1. Reaching the Forest Owners of the Future Bill Hubbard Southern Regional Extension Forester CES – Southern Region Charleston, SC October, 2006

2. "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing after they have exhausted all the other possibilities."....... Winston Churchill

3. 1.Listen to the landowners…. Listen to the professionals who study the landowners. National Woodland Owners Survey “New Generation of Private Landowner Study” (Mater Engineering) – Pinchot Institute New Forest Owners Studies (Va Tech) Landowner Surveys

5. 2. Strategic Planning at the County/Regional/State/National Level Audiences Should we segment? If so…how? (for e.g. absentee investors, professionals, preservationists, young families, forest planners, farmers) Messages – what are our messages? Timber management? Wildlife? Recreation? Forest Health? Stewardship? Intergenerational Transfer? Strategic Materials Development, Marketing & Distribution An example: “The Hoge Plan” Forest*A*Syst (Level I) Managing the Family Forest in the South (Level II) Woodlands Management Course (Level III) Private Forest Management Textbook (Level IV) Master Tree Farmer/Master Wildlifer Shortcourses (Level V)

9. The New “3-R’s Rigor Prepare the best educational materials and experiences we can as a collective group (Universities, Extension, USDA FS, NGO’s, state forestry, etc). Relevance Make sure the materials relate to their lives and goals. Relationships Make sure we as a profession are there to assist them.

10. 3. Change the way we do business! Several thousand state forestry agency professionals Several hundred Extension forestry professionals County Extension agents have too many responsibilities to be the forestry educators New model for reaching, educating and motivating landowners State Extension work with state and county forestry agents to deliver messages Sustain the efforts! Don’t conduct a workshop or two and declare victory! Keep working with new partners! Quality Deer Management Association Land Conservation and NGO communities

11. New Models (B. Hull, 2005) Community Based Forestry “True” Multiple Use Estate Planning & Intergenerational Transfer Un-even Aged Silviculture Combat New Threats Understand and work with “the theory of rational ignorance”

12. 4. Realizing Extension’s potential Current federal Extension dollars are limited ($4 million appropriated vs.$30 million authorized) We need the support of the USDA Forest Service and the NASF to grow this program so we can be more effective delivering forestry/natural resource messages.

13. 5. Continue to blend new technologies with old One-on-One Workshops Printed materials Media Satellite Internet The use of “Adaptive Management” – use new technologies to learn from each other.

17. 6. Use forest owners as leaders, mentors, “diffusors” of our information! Coached planning Coverts Forest Landowner Associations “Masters” programs (Master Gardener concept applied to Forestry) Leadership training

18. 7. Professional development for field staff …………

19. “We’ve been practicing random acts of education”. Jim Johnson, Virginia Tech Extension, 2006.

20. Southern Regional Technology Transfer Assessment

21. If you see a fork in the road….take it. Yogi Berra