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2023 Annual Meeting Logistics

Locations

Most of the meeting will take place under the outdoor patio tent at the Colonial Hotel, located at: 625 Betty Spring Rd, Gardner, MA 01440. A visit to Harvard Forest and several of its historic research sites, is part of the agenda.

The plenary session will be held in the Hotel’s Outdoor tent. This tent can be closed off and heated if necessary. Breakout sessions will be held in the tent and in the ballroom.

The address of Harvard Forest is 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366-9504.

The Harvard Forest is part of the Petersham community and has been the Northeast Core site for the National Ecological Observatory Network. US-Ha1 is one of the longest running sites in the AmeriFlux Network and is one of our Core sites.

Harvard Forest offers several accommodations:

  • Multiple gender-neutral restrooms
  • Lactation rooms
  • Hearing assistance

 

Travel

Nearby airports are

  • Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), 1 hour, 30 minutes drive
  • Worcester Regional Airport (ORH), 42 min drive;

Due to the location of the site, many community members asked about carpooling. Please use this google sheet to coordinate rides, but reach out to the driver directly to confirm.

New: train option

Folks can take the MBTA public transit system from the airport to nearby the Colonial Hotel. It would require some transfers and would take 2-3 hours, but you could:
  1. Take the blue line from the Airport stop to the State stop
  2. At State, transfer to the orange line (on an Oak Grove direction train) and get off at North Station (the second stop after State)
  3. At North Station, take a Wachusett/Fitchburg bound commuter rail train (leaves every hour). The Wachusett stop is a 10-min car ride, and the Fitchburg stop is a 20-min car ride to the Colonial Hotel.
It would be about a 2-3 hour journey from the airport, but it’s possible if folks want to avoid driving and can’t carpool. One note is to make sure to check the commuter rail timetable, it does not run 24/7 and sometimes runs behind schedule but they should post any delay updates on the MBTA commuter rail website. It looks like Lyft services the Wachusett and Fitchburg stop areas to the Colonial Hotel, although it may depend on the time of day. And if folks are taking the train route back to the airport, they should leave themselves plenty to extra time in case of delays.

Hybrid Format

Plenary sessions, all talks and q&a’s will be accessible via zoom. Breakout sessions will also be accessible via zoom.

If in-person attendees want to join the zoom meeting to engage in chat, please 1) mute your speaker, then 2) enter zoom and 3) make sure to not join computer audio OR leave computer audio.

If virtual participants want to engage with each other during breaks, we offer 2 breakout rooms – 1 coffee break room just to chat, and 1 discussion room that offers discussion prompts around set topics.

 

Registration Cost

Virtual Attendee: $0   Register here for virtual attendance, by Oct 1.

In-person registration includes attendance at all agenda items, as well as meals. In-person registration is closed now.

Early Career Attendee: $80

General Attendee: $180

 

 

Lodging information

There are room blocks at the Colonial Hotel, located at: 625 Betty Spring Rd, Gardner, MA 01440. Most of the meeting will be held at this hotel.

If you wish to book a room at the Colonial Hotel, please call 978-630-2500 OR 888-214-4991 by August 14, and refer to the Scientific Conference to access the room block. We have blocked a limited number of rooms for $119.95/night. For more information on The Colonial Hotel, please visit The Colonial Hotel.

Alternatively, you can arrange lodging for yourself in the area at other hotels, Air BnBs, etc.

 

Weather

Week of October 3 – October 6:     Gardner, MA (surrounding areas)