| May 5, 2008 |
All across Northeast Michigan there are landowners who have questions about attracting wildlife, managing their forest, or improving water quality. Unfortunately, many of these questions go unanswered because there is not a single place, that’s always around, to go for getting all the answers. It’s frustrating for landowners and it ultimately results in less conservation.
As it stands now, some of these calls go to Huron Pines and, when our staff is in their area, we try our best to meet with landowners and provide some help. But there is a better solution.
Northeast Michigan is rich in retired natural resource professionals. Many of them are looking for a way to still have a meaningful impact, while not having to work regular hours. It’s time to promote a single place where landowners can call or email and be directed to the appropriate place for help.
By serving as the portal for conservation help in Northeast Michigan, Huron Pines can connect people with immediate assistance and, as appropriate, direct them to a better source of help. In some cases, that could be a private forester, river restoration committee, land conservancy, Conservation District, a local extension agent, etc.
Through our Conservation First Responder program, Huron Pines is able to handle calls from landowners and use our network of volunteers to provide on-site help. Our volunteers providing First Responder assistance have the practical experience to help landowners with concerns about forest management, wildlife, water quality, invasive species control, and other issues.
Our organization knows that one-on-one access to resource experts, who can “walk the land” with property owners, is the most important type of assistance to ensure good land stewardship.
As we kick-off this new effort to meet one of conservation's biggest needs in the area, we’re looking for some great volunteers to serve as our Conservation First Responders.
Huron Pines is seeking for 10-20 people with a strong background in natural resources that can help serve as part of our volunteer First Responder team. As calls come into HP, we arrange a time for a nearby volunteer to meet with the landowner.
The role of these volunteers is to talk with the landowner about the issue/question, record basic information about the problem, put the landowner on the track to getting his/her problem addressed, and follow up with HP by providing a brief summary (and photo if applicable).
In addition to a strong background in natural resources, volunteer staff working on this program need to be able to conduct 1 to 3 site visits per month (within their county), be willing to donate their time and travel, and have very good interpersonal skills. Email accessibility is also desired. Our staff volunteers need to be very familiar with the main programs available to help landowners, including services provided by Huron Pines, Conservation Districts, land conservancies, forestry consultants, MSU Extension, NRCS, DNR, etc.
The goal for Huron Pines is to have this program up and running in the summer of 2008. A half-day orientation session is provided to interested volunteers and it will take place in early June. This program is available to people in the counties of Alcona, Alpena, Cheboygan, Crawford, Iosco, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle, and Roscommon.
Those with an interest in learning more should contact:
Brad Jensen
Huron Pines Executive Director
989-344-0753 ext. 18
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| brad@huronpines.org |
| Northeast Michigan |
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