Collaboration Education & Training

Mid-Career Training Opportunities in Collaboration

Bridging individuals and organizations with diverse interests, ways of communicating, missions and objectives is a challenging endeavor under any circumstances. EM is complicated by the fact that the collaborative dimension is not one in which resource professionals have been schooled, experienced or encouraged by agency procedures and professional norms. One of the priorities of EMI is to help build the capacity of different organizations to collaborate in an EM context.

What sets EMI apart from other professional training efforts? EMI is dedicated to helping practitioners by developing new materials [exercises, scenarios, simulations], that are specific to EM situations and challenges, as encountered by agencies, communities, and interest groups, and others; exploring new ways and approaches and venues, including the Web. Our efforts span opportunities from meetings to full-scale 5-day workshops.

How to Learn More

We welcome inquires by agencies and groups about ideas and assistance in building their skills and understanding of the collaborative dimensions of ecosystem management.

Past Mid-career Training Courses offered by EMI

Since November of 2000, EMI has developed and conducted several short courses for mid-career professionals in collaboration and negotiation. These courses provide up-to-date, innovative, and effective educational experiences to a variety of government and NGO audiences.

Our faculty and staff are continually looking for ways to facilitate the exchange of on-the-ground skills between professionals and to evaluate and learn from such varied experiences. For example, we are in the process of developing a full range of innovative training materials that include simulations, exercises, cases, video, web-interactive tools and other approaches for promoting active and quasi-experiential education. We are also considering offering longer degree or certificate programs for mid-career professionals.

• Collaborative Management in Western Colorado, was a course offered in December of 2004 to federal, tribal, state and county natural resource managers. The course was held in Grand Junction, Colorado and was sponsored by the Department of Interior and the U.S. Forest Service.
• Collaborative Resource Management in the Missouri River Basin, was a five-day course offered in July 2003 to federal, tribal, and state natural resource managers. The course was held in South Sioux City, Nebraska, in sight of the Missouri River and was sponsored by the Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
• CalFed/Adaptive Management Network: Workshop on Adaptive Management, was a one-day adaptive management workshop in Sacramento , California facilitated by EMI faculty and staff on July 11, 2001. Workshop participants included staff from the CALFED Bay-Delta Program and members of the Adaptive Management Practitioners Network (AMPN).
• Collaboration Skills & Strategies: A Workshop for Environmental Leaders was developed for non-governmental organization professionals. EMI received funding to conduct a pilot two-day workshop which focused on collaboration, negotiation and strategic assessment skills for 30 environmental NGO representatives in Denver , Colorado in late May 2001.
• Collaboration in Resource Management: An Interagency Approach , was developed and led by EMI faculty and staff. First offered in November 2000 at the Fish and Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown , West Virginia , this five-day course was offered to an interagency government audience of federal natural resource managers.

Graduate Courses in Collaboration at the School of Natural Resources and Environment

The School of Natural Resources & Environment offers three graduate courses that explicitly build skills and understanding in the collaborative dimension of ecosystem management. These sequenced courses are structured to provide students with the conceptual frameworks necessary for understanding the political and organizational context within which EM occurs; the range of interests and issues at stake; the incentives affecting the behavior and strategies of those involved; theories of multi-party public conflict management; the structure and functioning of collaborative dispute resolution and problem-solving processes in EM; and, the communication, negotiation and facilitation skills necessary to effectively initiate, participate in, or manage a collaborative process.

This site was developed by the Ecosystem Management Initiative through a partnership with the US Forest Service and the US Department of Interior. Read more.