In July of this year a private lands staff forum organized by members of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) and other partners was held in Kansas City, Missouri. Almost 150 individuals, including employees of public and private conservation organizations and landowners, attended the gathering. The common denominator is that all attendees were directly engaged or supported voluntary conservation partnership efforts on private lands. Attendees came primarily from the Midwest and Great Plains with a sprinkling of attendees from both further west and east.
The group met for two full days discussing issues around relationship and partnership building between conservation practitioners and landowners, as well as precision agriculture, human dimensions of natural resource management, and conservation partnerships at scale.
A Landowner-Practitioner Forum report (available to view or download at the link) was recently completed summarizing the discussions. The report also includes, as well, feedback from attendees and items to consider for others planning similar gatherings in the future.
Partnerscapes is currently planning a somewhat similar session with a western US focus, and we anticipate additional forums in other geographies during 2023 and 2024.
