Presented in October 2013 at the Society of American Foresters Convention in Charleston, SC. This is a brief summary of an article currently in press (November 2013) in the Journal of Forestry.

1. Extension Forestry
in the United States:
MASTER VOLUNTEER AND OTHER PEER
LEARNING PROGRAMS
Eli Sagor, Amanda Kueper, Charles Blinn, and Dennis Becker
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2. Citations
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3. Landowner education
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4. Peer learning
“the exchange of ideas and information among landowners and
family, friends, neighbors, and other landowners”
Kueper et al. 2013
Peer-to-peer learning:
 Spreads information through formal or informal social networks;
 Involves two-way (or more) communication;
 Recognizes that every participant can be a teacher and a learner;
 Is community- and participant-driven; and
 Can occur through either an ongoing forum or one-time exchange.
Catanzaro 2008
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5. Master Volunteer (MV)
and other peer learning (OPL) programs
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6. Workshop
image

7. Two-step flow model
Source: Watts & Dodds 2007,
J. Consumer Research
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8. Study objectives
 Identify Extension Forestry MV and OPL programs
nationwide that target family forest owners;
 Characterize these programs in terms of delivery
method, curriculum, audience, partnerships, budgets
, and evaluation metrics; and
 Describe trends in these programs by identifying recent
and expected changes to program implementation.
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9. Three data collection phases
Online survey of state
Extension Forestry
program leaders
Online survey of MV
and OPL program
managers
Focus group discussions
with selected program
managers
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10. Programs
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11. Map: MV & OPL programs
Master Volunteer
Other peer learning
Map source: www.infoplease.com

12. 22 Master Volunteer programs

13. 17 Other Peer Learning programs

14. Partnerships
39 programs, 186 contributing organizations:
52 University partners
42 State Agencies
27 Landowner associations
20 Federal agencies
16 Trade or industry groups
15 Conservation or environmental groups
8 Conservation districts
6 Other
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15. Operating budgets: MV programs
Range: $0 - $55,000
Average $12,875 (median $10,000)
10% of Extension forestry capacity in states that have MV
or OPL programs (0.5 – 0.75 FTE)
Almost entirely grant funded
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16. Audiences specifically targeted
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17. Outputs
Most programs train <30 volunteers / year
13 programs have 100+ active
volunteers, including 6 with 200+, 2 with 400+
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18. Content: State-level and MV
Left side:
Right side:
% states teaching
topic LESS now
than 5 years ago
Topics
% states teaching
topic MORE now
than 5 years ago

19. Formats: State-level and MV
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20. Trends in 39 MV and OPL programs
over prior 5 years
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21. Focus group results
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22. Why peer learning models?
“I would say over half of the evaluations… will have…
comments… about the value of learning from other
landowners, that they learned just kind of what works what
doesn’t work from just talking during the down time or the…
evening sessions. So, that’s… why we’re doing the format
we are.”
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23. Program changes planned
during the next five years
Better communications
“We constantly strive to be in closer contact with our
network”
Revenue
Volunteer management efficiency
Issue focus
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24. Communications
“the group of volunteers gets bigger each year but staff
time remains the same.”
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25. Discussion
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26. Role of peer learning in toolkit
Peer learning is a common Extension forestry
strategy
Volunteer capacity built through peer learning
programs lasts a long time
Nimble program model?
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27. Efficiency
Potential to improve efficiency of professional
forester time:
NY Master Forest Owner example
But: Requires investment of coordinator, volunteer
manager time
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28. Capacity
Potential to improve efficiency of professional
forester time:
NY Master Forest Owner example
But: Requires investment of coordinator, volunteer
manager time
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29. Evaluation
Increased demands to account for
outcomes, impacts
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30. Conclusions
Common Extension Forestry program model
Grounded in local personal networks
Reduced budgets, increasing demands
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31. Eli Sagor
esagor@umn.edu
(612) 624-6948
Amanda Kueper
Charlie Blinn
Dennis Becker
© 2013 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.
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