by Joy Hazell, NRLI Interim Director

To all our NRLI Fellows, alumni, administrators and supporters - I am honored and humbled to be your interim director for the 2024/2025 NRLI year. For those of you who don’t know me, I will provide a brief introduction. My name is Joy Hazell, I am a faculty member and the State Specialized Extension Agent in facilitation and conflict management at the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). I have been a fan of NRLI since I was a Fellow in Class 9. In fact, I was such a fan that in 2011, I became an official member of the project team and have been with the program ever since. Originally from Scituate, MA, I have lived in Florida since 2001. My background is in marine ecological and social systems, and I love all things water and nature. If I were to win the lottery tomorrow, I would keep doing what I am doing, because I believe in the work that we do to protect our natural resources and communities that rely on them; however, in my spare time I would travel a significant amount more. I am also proud to share my home with the best dog, Olive and two cats, Mullet and Onyx.  

I want to acknowledge that is overwhelming and exciting to follow in the footsteps of our amazing past directors. Luckily for NRLI, and me, I am not facing the task of NRLI leadership alone. As we always teach in NRLI, we believe in facilitative and collaborative leadership, and I am joined on my journey with a top-notch team of professionals. Jon Dain, NRLI director from 2014 to 2024, who worked to design the curriculum and learning environment in which our fellows thrive; Dr. Wendy-Lin Bartels, who is expanding and strengthening our engagement with alumni and exploring our impact on Florida and beyond; and Jocelyn Peskin, who keeps the ship on course, manages our communication, finances, and ensures we all stay on task. NRLI is also fortunate to have the support of the School of Forest, Fisheries and Geomatics Science; the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences; and the University of Florida. Last, but certainly not least, we are on this journey with 24 new Fellows and an alumni network of over 600 (including our 8-month flagship course and our 4-month Department of Environmental Protection course) natural resources leaders around Florida, the United States, and North and South America. It is our alumni and Fellows who keep us engaged, uplifted and hopeful for the future of natural resources in Florida. If you want to learn more about our alumni feel free to check out our website: https://nrlialumni.org/.

NRLI is excited for another year of traveling around Florida, exploring how mangroves are incorporated into urban environments in Miami, how communities become resilient in the face of extreme weather events in Live Oak, how people come together to restore oysters in Pensacola, and so much more. Please follow along on our journey to improve natural resources decision making and ensure our resources and communities are here for future generations. 

Eight NRLI alumni facilitate magic in St Pete

What happens when eight NRLI alumni from multiple cohorts come together to co-facilitate learning? Magic! In May, Hannah Brown (Class 18) leveraged the power of the NRLI network at a workshop hosted by the NOAA RESTORE program. We 8 (top photo) gathered in St Pete for NOAA’s science co-production workshop Using Co-Production to Engage Partners and Create Effective Science-to-Management Solutions. Over two days, 51 workshop participants from resource management, government, academia, and beyond exchanged ideas on how to design and navigate collaborative science. 

"When we first started thinking about a workshop focused on collaborative science in Florida, we were anxious to loop in NRLI alumni however possible. For me and so many others, NRLI has set the bar for how collaboration can be done in an effective and enjoyable way, and we knew NRLI alumni would not only be engaged participants but would have many nuanced insights to share." – Hannah Brown, formerly NOAA, is now Managing Editor with the Association for Psychological Science.

As part of the workshop, NRLI offered a session on conflict management. As might be expected, Wendy-Lin called on two volunteers from the audience to “negotiate” over a watermelon (demonstrating interests and positions). As might be expected, they simply cut the watermelon down the middle 😊. NRLI alumni then stepped up, flipcharts in hand, to guide participants through the five roots of conflict in small group discussions. 

“What better way to get participants buzzing than by discussing conflict? There’s a special moment as a facilitator when you can get your group to a comfort level that they go from inactive potted plants to be passionately engaged, and I think we all had the opportunity to experience that moment in St. Pete.” – Matt Posner, Executive Director, Pensacola and Perdino Bays Estuary Program.

Hannah’s team also worked with NRLI to develop a monitoring toolkit that supports groups in assessing their progress in co-producing science. After hours, additional alumni and friends joined for festivities. We sure are a gregarious (and nostalgic) group! (bottom photo) 

photo above, from L to R: Dawn Ritter (Class 21), Matt Posner (Class 22), Kelly Aue (Class 21), Savannah Winstanley (Class 21), Jess Stempien (Class 16), Brandon Smith (Class 21), Wendy-Lin Bartels (Class 3), Hannah Brown (Class 18)

Samantha Barquin Chief of Staff, Miami Waterkeepers

Kathleen Coates Deputy Director, Northwest Florida Management District

Jason Daniel Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida

Mike Davis Captain, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Sara Ferson Professional Engineer, Suwannee River Water Management District

John Hall President, Deeper Roots Leadership Solutions

Ryan Kennelly Sr. Environmental Specialist, Alachua County Environmental Protection Dept

Mike McMunigal Strategic Planning Basin Coordinator, St Johns River Water Mgmt District

Brendan Myers Regulatory Biologist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Heather Nagy Strategic Conservation Planning Coordinator, North Florida Land Trust

Heather Obara Associate Director, Alachua Conservation Trust

Jyoti Parmar Organizing Representative, Sierra Club of Florida

Geoffrey Patterson Director of Agricultural Policy, Florida Farm Bureau Federation

Jessica Quiggle Assistant Deputy General Counsel, St Johns River Water Mgmt District 

Thomas Reinert Regional Director, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Holley Short Shorebird Program Manager, Audubon Florida

Tessa Skiles Conservation Programs Manager, Conservation Florida

Ashley Smyth Asst Professor & State Extension Specialist, UF/IFAS TREC

Danielle Terrell Asst Director of Central Operations, Division of Recreation & Parks, FDEP

Amanda Thompson CCI Training & Education Coordinator, The Nature Conservancy

Jacob Thompson Biologist, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Delsina Trigoura Environmental Specialist, Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida

Marnie Ward Extension Agent II, UF/IFAS Extension Citrus County

Debra Woithe Environmental Lands Division Manager, Manatee County