Planning Training

Conservation Planning Course

Conservation planning focuses on helping clients develop complete, comprehensive, conservation plans considering all of the resources (soil, water, air, plants, and animals) and the human concerns (economic and social). The course is based on current agency policy, the National Planning Procedures Handbook (NPPH), supporting technology and tools, and the locally led concept.

The purpose of the course is to prepare the participant to be able to independently apply the planning process, and utilize supporting technology, to assist clients in developing conservation plans that protect, conserve, and enhance the resources and meet the client’s needs.

The target audience includes NRCS and conservation partnership employees providing conservation planning assistance to clients. Others include supervisors of conservation planners, conservation planning support personnel, those providing oversight and evaluation, and conservation district officials. The first five modules are recommended for conservation district officials and others desiring an overview of conservation planning and the planning process.

Prerequisites include:

• The equivalent of one year or more experience in conservation planning with a proficiency level of 3, i.e., can perform with supervision.
• A good working knowledge of conservation planning policy, the NPPH, the Field Office Technical Guide (FOTG), and data collection techniques.

Course Organization:

• Part 1 (Modules 1 - 5)
  Provides the background and framework for conservation planning. It can be taken in a self-paced format by computer over the Internet or it can be taught in the classroom.

• Part 2 (Modules 6 - 8)
  Is the hands-on, field application of the planning process. It includes classroom and field exercises. 

• Part 3 (Module 9)
  Is the individual application of the conservation planning process utilizing the information learned in parts 1 and 2. Part 3 is completed at the employee’s work location with the assistance of a coach and the employee’s supervisor.

For more information about the Conservation Planning Course Web site, go to: http://www.nedc.nrcs.usda.gov/catalog/consplan.html

Areawide Conservation Planning Course

Areawide conservation planning focuses on providing conservation planning assistance to local stakeholders in a locally led effort to develop areawide conservation plans or assessments. Areawide conservation planning involves multiple ownerships within a watershed or other geographically defined area.

The course emphasizes the areawide conservation planning process used by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), working with people, and locally led conservation. The course length is three days and is available through the NRCS National Employee Development Center (NEDC).

The purpose of the course is to enable the participants to work with a multitude of local people and entities in a locally led effort to utilize the planning process for areawide conservation planning.

The target audience includes NRCS personnel, conservation district staff, and partners working directly with stakeholders on areawide conservation planning. Other individuals involved with areawide conservation planning, such as supervisors, support personnel, and oversight and evaluation staff, may benefit from the course.

The participant is expected to achieve a proficiency level 4 upon completion of the course and participation in the development of one or more areawide conservation plans. Level 4 means apply independently, i.e., can perform independently unless special problems are encountered.

The prerequisite for the course is Part 1 of the Conservation Planning Course or equivalent experience. Other courses or experiences that are not considered prerequisites, but would be beneficial to the participants include Ecological Principles, Team Building, Working with Boards, Facilitation, Conflict Management, and Consensus Building.

The course modules include:

• Introduction to Areawide Conservation Planning
• Request for Assistance
• Working with People
• Planning Process Phase I - Collection and Analysis
• Planning Process Phase II - Decision Support
• Planning Process Phase III - Application and Evaluation
• Course Wrap Up

More information about Areawide Conservation Planning and other training courses is available at the National Employee Development Center.

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