Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation

Target Audience:

Federal and state biologists and managers who work on natural resource issues and are interested in taking an experimental approach to project management. Participation is based on teams of two to three individuals that have conservation of the natural environment and/or natural resources as their primary mission.

Summary and Objectives:

This course will equip project teams with the skills necessary for effective project cycle management in the conservation sector. It will provide the theory and concepts behind the five steps (conceptualize; plan actions and monitoring; implement actions and monitoring; analyze, use, adapt; and capture and share learning) of the Conservation Measures Partnership's Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation and will allow participants to work together to become familiar with and apply these tools in developing management and monitoring plans for their conservation projects. An overview of the Miradi Adaptive Management Software and a 1-year license agreement to use the software will be provided in this course.

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

• Strengthen project design, management, and monitoring processes.
• Choose the most strategic actions; * Set meaningful and measurable goals and objectives; *
• Determine if their conservation interventions are working.
• Demonstrate and communicate their project's or program's impact to their constituency.
• Learn from and improve their actions.
• Become familiar with the Miradi program management software.

Competencies Addressed: 

Planning and Evaluating - Basic, Program Management - Awareness, Conservation Biology - Basic, Database Management Systems - Intermediate, Public Planning - Awareness, Scope Management - Basic, Data Management - Intermediate