Notes from the Project Team |
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Be the Good Ninja!
by Wendy-Lin Bartles, Interim NRLI Director
When a meeting is run well, the expert facilitator is often invisible. Similarly, when supporting groups to do their best work, NRLI leaders are seldom noticed. Our alumni know when to step up and when to get out of the way. Many even “facilitate from the chair.” Balancing the art and science of facilitation is tricky business, which is why one of the most recent graduates from our DEP class charged her cohort last week to “Go and be the good NRLI ninja!”
We are proud of Cohort 5 of the NRLI-DEP 4 module intra-institutional program Effectively Engaging DEP Stakeholders. Initiated in 2017, the program has built a network of 116 alumni, expanding the NRLI-DEP good ninja footprint across the state of Florida.
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2022 class of the NRLI-DEP Effectively Engaging DEP Stakeholders program graduated on April 21 - congratulations! |
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Class 21 Graduation - live on Facebook |
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Friday, May 6 starting at 7:15 pm
We'll be streaming the Class 21 Graduation ceremony on FB Live!
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8-Month Flagship Program | Session 7 |
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Uprooted - Trees for Thought
By Maxine Hunter and Jason Lawor
With NRLI Class 21 coming to a close, we strolled into Quincy to look at the desolation caused by Hurricane Michael. We started our journey with Dr. Pat Minogue, a state-wide forestry Extension specialist and Associate Professor of Silviculture. It was a good introduction to the importance and economics of timber commodities in Florida, as well as the Federal Forestry and Conservation Assistance Programs available for landowners, such as the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP). It was hard to imagine the $1.3 billion in forestry losses to this $25 billion dollar industry. As we took a closer look using prisms, we could physically see and imagine the 85% or more in losses. During our three-day visit, we unfortunately learned that only 25% of timberlands had been reforested since the destruction. Florida’s timber prices had been on decline long before the hurricane, but this added an entirely new dilemma.
The vast devastation was clear and as heartbreaking as the stories of those who lost their retirements, homes, and jobs due to the loss of timber. The resulting heartache was eased a bit as we learned that previous competitors became partners after this tragedy. Individuals and companies joined forces battling the many challenges in the aftermath of the storm, from the immediate effects of not being able to access roads and property to accessing emergency grant funding. Other more specific tasks were driven by trying to salvage and sell any timber, since the mills and markets were being overrun with the abundance of downed trees.
As we rebuild and reforest a substantial portion of Florida’s West Coast, the recovery can still be seen and will take years to complete. A major downside to the rehabilitation is that many forested properties that had been used for timber for generations had to be sold to recover costs. Hurricane Michael brought more than just wind and rain to the region – many hard lessons rode in on that storm. Things will be managed very differently in the forestry industry now, including creating succession plans for timber and thinning strands more frequently rather than allowing them upwards of 30- 50 years to mature. Hurricane Michael is not expected to be alone in history as our annual hurricanes seem to be increasing in strength and size.
Rather than trying to predict the future or when the next natural disaster will hit, organizations and agencies need to strengthen their abilities to cope with uncertainty. A new approach that we learned about during this session used scenario planning that could help locals and companies reframe their long-term strategies by developing several plausible future scenarios. The purpose of this session was to examine possible multi-stakeholder processes and to prepare for them. In the case of NRLI, we traveled through time and discovered multiple possible futures considering some key players in each scenario.
As we reviewed the skills we learned, we continued experiential learning by trying out Jamboard, a new fun interactive tool used for collective meetings. The utilization of innovative technology is on the rise. To be competitive against our peers, it is highly recommended to use and practice new and exciting techniques driving the future of today’s companies.
In all, we revisited the concept of hard on the issue, soft on the people – all while continuing to practice the art of framing questions. We discussed the importance as a facilitator to take the time to break issues apart, so everyone feels heard in a relevant and productive way. You don’t want to parachute in, it takes both time and trust to work through complex issues and create a plan that leaves most people satisfied.
During our venture into graduation week and as projects begin to wrap up, it can be hard to say goodbye. It can be even harder when the year has been full of ups and downs, challenges and overcomings, good moments, and then even better ones. As we celebrate another chapter closing and new ones opening and think about where we will be in five years, one thing is for certain, our bonds, friendships and potential will guide us as leaders in Florida’s natural resources field. If we learned anything from this past training in Quincy, it is that you can overcome anything if you put both your mind and willpower into it.
We are strong, resilient, and dedicated – just like Florida’s timber industry.
Now on to graduation, margaritas and one last late-night dip in the pool. See you in Gainesville, NRLI Class 21!
