Conservation Land Management Program
Conservation land acquisition has grown dramatically over the past two decades. With it has come a surge in the number of land trusts, as well as a need for land trust managers with, in many cases, entirely new skills sets. Land trust managers must serve as generalists who can respond effectively to a broad range of issues and challenges associated with conservation lands. Such managers need skills today that reflect the novel mix of business, scientific and policy issues facing conservation lands and working landscapes across land ownership boundaries. Confronting ever-increasing economic pressures, land managers need to develop and create ways to generate revenues from conservation properties that are both ecologically and economically sustainable.
Program Description
The Conservation Land Management Program is an intensive 5-day program that provides participants with innovative best practices for improving the ecological and economical sustainability of the land that they manage. The curriculum focuses on the critical intersections amongst conservation land management, research science, and ecosystem economics and politics. A key take-away from the program is the development of strategic leadership skills in identifying and managing effectively all stakeholders, such as community groups, officials, donors and employees.
The multi-disciplinary program faculty provides research, case studies and expertise from the Haas School of Business, the College of Natural Resources, UC Field Stations, Geography, Agricultural Economics, Law, and Molecular & Cell Biology. The program will include both classroom time and a field experience at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve nestled in the eastern foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. As longstanding sites of ecological monitoring and research, these represent unmatched training resources for land managers. Over the course of the week, program participants will develop a strategic operating plan for their site through faculty mentoring and peer feedback.
The diagram below illustrates the critical areas of process overlap and subsequent area for strategic challenges and decisions.
Program Topics
- Adaptive Ecosystem Management
- The Business of Conservation
- Legal aspects of Conservation
- Operational Management
- Collaborative Planning
- Managing Local Policies
- Managing National Policies
- Communicating with Constituents
- Leadership Styles
- Site visits to Jasper Ridge and Mt Hamilton
Who Should Attend
- Managers of conservation properties, easements, and land trusts
- Federal, state, & tribal natural resource managers
- Environmental consultants
- Land developers
- Attorneys
Advantages
Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:- Apply the model of active adaptive management in complex multi-stakeholder settings
- Recognize and respond to changes in the legal and regulatory landscape
- Adopt leadership practices that enable them to incorporate broad management and perspective with deep expertise in functional areas
- Implement a strategic action/operating plan developed under the guidance of faculty coaches
- Effectively communicate with/build relationships with landowners, communities, government entities
