60 Extension Professionals Gather for 2017 Southern Extension Natural Resources & Forestry Advance

60 Extension Professionals Gather for 2017 Southern Extension Natural Resources & Forestry Advance

Around 60 Extension professionals gathered October 10-11, 2017 in Cheaha State Park for the 2017 Southern Extension Forestry and Natural Resources Advance Organized by the office of Southern Regional Extension Forestry.

Retreat 2017 Group Photo
A selection of the participants of the 2017 Retreat
 

Cheaha State Park, Delta, Alabama - On October 10-11, 2017 around 60 Extension forestry and natural resource professionals gathered at Bald Rock Lodge in Cheaha State Park for the 2017 Southern Extension Forestry and Natural Resources Advance organized by the Office of Southern Regional Extension Forestry (SREF). SREF organized the event to provide a platform for Southern Extension forestry and natural resource professionals to discuss challenges and opportunities unique to the region and to explore and develop collaborative solutions for multi-state issues. The outcomes proposed for the meeting were fourfold: 

  •             A stronger regional network of Extension natural resource professionals at the county, regional, state and multistate level.
  •             New skills and techniques for greater reach and impact.
  •             A greater understanding of key issues in the region.
  •             Shared leadership in the development of regional programming.

 

The first day began with an inaugural address by Dr. Gary Lemme, Extension Director at the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service. Dr. Lemme highlighted the need for Extension to focus on the 3 Rs of Extension: remaining relevant to stakeholders, ensuring that all programs are research-based, and fostering relationships with peers, stakeholders, industry, and agencies, among others. 

The morning's program also featured talks from Dr. Janaki Alavalapati, Dean of the Auburn School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Dr. George Hernandez, USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry, Southern Region, and Dr. Eric Norland, National Program Leader, USDA NIFA. Dr. Bill Hubbard, the Southern Regional Extension Forester, capped off the presentations with an update on the current capacity and potential of Extension forestry and natural resources in the southern United States. 

In the afternoon, Dr. John Diaz of the University of Florida and Dr. Jay Jayarante of North Carolina State University led a workshop on program evaluation and impact tailored to the needs of Extension professionals. After a series of lectures, the duo split participants up into groups based on specialty program areas, which included forest management and economics, urban forestry, wildland fire, wildlife, wood products, forest health, and landowner engagement. The groups used logic modeling to identify goals, objectives, and measurable impacts for their chosen program area and created reports that were to be shared with everyone on the second day of the retreat.

On the second day, Alabama Cooperative Extension Service state contact Josh Melsom updated the group on the Extension Disaster Education Network and its relevance to forestry and natural resources. Afterwards, SREF Extension Associate Leslie Boby described the current state of the Forestry Extension Onboarding Program (FEOP), a NIFA-funded online program that will train new Extension specialists and agents. FEOP will feature a series of 8 different modules focusing on key issues such as program planning and development and program evaluation and impact and will be conducted live in late summer, 2018 and archived for later use. 

For the final few hours of the meeting, representatives from program area groups from the previous day's workshop delivered reports on their findings, which were then discussed broadly by everyone at the retreat. After all participants went their separate ways, a post-meeting satisfaction and impact survey was distributed to assess how well the Retreat had achieved its proposed outcomes. 

A complete account of the 2017 Advance along with summaries of the findings of program area groups and results of the post-meeting impact and satisfaction survey will be available to view on this website sometime in mid-November, 2017. 

leslie group photo

SREF Extension Agent (center) in a group discussion 

dr.jayarate

Dr. John Diaz (left) and Dr. Jay Jayarante
deliver their lecture

 
lodgings

Meeting location at Cheaha State Park

 
eric norland

Dr. Eric Norland talks to the group

 
Document Actions

Good Reads

Guidebook for Prescribed Burning in the Southern Region

Whether you started burning with your grandparents as a toddler, or you’ve never held a drip torch, the Guidebook will help you set and meet your burning goals.

Submit an article

Do you have an article that you would like posted on the SREF site? Fill out our simple form to add your article to the list viewed by thousands of forestry and natural resource professionals.

Submit an article→
Personal tools