Forestry Outreach Programs
Woodland Leadership Institute
What will I learn?
Wisconsin's Woodland Leadership
Institute is designed to educate, train, and equip
forest landowners and woodland enthusiasts to provide grassroots
leadership on the issues important to the growth and development of
forestry and sustainable forest management in Wisconsin. To
help you become a leader in your community on issues related to
forest management and public policy and to help them become active
in local, regional, and statewide woodland landowner organizations.
The coursework focuses on the history and development of forestry
and its impact on Wisconsin's social, ecologic, and economic health;
current forest management issues and philosophy; the role of
woodland owner organizations in Wisconsin; as well as the
introduction of community outreach techniques and public
participation.
As a part of their participation in this program they are asked
to develop personal goals outlining how they will use what they have
learned through the Institute to address real issues in their
community. The institute is designed to help them develop these
goals through the seminars, readings, observations and interviews of
community leaders, and the sharing of ideas and feedback from their
classmates.
Seminars:
The Institute is designed to provide participants with a deeper
understanding of the issues facing Wisconsin's forestlands and
forest management philosophies that emphasize the sustainability and
stewardship of Wisconsin's forest resources. The Seminars combine
classroom and field experiences to introduce them to the history and
development of forestry and its impact on Wisconsin's social,
ecologic, and economic health, current forest management issues,
sustainability and stewardship management philosophy, and the role
of woodland owner organizations in Wisconsin, and the introduction
of community outreach techniques and public participation. Through
the Seminars participants learn some of the tools necessary to
impact these issues through active participation and leadership in
Wisconsin's woodland organizations.
Through the seminars participants are exposed to new ideas and
new ways of thinking about things. A wide variety of presenters will
provide facts and information on a number of important issues.
Participants in the Woodland Leadership Institute…
- Learn about the history of forestry in Wisconsin and its
impact on the ecology, economy and social development of
Wisconsin.
- Gain insight into private forest landowners and their
reasons for owning land and how that affects their management
decisions.
- Gain an understanding of the resources, both technical and
financial, available to forest landowners to help them manage
their forest lands.
- Learn about forest management activities on private and
public lands and the role of landowner organization in forest
management.
- Learn about citizen led conservation efforts.
- Gain some understanding of the skills those leaders must
employ to gain citizen/membership involvement in decision-making
in conservation issues.
Readings:
Prior to each seminar participants are sent selected books and
articles. The purpose of these readings is to help them prepare for
the seminars. The Institute is designed to help participants gain a
deeper understanding of the issues surrounding sustainable forest
management as well as organizations that are active and have a daily
impact on these issues. The readings are designed to help
participants gain some perspective on these issues and to help
prepare them to critically examine the material that will be
presented. The Institute is a personal adventure as much as anything
else and it is designed to help participants broaden their
perspective and develop their own personal philosophy of forest
stewardship, grassroots leadership, and volunteerism to take back
and use in your community.
Observations and Interviews:
The Institute is stretched over the course of the year to allow
participants time to absorb what they have learned and to consider
how they will use it. The time between the seminars also has a
purpose. At the end of each seminar participants are given a
“homework assignment.” The purpose of these assignments is to help
them learn about what is happening in their community. What forest
resource management issues are important in their community? What
organizations are active and what issues are important to them? What
decisions are being made by elected officials and agency personnel
that affect forest management? Participants are asked to take a look
at your community and see what is happening and maybe start to see
what they can do to have an impact.
Action Plan:
The Action Plan is a participants final “homework assignment.” This
is where they take everything that they have learned through the
seminars, readings, and local observations and interviews and put
them into practice to effect change in their community.
The Woodland Leadership Institute provides participants with a
unique opportunity to learn about sustainable forest management and
to play an important role as leaders in the management of our
state's natural resources. We expect program graduate to apply what
they have learned to their own properties and to help their friends
and neighbors to do the same. Our goal is to help Wisconsin's
woodland owners take their visions for their woodland properties and
make it a reality.
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