The 56th Annual Garden Club of Virginia Conservation Forum, which will explore the topic "Trees: Virginia's Remarkable, Renewable Resource," will be Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.

Speakers will include Lytton John Musselman, ODU's Mary Payne Hogan Professor of Botany; Bettina Ring, who earlier this year became the first woman to take the helm of the Virginia Department of Forestry; Richard Olsen, lead scientist for the urban tree breeding and germplasm research programs at the U.S. National Arboretum and the Arboretum's acting director; and Nancy Ross Hugo, author of "Remarkable Trees of Virginia" and "Seeing Trees: Discover the Extraordinary Secret Lives of Everyday Trees."

The forum is open to the public; a $50 per person admission charge is required, which covers a light breakfast, refreshments and lunch. Student admission is free, but does not include lunch. Click here to register by Nov. 6.

Check-in will begin at 8:30 a.m. before opening remarks at 9:30 by Jeanette Cadwallender, the president of the, Garden Club of Virginia, and Anne Beals, chairman of the Conservation Forum.

Musselman will speak at 9:45 a.m. on "The Tree that Built Tidewater - The Neglected Role of Longleaf Pine in Virginia's History." Bing's overview of "The Management and Care of Virginia's Forest Resource" will begin at 10:20 a.m.; Olsen's presentation on "Urban Forests" will be at 11:45 a.m.; and Hugo's talk on "Seeing Trees: Discover the Extraordinary Secret Lives of Everyday Trees" will begin at 12:20 p.m.