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Woodland Retreat Landowner Outreach and Engagement Professional Development Training

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Train-the-Trainer Workshop

June 9th & 10th

Kennebec County Extension Offices – Augusta, Maine

A half-day professional development training is being created to support Maine forestry professionals in their efforts to engage Woodland Retreat type landowners. Woodland Retreat landowners are an important cohort of family woodland owners in Maine that are not being well-served by traditional forestry engagement and programs as evidenced by a disproportionately low rate of management and harvesting on their land. In the training, participants will learn about this cohort, what’s happening on their land, how these woodland owners differ from traditional forestry program participants, and how to effectively engage them in active stewardship of their woodlands. 

We are seeking 10 individuals to lead these trainings for Maine forestry professionals and are hosting a unique opportunity to learn to facilitate these trainings via a two-day in-person workshop this spring. Participants will experience the training first-hand, and then will spend time gaining deeper knowledge about Woodland Retreat landowners and learning training techniques in order to confidently offer this training to colleagues, partners, conference attendees, and other forestry professionals. Participants will be provided a facilitation guide along with all of the presentation resources they will need. 

This train-the-trainer workshop is sponsored by FOR/Maine and will be facilitated by Katherine Hollins, owner of Welsummer and former director of the Tools for Engaging Landowners  Effectively (TELE) program. Katherine has trained over 600 natural resource professionals across the US in landowner outreach and engagement. She also co-authored several chapters in the book Engaging Landowners in Conservation: A Complete Guide to Designing Programs and Communications, a comprehensive guide for natural resource professionals as they build their own strategic plans for audience engagement. Katherine uses relatable examples and hands-on activities to address the specific challenges faced by workshop attendees.

Participation is limited to ten individuals. Participants must: 

1. Be open to the idea of focusing on Woodland Retreat landowners. 

2. Attend the full two-day in-person workshop and one pre-workshop virtual meeting.

3. Facilitate or co-facilitate at least four half-day trainings over the next year. 

4. Maintain a commitment to conducting and sharing evaluation metrics with the cohort,  with the aim of improving the training over time. 

More and more frequently, natural resource professionals are asked to engage Woodland Retreat landowners. Take this unique opportunity to become an expert ready to help your colleagues.

Please fill out the form below or send applications to bbowman@mdf.org.

Download Application

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Are you able to commit to facilitating or co-facilitating four half-day trainings over the course of the next year and participating in training evaluation and improvement activities?(Required)
This training will be conducted at a UMaine Extension County office. A location for this training will be determined based on accepted participants. What is your preference for a training location?(Required)
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