Issue 7

Changing Roles: Wildland-Urban Interface Professional Development Program

Natural resource agencies are being called upon to provide solutions to increasingly complex challenges at the wildland-urban interface (WUI). Communities are growing rapidly, landowners’ management goals often conflict, residents may not understand the benefits of resource management, and the resulting risks to environmental quality and human quality of life are becoming more apparent. To help meet these needs, the Southern Group of State Foresters led a partnership with the SRS Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information, the University of Florida School of Forest Resources and Conservation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a WUI professional development program. This program provides State and Federal natural resource agencies with a set of flexible resources to conduct their own training programs aimed toward building skills and tools to successfully tackle WUI issues.

Module Topics

Findings from the Forest Service report Human Influences on Forest Ecosystems: Southern Wildland-Urban Interface Assessment and discussions with agency leaders were used to form the four modules used to train natural resource professionals working in the WUI:

• Module 1: Interface Issues and Connections—introduces Changing Roles: Wildland-Urban Interface Professional Development Program participants to key WUI issues and how they are interconnected.
• Module 2: Managing Interface Forests—provides tools and knowledge for effectively managing fragmented forests in the WUI, including management practices appropriate for the interface; equipment and systems for small forests; managing for wildlife, fire, water, and visual and recreational amenities; enterprise opportunities for landowners; and forest cooperatives.
• Module 3: Land Use Planning and Policy—explains land use decisionmaking tools, and how natural resource professionals can get involved in local decisionmaking and land use planning processes.
• Module 4: Communicating with Interface Residents and Leaders discusses key tips for effective communication with WUI residents and community leaders.

Program Features

A number of different materials are provided to allow trainers to select those that best meet their objectives:

• Trainer’s guides introduce the topic with key points for training emphasis.
• Exercises provide an interactive opportunity for participants to discuss and apply what they are learning.
• Fact sheets outline important points, strategies, and information for participants and trainers if they want additional background material.
• Presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint® enable trainers to easily present background information to participants.
• A set of case studies provides examples of interface challenges as well as success stories from across the South.
• The video When Nature Is at Your Doorstep, produced as part of this project, introduces WUI issues to program participants, and can also be used for public outreach.
• A bibliography of books, articles, Web sites, programs, and other tools pertaining to each module subject matter is provided. To view and download the WUI Professional Development Program materials, visit: www.interfacesouth.usda.gov/products/training/changing_roles.html.

For more information:

Annie Hermansen-Báez at 352-376-3271 or ahermansen@fs.fed.us