The National Woodland Owners Association (NWOA), in cooperation with the National Association of University Forest Resources Programs (NAUFRP), will present the annual FAMILY FORESTS EDUCATION AWARD at the 2008 Society of American Foresters (SAF) national convention in early November of this year.

The award will be presented to the educational institution deemed to have delivered the most effective education program benefiting non-industrial private forest (NIPF) landowners. Any educational institution is eligible. The award will be presented to the administrative unit where the faculty involved in the education program are housed.

An educational program is a combination of educational materials, media and events, including applied research that supports those efforts, that is conducted over a period of time for the benefit of non-industrial private forest land owners. The award can recognize effective programs addressing any or all aspects of forest resource management including, but not be limited to, business management, silvicultural activities, harvesting, and marketing.

Nomination packages should include no more than 10 pages of documentation* describing an educational program for family forest landowners over the previous five years, including information about:

Faculty involved (including breadth and multi-disciplinary involvement)

Educational needs assessment (including involvement of clients)

Educational materials, events, or other resources used

Applied research incorporated

Collaborations among disciplines, agencies, and organizations

Results, impacts, or outcomes

Evidence of program quality

Degree of innovation

Emulation of the program by others

A committee composed of both NWOA and NAUFRP members will select the award winner. An award recipient will not be able to repeat two years in succession. Institutions that submitted nominations for the 2006 and 2007 award, but did not receive the award will automatically be considered for this period. These institutions are welcome to submit additional materials in support of those nominations.

Criteria for award selection include program quality, outcomes and impacts with consideration for the number of faculty involved.

The deadline for receiving all materials is September 30, 2008. Nominations and supporting documentation should be forwarded to:

NAUFRP-NWOA 2007 NIPF Award

c/o Terri Bates, NAPFSC Executive Liaison

3325 Rose Lane

Falls Church, VA 22042

For further information contact Terri Bates, (703) 538-1134 (E-Mail: naufrp@verizon.net) or Keith Argow, President, NWOA at (703) 255-2700 (E-Mail: argow@nwoa.net).

* A CD containing supporting materials may be submitted. If supplying materials which would be difficult to reproduce for the reviewers (such as videos and CDs), please provide at least 5 copies.