SRM continues its work with the federal agencies and partners in facilitating and leading on training and outreach efforts on rangelands.
The SRM’s Native American Range Training Initiative is a partnership with the NRCS and Forest
Service. The objectives of this initiative includes the implementation of rangeland training courses and field workshops tailored for tribal and regional needs; the development of management tool-kits for outreach in both Native American and Hispano land-based communities; the launch of an inter-tribal informational website on rangeland management; and the evaluation for an accredited online soil and rangeland ecology course for tribal students. The partnership grew to include support from the Intertribal Agriculture Council, the Native Fish & Wildlife Society, the Intertribal Timber Council, the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the USDA Climate Hubs.
In collaboration with the NRCS, SRM created the online courses, “Economics of Conservation Planning on Grazing Lands” and “Vegetation Monitoring and Data Interpretation”. These trainings are built on an online platform with multiple interactive elements. We emphasized that the trainee be prompted to go out in the field throughout the course to gain hands-on experience and put strong efforts into a dynamic presentation. This collaboration with NRCS helped us shape a model for online trainings, so that it is now a built-in function of SRM.
These are just recent examples of our partnership endeavors. We’ve hosted workshops on Ecological Site Descriptions, published sponsored journals on Sage Grouse and Bison Management in Yellowstone National Park, and worked with our Young Professionals to host job fairs and networking events…and the list goes on from there.