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Rob Aldredge
Florida Air Force Partnership Coordinator, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Rob Aldredge recently started as the Florida Air Force Partnership (FL AFP) Coordinator for the Service, a position most recently vacated by Gian Basili, a Class IV alumni of the NRLI program. The FL AFP has grown considerably since Rob was hired as a Service liaison at Avon Park Air Force Range in 2017 and is a partnership that promotes collaborative work focused on conservation and sustaining military readiness at Air Force installations in Florida. Rob works with Federal, State and private partners to work toward recovery goals of threatened, endangered and at-risk species and increase Air Force mission flexibility.
Rob graduated from The Ohio State University in 2002 and did several field biology jobs before getting his M.Sc. from the University of Central Florida and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Rob loves working with partners to find novel solutions to complex ecological problems, often at the landscape-level, and working with fellow Service staff and other biologists to find and maximize their true potential as stewards of our natural resources. Outside of work, you can find Rob torturing his family, his wife who is a veterinary student at the University of Florida and two daughters, Wren (10) and Pip (short for Pipit; 5), with hikes, paddles and bike rides that are longer than any of them want to endure.
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Chad Allison
Partners for Fish and Wildlife/Coastal Program Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Chad works in the Conservation Delivery Division of the Florida Ecological Services Field Office where he coordinates technical and financial assistance for private landowners, agencies, and nongovernmental organizations. These programs combine support for natural and working lands with support for listed and at-risk species, meeting the objectives of both the landowners as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
He’s originally from Southwest Louisiana where he obtained his Bachelor’s in Wildlife Management from McNeese State University before moving to Florida in 2005. Prior to joining the Service in 2020, his positions in Florida focused on human-wildlife conflict, public land management and administration, imperiled species management, partnership development and conservation planning. Chad is a Certified Wildlife Biologist, Florida Certified Prescribed Burn Manager, Red Card holder, and a licensed public pesticide applicator.
Chad lives with his wife and daughter in Lakeland and enjoys recreating on Florida's public lands, judging competition BBQ, riding bicycles, boiling Louisiana crawfish, and collecting new and used music on vinyl. He feels fortunate to continue visiting and working on a variety of public and private lands across the state. Having engaged and developed relationships with a variety stakeholders throughout his career helped reinforce his appreciation and application of the NRLI curriculum.
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Christopher Altes
Archaeologist, Planning and Policy Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District
Christopher Altes is an archaeologist working in the Environmental Branch of the Planning and Policy Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District. As an archaeologist, he spent a career wandering swamps, jungles, forests, fields, and urban spaces, and mostly not finding anything. This meant seeing a lot of Florida. In 2018, he settled down to work at the Corps. This has broadened his horizons past rocks and pots, as he now contributes in a small way in the planning, construction, and operation of water resources projects such as dredging, shoreline protection, and Everglades restoration.
His spouse Kristina continues to tolerate him. Their dog, Bertram, thinks that he is a righteous dude. In his spare time he likes to make and break all kinds of things.
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Rob Aldredge Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Chad Allison Partners for Fish & Wildlife/Coastal Program Coordinator, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Chris Altes Archaeologist, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Clay Archey Senior Manager of Purchasing & Corporate Facilities, A. Duda & Sons Inc.
Kelly Aue Suwannee River Partnership Outreach Coordinator, UF/IFAS Extension
Jessica Blain Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Forest Service
Rosezetta Bobo Diversity Director, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
Katherine Clements Ecology & Natural Resources Educator, UF/IFAS Extension
Greg DeAngelo Division Director, Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Kristin Foss Biological Scientist IV, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
Travis Franklin Captain, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission
Maxine Hunter Urban Horticulture Extension Agent, UF/IFAS
Cat Ingram Intergovernmental Liaison, Florida Forest Service, FDACS
Kristen Kosik Program Associate for the Conservation Leadership Initiative, Audubon Florida
Jared Lanier Field Representative, Florida Farm Bureau Federation
Jason Lawor Public Affairs Specialist, National Forests in Florida – USDA
Chris Marble Associate Professor, Environmental Horticulture, University of Florida
Nate Mouzon Technical Program Manager, St. Johns River Water Management District
Gregory Owen Senior Planner, Alachua County Board of County Commissioners
Brian Pelc North Florida Restoration Project Manager, The Nature Conservancy
Liesa Priddy Owner, JB Ranch
Jennifer Thera Environmental Consultant, Florida Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services
Armando Ubeda Florida Sea Grant Agent, UF/IFAS
Savannah Winstanley Ecosystem & Asset Analyst, City of Winter Haven
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