Virginia’s environmental leaders are gathering in Madison County for a three-day workshop, Sept. 13-15, to kick off the seventh year of the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute. VNRLI is a partnership with the University of Virginia’s Institute for Environmental Negotiation, Virginia Cooperative Extension and the Virginia Department of Forestry. Leaders from Virginia’s industry, businesses, local and state government, and the environmental community will begin their yearlong work together with a packed agenda covering important skills for conflict resolution, personal leadership, and collaborative dialogue. Leaders also will hear from guest speakers about a six-year dialogue between public health advocates and tobacco farmers, on the surface with nothing in common, who were able through dialogue to find common ground and to work together to help tobacco communities and public health. [From UVa News]