Growth management issues to be emphasized at 2006 Florida Leadership Training Institute
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Growth management issues – including conflict management – will be emphasized at the Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute, which is now accepting applications for its new class that begins in January 2006. Application deadline is Nov. 1.
Created for leaders in industry, government, academia and the environmental and natural resource management communities, the professional program is designed to provide practical concepts, tools and skills for use in managing conflict over natural resource issues. The training program, conducted by the University of Florida, consists of eight three-day sessions between January and October 2006 at different locations around the state.
“Managing and protecting environmental resources in Florida is more than just arguing about who gets the biggest slice of a shrinking pie,” said Roy Carriker, a professor of resource economics in UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) and director of the leadership institute.
He said the program is designed to help people from different perspectives find common ground so that they can collaborate more effectively in dealing with natural resource challenges facing Florida.
“When it comes to the environment, those participating in the leadership institute are usually surprised to discover how much they actually agree on,” Carriker said. “As a result, people who had seen each other as adversaries can become partners in developing solutions to important natural resource problems.”
In the eight training sessions, participants study personal and group leadership skills, communication skills, dispute management techniques, and learn about law and policy. Activities include tours of natural resource sites around the state and discussions with managers, leaders and policy-makers directly involved in growth-management issues.
“Participants or ‘fellows’ learn about the science and policy behind natural resource issues, and explore alternatives for addressing them,” Carriker said. “The training program is a ‘real-world’ project through which the fellows apply skills and concepts learned in the program to actual conflict or leadership issues in their professional settings.”
Each of the eight training sessions includes a natural resource area site tour and technical presentations on a specific natural resource problem or issue. Sessions feature panel discussions with stakeholders – individuals or group representatives with various, sometimes competing, interests. Sessions also include training in communication, leadership, group consensus building and conflict management.
Bruce Delaney, executive director of the leadership institute, said that a multidisciplinary faculty team conducts the training, with faculty from UF/IFAS and UF’s School of Natural Resources and Environment covering resource policy and interpersonal and group communication skills. The Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium at Florida State University provides trainers and practitioners in community consensus building and natural resources mediation. For a second year, the institute’s 2006 graduation program will be sponsored by Progress Energy Florida in St. Petersburg.
Issues to be addressed in the 2006 program include: Everglades restoration and farming in the Everglades, Clewiston, Jan. 19-21; the impact of development on water quality and the clam industry, Cedar Key, Feb.16-18; the rural/urban interface, Sarasota, March 16-18; sustainable Treasure Coast, Fort Pierce, April 20-22; infrastructure siting issues, Ocala, May 18-20; southern water-use caution areas, Ellenton, June 15-17; growth management policy and issues, Wakulla Springs, Sept. 14-16; practicum presentations and graduation, Gainesville, Oct. 19-21.
Delaney said graduation from the program is contingent on the participant’s involvement in all eight sessions and successful completion of a practicum project.
Lodging arrangements are made by the leadership institute staff, and participants are responsible for personal transportation to and from sessions. For more information about the Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute, call (352) 846-1511 or visit the Web site: http://nrli.ifas.ufl.edu.