WIS 6934 Systematic Planning for Conservation Projects
Conservation practitioners have limited resources (money, time, and people) to solve urgent and escalating conservation problems. To be effective with those resources, conservation practitioners need to carefully choose and prioritize their strategies, monitor whether they are being effective, and adapt strategies when they are not working. In addition, to obtain support from funders, partners, or stakeholders, practitioners need to be able to clearly communicate their goals and strategies, demonstrate their effectiveness, and rely on clear, transparent decision-making.
This course is designed for graduate students who are interested in applied conservation, as a career or in terms of implementing a conservation project. The goal of the course is to provide students with training and experience in a systematic and adaptive process for planning conservation projects. The course will be structured around the Conservation Measures Partnership's cycle for planning and implementing conservation projects (http://www.conservationmeasures.org/) and will focus on development of conservation plans for areas chosen by student teams.
Read this if you are interested in registering for the course for Fall 2012
Registration is with permission of the instructors because class will be limited to 12 students. If you are interested in taking the course, please download and fill out this questionnaire (click here) and e-mail it to Lyn Branch at branchl@ufl.edu. This information will help us set up the 4 student teams for the conservation planning class and be sure that all students have appropriate background. All students in the class should have had some conservation experience in the field, as this is an important context for planning. The course is oriented toward students who have extensive experience and interest in conservation of particular sites (e.g., a park, reserve, significant private lands, etc.). Please return the form no later than 6 August (or as soon as you can thereafter for those of you who learn about the course after that date). I will begin communicating with students by e-mail around 10 August to let them know they are accepted into the course.
Each team (3 students per team) will develop a conservation plan for an area chosen by the team. We encourage you to "team up" with other students who share your interest in a particular area and contact Lyn to register as a group! At least one member of the group should have extensive knowledge of the ecology of the area. The instructors reserve the right to reformulate team membership (e.g., to obtain a better mix of expertise in ecological and social sciences).
