The History of NRLI
Founding Principles
The Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute grew out of discussions among UF/IFAS Extension faculty on the role of outreach education for addressing public issues regarding management of Florida’s natural resources and environment. The answer was found in a model developed by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in the form of the North Carolina Natural Resources Leadership Institute. The institute recruited fellows from a wide cross-section of natural resource and environmental interests and provided training in meeting facilitation, mediation, effective communication, and collaborative problem solving. After attending the North Carolina NRLI in 1997, Roy Carriker, Ph.D., (UF/IFAS Extension; Food and Resource Economics Department) convened colleagues from the University of Florida and Florida State University to adapt the program to meet the needs of Florida professionals. The result was NRLI, a Florida program built on the core principles of the North Carolina model. The principles of the 8-month program include participation of many sectors with diverse perspectives; a series of multiday sessions over a period of several months, a curriculum emphasizing process as well as substantive content, and an experiential learning approach designed to maximize participants’ ability to impact their communities and organizations. Founded in 1998, Florida’s NRLI program is currently supported by UF/IFAS Extension and the School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences.
Finding Solutions
Formation of NRLI was an outgrowth of discussions among IFAS extension faculty on the role of outreach education in addressing public issues regarding management of Florida’s natural resources and the environment. It was apparent that, in most cases, there is no single, scientific, “correct” solution to public natural resource and environmental management decisions. Upon what body of knowledge, then, should Extension educators base educational programs that offer “solutions” to public environmental issues? For example, plans for water management in the Southern Water Use Caution Area within the Southwest Florida Water Management District attempted to address the need to reduce withdrawals of groundwater given the limited recharge to the aquifer in that area. Alternatives to be considered included suggestions that agriculture, the phosphate industry, and municipal water supply utilities all reduce their consumptive use of groundwater. What percentage reduction in water use would be necessary? Should all water-using sectors reduce consumption by the same percentage? Are some uses more critical to the regional economy than others? Are there alternatives to groundwater withdrawals for water supply? Who should pay for the development of alternatives to groundwater withdrawals? The SWUCA example illustrates the manner in which multiple interests seek to be served in a management scheme that looks like a zero-sum game. Another example of pluralism in addressing natural resource management issues pertains to planning and management in the Ocala National Forest for multiple-use, sustained-yield objectives. Harvesting timber, protecting critical environmental resources, four-wheeling, hiking, riding, and hunting all represent uses of the national forest. Some of these uses are mutually exclusive. What role can education play in addressing conflicts that arise out of the requirement that the Forest Service manage the forest resource for multiple uses as required by federal law?
The Founding Team
We were led to ask, “Is there an educational approach to public issues that can foster leadership in collaborative approaches to resource management”? A model approach to this sort of education was offered by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in the form of the “North Carolina Natural Resource Leadership Institute”. The North Carolina NRLI recruited “fellows” from a diverse cross-section of natural resource and environmental interests and provided six three-day training sessions over six months featuring skills in meeting facilitation, mediation, effective communication and related components of collaborative problem-solving. Under the terms of its sustaining grant from the Kellogg Foundation, the North Carolina NRLI was required to disseminate the NRLI approach to issues education in other states. In 1996, the North Carolina NRLI recruited two IFAS faculty members to participate as fellows in that year’s NRLI class. Will Sheftall (Leon County Natural Resources Extension Agent) and Roy Carriker (Environmental Policy specialist in the IFAS/ Food and Resource Economics Department) completed the 1996 NRLI program. During 1996 and 1997, Will and Roy recruited a team of faculty and practitioners to conceive a Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute. The founding project team included Dr. Burl Long (Environmental Economist), Marshall Breeze (IFAS communications specialist), Professors Don Peters and Allison Gerenscer from the Levin College of Law Conflict Resolution Center, and Bob Jones and Tom Taylor of the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium (affiliated with Florida State University at the time). The lasting influence of the founding project team is reflected in the three-part components of NRLI: skill-building for collaborative problem-solving, field trips to the site of current and chronic environmental issues, and stakeholder panels representing divergent interests pertaining to the environmental issue associated with the field trip. The project team also implemented a requirement that NRLI fellows conduct a practicum applying leadership skills acquired through their participation in NRLI. The Florida NRLI recruits fellows from a representative cross-section of environmental interests within the state.”
-Roy R. Carriker, Professor Emeritus
Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida