There is great concern over who will protect, maintain and enhance our natural resources in the future. Currently, outdoor play time for kids is minimal, especially for children living in urban areas, while kids’ average “screen time” exceeds 40 hours a week. By some accounts, as many as 50% of state and federal land managers are retirement-eligible within the next five years. However, because a generation or more of children has not had a close and ongoing relationship with the outdoors, state and federal natural resource agencies are having difficulty recruiting employees who have the necessary skills, experience, education, and emotional connection to the outdoors to take over the management of public lands. Simultaneously, agencies not only need skilled candidates, they need candidates that represent the changing demographics of the state. The Careers in Natural Resources Initiative aims to help youth make the leap from participation in an outdoor program to a sustainable career through three strategies that address different audiences along a spectrum from awareness to action. Support Career Exploration – Most youth lack understanding of career opportunities in natural resources. To promote these opportunities and foster interest in natural resource careers, partners participated in 8th grade career fairs throughout the region and are planning a Careers in Natural Resource Experience this spring. Develop Online Jobs Portal – Working with our partners, an online web portal that provides a single springboard to help organize and access needed information, job postings, and resources around natural resource careers was launched in the fall of 2013. Create Career Guide – Publication of a Guide to Natural Resources Career Paths aimed at entry-level candidates is underway. The Guide will provide step-by-step assistance for youth interested in natural resource careers regarding how to apply and navigate state and federal job listings and application processes.

1. Careers in Natural Resources Initiative:
Engaging the Next Generation
Lisa Eadens
Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education
April 15, 2014

2. Background:The Issue
▪ Environmental and Recreation
based programs for youth
struggle guiding alumni into
Natural Resource Careers.
▪ Land management agencies
need better qualified
candidates and those from
non-traditional backgrounds.
▪ Colleges and universities have
difficulty attracting students
from non-traditional
populations to their natural
resource degree programs.

3. ▪ High retirement rates are currently occurring
and are predicted into the future for
government agencies.
⁻ Approximately 33,000 retired from NPS in 2011.
Typically, 11,000 employees retire annually.
Source: NPS employee, 2012
▪ In the last 20 years time spent playing outside
has been cut in half. Source: H. White, No Child Left Inside, Reversing NDD,
NWF, 2008.
▪ Youth and young adult unemployment is 16%
- greater than twice that of adults and even
higher for minority youth.
Background: Opportunities and Barriers

4. Vision:
To work collaboratively to create more pathways
to enable ALL young adults to be educated,
prepared, and qualified to enter and maintain
professional, sustainable natural resource
careers.

5. Careers in Natural Resources Initiative

6. What is a Career Pathway?
Education, training, and support services to help people get
careers. The focus is to make things easier by helping students
and potential students build or make changes to their careers.

7. Why is a Natural Resource Career
Pathway Important?
 Fewer young people are growing up learning to hunt, fish,
hike, and camp.
 Concern over who will protect, maintain and enhance those
lands in the future – as voters, donors, public land users,
volunteers, or natural resource agency employees.

8. Why is a Natural Resource Career
Pathway Important?

9. Natural
Resource
Careers
Initiative
Agencies
Non-
profits
Education
Parents
And
More….
Reduce Barriers
Increase AccessIncrease Awareness
Natural Resource Careers Initiative: 244 Individuals and 91 Organizations

10. Collective Impact
• Common Agenda
• Shared Measurement
• Mutually ReinforcingActivities
• Continuous Communication

11. Audience: Young people
Audience: Career Influencers
Audience: Agency Staff
>Awareness >Knowledge >Experience & Education >Job info >Entry-level job!
>Awareness >Investment >Training >Resources >Actively Coach Candidates!
>Awareness >Investment >Training >Reduce Barriers >Culture & Systems
Careers in Natural Resources Initiative Spectrum

12. Goals and Supporting Actions
1. Raise awareness: Career Fair
2. Reduce barriers: Career Path Manual
3. Increase access to information: Online Portal

