There have been twelve biennial International Conferences on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET) since its origin in 1999. The most recent conference was the largest to date, entirely virtual due to the Covid Pandemic held in September 2021 and entirely hosted by the ICOET Steering Committee with assistance from the Road Ecology Center at the University of California – Davis (UC Davis). This pooled fund will support the next conference in June of 2023 that will be a hybrid conference with the in-person part occurring in Burlington, Vermont.

ICOET continues to serve as an invaluable conduit for transportation and ecology professionals to share applicable research and best practices, and to transfer knowledge between experienced practitioners and future leaders.

The ICOET program includes podium presentations, posters on current research, field trips, and exhibits on topics of interest to researchers, biologists, engineers, planners, project managers, administrators, and policy makers. The folks that regularly attend ICOET represent hundreds of professionals that work for government, Tribal, academic, non-governmental and private industry from the United States and other countries. The 2021 conference had 581 participants from 29 countries.

This new pooled fund will supersede the previous pooled fund (TPF 5-452) that was completed on December 31, 2021.

Provide one ICOET Conference in 2023 for communication, technology transfer and information sharing among transportation professionals on ecology issues and transportation. The ICOET Conference for 2023 will be in Vermont cohosted by the Vermont Agency of Transportation and the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, with support from FHWA and organized by the Road Ecology Center at the UC Davis.  There will also be a hybrid component to the conference that folks can attend virtually.

Building on the 2021 ICOET Conference this 12th biennial conference in 2023 will:

• Bring experts around the world to exchange knowledge & best practices on the interrelationship of ecology & transportation.

• The sharing of ideas through presentations, panel discussion, breaks, lunches, receptions, and field trips.

• Expand the shared knowledge and learn about the cutting edge of science on the topic of ecology and transportation.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will serve as the lead state to carry out this pooled fund. The Road Ecology Center at UC Davis will organize the ICOET conference for 2023. The ICOET Steering Committee and FHWA will be assisting WSDOT and the Road Ecology Center in support of the ICOET Conference.

Project Team:

Contract Manager: Jon Peterson, WSDOT Research & Library Services, peterjn@wsdot.wa.gov

Technical Lead: Paul Wagner, WSDOT Biology Program Manager, wagnerp@wsdot.wa.gov

Conference Lead:  Fraser Shilling, UC Davis, fmshilling@ucdavis.edu

Each pooled fund partner agency will have one representative on the Pooled Fund Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and as such will be a partner in TAC conference calls. The TAC conference calls will serve to update the partners on the planning activities for the ICOET conference and to collect feedback for the conference planners. The anticipated start date for the pooled fund is November 1, 2022, and the estimated completion date is December 31, 2023.

There is no suggested minimum commitment, however a commitment of $4,000 will allow for 2 free in person registrations and a commitment of $2,000 will allow for 1 free in person registration for the conference in Vermont.   There will be one free online attendance for each $1,000 from pooled fund partners. 

Partners may include government agencies, private sector entities and international partners. The minimum funding required to support this pooled fund is $20,000 from all the partners.

We will be asking for a 100% waiver of the non-Federal funding match for SP&R-Subpart B to use SPR-B funds.