By J. Scott Angle

jangle@ufl.edu

@IFAS_VP

Some day, I want the final NRLI session and graduation to be held in a new UF/IFAS home dedicated to housing the study of the management and conservation of Florida’s natural resources.

What we’re calling the Integrated Natural Resources Building would be 200,000 square feet of conference rooms, offices, labs and common areas that would bring together the many UF/IFAS units and partners currently scattered across campus and beyond.

Yes, it would cost tens of millions. But it will be a world-class facility that produces world-class science. Our natural resources focus includes more than 100 faculty. That’s larger than the UF colleges of Health and Human Performance, Journalism and Communications, Law, and Nursing, all of which have their own buildings. And we support through our natural resources programs more students than do the colleges of Dentistry, Law, Nursing.

In the meantime, just the ambition to build a dream home for natural resources science is paying dividends as we contribute to a campus sustainability movement, deepen relationships with stakeholders and foster connections between foresters and architects in ways that could benefit rural landowners.

It’s all a result of our embrace of innovation, specifically what’s known in the industry as “mass timber.” It involves a new technology of binding multiple layers of wood into robust structural components for constructing multistory buildings. Because it’s new, we’re investigating its use before we commit to constructing our natural resources building with it. The USDA Forest Service has awarded us a $500,000 grant to do so.

There have been a couple of out-of-state field trips to visit mass timber-constructed buildings at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, and the facility in Alabama where mass timber components are being made from southern yellow pine and destined for projects such as new Wal-Marts and the training facility for the San Antonio Spurs.

In addition to UF/IFAS administrators, other campus leaders such as the UF director of sustainability and the assistant vice president for planning, design, and construction have made these trips, and this advance work could result in more sustainable (fewer carbon emissions during construction, storing carbon in wood used in place of steel, less construction-associated waste, and more) future construction across the entire UF campus.

The trips and the discussions in between have also been an opportunity for School of Forest, Fisheries, & Geomatics Sciences (SFFGS) Director Red Baker, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Chair (WEC) Eric Hellgren and other UF/IFAS leadership to strengthen their relationships with the Florida Forest Service, as well as private forestry stakeholders. Even if mass timber does not become the wave of the future, increased and deeper communication can lead to avenues of cooperation that otherwise would not have emerged.

I’m also excited by the prospect of mass timber because it can contribute to Florida’s rural economy. Florida is nearly half-forested. Mass timber represents an opportunity to locally grow raw material for construction and to connect with the architectural community as it learns how to work with this new material. Through the USDA Forest Service grant, the firm Atelier Mey is engaging with us on expanding the use of mass timber and collaborating with foresters. Partnerships like this could contribute to the emergence of a manufacturing system that pays rural landowners to continue to grow trees.

We know it may be a long journey to an Integrated Natural Resources Building. We’re learning all we can during the time we’re in a fundraising phase. If you’re interested in supporting our dream, please contact Julie Conn in UF/IFAS advancement at jrconn@ufl.edu.



Maybe that future NRLI session would even be about the building itself. Indeed, it will take the skills and network that NRLI equips its fellows with to succeed in meeting the challenge of constructing a home where SFFGS, Florida Sea Grant, WEC, the School of Natural Resources and Environment, UF Water Institute, USDA Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey can create and disseminate the natural resources science on which the future of our state depends.

Graduations and Steps

By Jon Dain, NRLI Director

The origin* of the word “graduation” can be found in the Latin word gradus, meaning "a step”.  



“Walk alone, walk quickly; walk together, walk far”**

Our NRLI year recently ended with three collective steps forward, each inspiring and each fulfilling. The first was the graduation session for NRLI Class 22, our 8-month program. The banquet and certificate ceremony were held at Gainesville’s Cade Museum for Creativity and Innovation and represented our largest in-person gathering since before the pandemic. Seeing alumni, UF campus leaders, families, friends and the graduating Fellows all together in a festive space was truly energizing. More importantly, it was a fitting celebration of 24 natural resource professionals who are now part of a statewide network - more than 400 intensively trained and skilled alumni who live and/or work in literally every corner of Florida. 

The second inspiring step was the graduation session for our sixth annual “Effectively Engaging DEP Stakeholders” training program. Developed specifically for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the 4-month program boasts nearly 150 alumni who work across the state in areas ranging from the management of our state parks to the monitoring, purchasing and permitting activities that protect our precious land, air and water resources. Celebrating their hard work and accomplishment was exciting and energizing. A shout-out thank you to DEPs Penny Justin and Jordan Halvorsen for their efforts and support.

In both cases, stories of what participants got out of (and have applied from) the respective programs were particularly gratifying. In “pulling it all together” sessions, soon-to-be graduates spoke of transformations (small and large) in how they approach their work inside and outside their organizations. Their examples give credence to the NRLI belief that organizational goals are best achieved when those engaged in working towards them foster healthy debate and promote trust among the people who use, manage, conserve and are part of Florida’s natural environment. 

Which brings us to the third and final “step” I wish to highlight. In early May, NRLI held its first-ever “class reunion”.  Like most programs on the planet, NRLI Class 19 was interrupted by the 2020 pandemic. We promised the class a “make-up session” and were finally able to fulfill that promise in May. Members of Class 19 met at Mike Roess Goldhead Branch State Park (just north of Keystone Heights) to reflect on what they had applied from NRLI, discuss challenges in applying NRLI approaches, receive training in “reaching closure in decision making” and, of course, catch up with each other. Although it had been three years, I was amazed to see those attending re-engage as if they had never been apart. I was amazed and heartened to hear of collaborations among class members and between class members and other alumni from the NRLI network.

Three steps in an important journey. From all three groups we heard examples of facilitating healthy debate. We heard stories of building trust. We heard stories of successful partnerships and, most notably, of successes in addressing challenging natural resource issues. Graduation ceremonies (and reunions) are not an end, they are steps in a long and important journey. In NRLI they are next steps in assuring that Florida’s natural resources and environment are well-managed, preserved and enhanced for future generations. NRLI graduates are helping Floridians walk together and walk far. 

A special and heartfelt thank you to Wendy-Lin Bartels, Joy Hazell and Jocelyn Peskin for their extraordinary work in making NRLI what it is. It is a true privilege to work with all three of you.

__________________________ 

*Etymonline.com

**Origin unknown, likely Burkina Faso or South Africa