Building Urban Wildlife Habitats

Target Audience:

Partners for Fish and Wildlife and Coastal Program personnel, visitor services professionals, educators, outdoor recreational planners, landscape architects, or anyone whose resource management efforts would be enhanced or supported by education initiatives.

Summary and Objectives:

This blended learning course is designed to empower conservation professionals to assess, develop and work with local youth service corps and to engage 15-25 year olds in job training, conservation skills and leadership opportunities. This is through work with wildlife habitat enhancement, restoration and/or monitoring projects. During the course you will be introduced to effective ways to work with youth, promote conservation career awareness, develop diverse partnerships and create urban wildlife habitats. Additionally, participants will actively engage in project planning and begin drafting a plan for the course site host's community. Participants must attend all sessions (both webinars and the face-to-face class) to complete the course.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify and prioritize potential youth service corps that can support wildlife habitat enhancement, restoration or monitoring projects.
• Select the appropriate tools to work with partners to establish, support and fund wildlife habitat enhancement, restoration or monitoring projects.
• Incorporate Strategic Habitat Conservation principles through urban and community wildlife habitat projects.
• Create project plans to cultivate conservation stewardship and career awareness in youth through authentic work experiences.
• Identify strategies to work with underrepresented and low participating youth in their own communities.