13. Audience: Career Influencers
Audience: Agency Staff
>Awareness >Knowledge >Experience & Education >Job info >Entry-level job!
>Awareness >Investment >Training >Resources >Actively Coach Candidates!
>Awareness >Investment >Training >Reduce Barriers >Culture & Systems
Online
Portal
Career
Fair
Career
Guide
Online
Portal
Career
Guide
Careers in Natural Resources Initiative Spectrum

14. First Summit:
- Gathered
information
from
partners
- Defined
initiative
vision
Organized
natural
resources
career fair at
West
Generation
High School
- Received
Walton
Family
Foundation
Grant
- $ from USFS,
DNR
April 2012 May 2013 June 2013 August 2013
Third
Summit
February 2014
Fourth
Summit
March 2014
- Online
Portal
Launched
- Draft
Career
Guide
Initiative Milestones

15. Middle and High School
Goals:
 Awareness about careers in natural resources:
variety, salary, diversity of employees
 What courses will help start them on the right path
 Volunteer, job-shadowing, internship opportunities
Careers in Natural Resources Initiative Resources:
 Participation in existing career fairs
 Handout
 “Natural Resource Careers ExplorationWeek”

16. Participation in existing career fairs
Middle and High School

17. Middle and High School
Career Fair
Handout

18. Natural Resource Careers
ExplorationWeek
 June 9 – 13, 2014
 Natural resources
organizations, agencies and
higher education institutions
 Listen to staff talk about their
own career pathway
 Hands-on activities that relate
to different careers
 Resume-writing
Middle and High School

19. Higher Education/Young Adult
Goals:
 Reduce barriers to getting a job
 Increase access to information
 Increase resources available
Careers in Natural Resources Initiative Resources:
 “A How-To Guide for Pursuing a Career in Natural
Resources”
 Natural Resource Careers Online Web Portal

20. “A How-To Guide for Pursuing a Career in Natural Resources”
 Introduction
 Full scope of careers in Natural Resources
 Discussion on federal, state, and local hiring processes
 Final document will include visuals and case studies
Higher Education/Young Adult

21. Natural resource careers online web portal
 Searchable springboard for natural resource, recreation, and
outdoor stewardship job opportunities, career planning
resources, and higher education opportunities in Colorado.
 Added to the existingGet OutdoorsColorado website
Higher Education/Young Adult
Launched!
www.GetOutdoorsColorado.org/Job-Center

22. Higher Education/Young Adult
Natural resource careers online web portal

23. Higher Education/Young Adult
Natural resource careers online web portal

24. Professionals/Career Influencers
Goals:
 Awareness and use of resources (online portal, guide)
 Incorporating career messaging into spark
experiences
 Considerations when hiring and employing youth
 Supporting a culture of inclusiveness
Careers in Natural Resources Initiative Resources:
 Website (resource for employers)
 Guide

25. What’s Next?
 Developing common metrics and messages
 How are others measuring success?
 How can we create a standard set of metrics to
measure collective impact?
 Data Gathering

26. WhatYou Can Do
▪ Advocate for job shadowing, service-learning,
volunteering, internships, and other opportunities for
youth at your organization
▪ Tell us how you are promoting careers in natural resources
▪ Join the Careers in Natural Resources Initiative
▪ Raise awareness: become a mentor, speak on a career
panel, attend a career fair
▪ Reduce barriers: help review our Guide, distribute the
Guide to your networks
▪ Increase access to information: post your job openings on
the new Get Outdoors Colorado Job CenterWebsite, help
promote the new site to partners and youth

27. ▪What hiring trends do you see? More/less jobs and
types of positions?
▪What skills and experience do entry level staff need to
be successful?
▪What training and skills do agency staff need to recruit,
train, and coach young people to succeed in entry-level
positions?
Discussion

28. Questions?
Lisa Eadens
Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education
lisaeadens@caee.org