivers, CNC is a birding hotspot in the region. Binoculars will be available to borrow.
• Sunrise at the Wetlands Tower (6:45-8am) — Watch the sunrise and listen to the birds sing as you look over CNC’s Wetlands property. These marshes were developed in the early 1990’s as part of a wetland mitigation project from development on the north side of Midland. Now home to river otter, beaver, muskrat, purple martin, and a variety of ducks, geese, and shorebirds, this vibrant area is a treat to visit!

Facilitated Discussions and Workshops

In these sessions you will learn alongside peers and explore new ideas to apply in your work. With a variety of topics and formats to choose from, sessions are designed to support your professional growth and strengthen your leadership.

Lunch

Open Space Sessions

A continuation of the Open Space sessions that Summit participants collectively developed on Wednesday. Open Space sessions provide an opportunity for all Summit participants to create a new session, continue a session that needs more time, or find a group to address an issue that was not presented elsewhere during the Summit.

Networking Social

Enjoy a relaxed atmosphere to connect with fellow professionals. Beverages will be provided.

• Special Activity: Guided Hike — Take a brief stroll through the grounds with CNC staff.

Dinner

Summit Closing

Evening Activity: An Evening at the Homestead Farm

Wander the cabin, root cellar, wagon barn, and timber frame barn while chatting with CNC volunteers and staff. Easy-to-join backyard games and a casual campfire will round out this perfect summer evening.

Field Trips

Field Trips add to your professional development experience while taking advantage of unique opportunities to visit additional sites, spend time with local experts, and interact with peers. See full details here.

• Kayak the Chippewa River — Join CNC naturalists for a 6-mile kayak trip down the Chippewa River. Along the way, we will check out CNC’s properties from the river's perspective while keeping our eyes out for green and great blue herons, bald eagles, swallows, and kingfishers.
• Paddling the River in a Voyageur Canoe — Spend the morning paddling CNC’s 29-foot fiberglass reproduction of a birch bark canoe. These canoes were used by voyageurs to haul loads of trade goods and animal pelts on these rivers in the 18th and 19th centuries.
• Exploring Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge — Hit the trails by exploring Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge! This ranger-led guided hike will meander through restored wetlands and bottomland hardwood forests that provide critical habitat for migratory waterfowl and a myriad of other wildlife species.
• Authentically Urban: Belle Isle Nature Center and the Outdoor Adventure Center in Downtown Detroit — Expand your Summit experience by touring two unique ANCA member organizations in the metro Detroit area. At both centers you’ll engage with staff, see behind the scenes, and gain a firsthand understanding of the operations that make these organizations acclaimed regional attractions.