Recreation and Outreach Program Planning

Target Audience:

DOI employees responsible for managing and implementing outdoor recreation and outreach programs for field stations and other agency offices.

Summary and Objectives:

This course introduces the skills needed to develop an outreach program, outdoor skills center, or other recreation-based program that consists of multiple activities or events. Not to be confused with developing an individual activity, this course looks at the broader planning skills to increase the quality of a site's wildlife-dependent outdoor recreation and outreach programs.

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

• Work with community partners in an engaging and inclusive manner to develop community support and to identify and determine their program's target audience needs.
• Develop a relevant goals-based recreation or outreach program plan that reflects community input and station priorities and resources.
• Design an inclusive and culturally relevant program that utilizes current models, such as the USFWS Standards of Excellence, Outdoor Recreation Adoption Model (ORAM), and the Interpretive Theme Matrix.
• Identify and coordinate with partners and community volunteers to support and/or collaborate on a recreation or outreach program.
• Develop a training plan to train staff on how to present high-quality site programming.
• Obtain and manage funding and material resources.
• Lead staff to effectively deliver program content using cross-cultural interpersonal and communication skills.
• Measure and evaluate the success of a recreation or outreach program.

Competency Addressed: 

Outdoor Recreation Management - Intermediate, Planning and Evaluating - Basic, Program Management - Basic, Strategic Advisement - Basic