The Role of Cooperative Extension Services in Resource Conservation Leadership

Cooperative Extension is designed to deliver scientific information to people so that they can make informed decisions with the benefit of scientific discoveries about complex situations and systems.  Cooperative Extension is very much service-oriented and is most effective when built on a model of servant-leadership. Extension professionals contribute to resource conservation decision making by equipping decision makers with the ability to evaluate the tradeoffs of alternative approaches to management and by providing skills related to leadership. Leadership in resource conservation calls for an ability to understand and navigate decision making in complex systems, understand and communicate effectively among individuals and groups with different and sometimes conflicting interests, and facilitate collaboration and communication in sometimes contentious situations. A variety of Extension programs have been developed across the nation to achieve one or more of these objectives and will be presented to illustrate the impacts the programs have and the role of leadership in advancing conservation objectives.