Conservation Education for Advancing Natural Resources Knowledge and Building Capacity for Volunteerism

This refereed journal article provides an overview of impacts of the Michigan "Master Naturalist" Extension program, which we call the Michigan Conservation Stewards Program. The target audience for this manuscript was resource management agency staff and administration, as well as research staff investigating the human dimensions of natural resource management. Issues addressed include mobilization of citizen scientists for accomplishing needed conservation work, and public attitudes toward resource management processes and techniques (such as forest management through various silvicultural practices, hunting as a wildlife management tool, native plant restoration, ecosystem services and their protection). In addition, this program and associated applied Extension research address agencies' needs to enhance ecological understanding of previously underrepresented urban and suburban learners/publics not already associated with traditional conservation organizations. The Conservation Stewards program resulted in learners' more positive attitudes toward not only resource management techniques, but also the agencies themselves. In addition, there was a significant increase in ecological knowledge, including understanding of ecosystem processes and fundamentals of natural resource management (such as funding sources for fish and wildlife conservation, knowledge of public trust resources, and many other key concepts.) Key partners and funding included: Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan Natural Features Inventory, The Nature Conservancy, and numerous local conservation and land trust organizations. This research has led to the continuation of the Michigan Conservation Stewards Program, and provided insights for curriculum and program refinements as it was extended to diverse ecoregions within the state.

This study summarizes the work carried out over three years by an M.S. student (Van Den Berg) interested in natural resource Extension; this student has subsequently received her PhD and continues her work within the Natural Resources and social sciences community, as applied to the NOAA Sea Grant program. Dann served as her major professor, and Riley as a committee member. Previous articles were published in the Journal of Extension and in the journal of Applied Environmental Education and Communication.

Files

ConservationEducation article Society & Natural Resources 2010.pdf

Pdf file of refereed journal article, showing full journal citation information

Photo: Shari L. Dann

Shari Dann, after the 2010 ANREP Conference, and after fishing off Kodiak Island.