Conservation & Hunting in America (CHA) is an online distance learning course for agency professionals to explore the conservation theories, policy, and practices that apply to hunting and the sustainable uses of wildlife in North America.
Duration: 16 contact hours spread over 2 weeks.
Delivery Mechanism: Online hybrid of self-directed digital learning supported by live discussion sessions.
Description: A ready to use distance learning course for agency professionals to explore the conservation theories, policy, and practices that apply to hunting and the sustainable uses of wildlife in North America.
Background: The curriculum grew from the highly successful Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow (CLfT) workshops with content being delivered by over 30 experts from the natural resource profession. The course is comprised of 16 contact hours of total learning, divided into 11 hours of self-directed digital learning interspersed with 5 facilitated engagement sessions (60 min each) for live discussions. Each group will have a trained CLfT staff moderator and host 1 or 2 guest experts to help answer questions about the material covered during each live discussion.
Delivery: Class sizes are kept small and maintain the same 8-10 participants throughout to ensure meaningful conversation and the opportunity for every participant to ask questions and reflect on how the topics apply to their professional responsibilities. To ensure that every participant can get their questions answered, each group will also have an integrated question and answer board, allowing questions to be sent to CLfT staff at any time while participants explore the digital content,
Schedule: Each class is conducted over a 14-day period with zoom discussions scheduled twice a week at predetermined times. Session one begins February 22nd and concludes March 8th.
Expectations: Learners are expected to have access to the internet, computer with a camera, and zoom in order to complete the course. It is expected that the total experience will require about 90-120 minutes per day on average, spread over 11 continuous working days.
Costs: The per participant cost is $1,250 per person and available to natural resource agency professionals.
Content Summary
Course Introduction and review of expectations
Chapter 1 Motivations & Demographics of Hunters in the United States
Chapter 2 Hunting in Wildlife Management and Conservation
Part 1 - Public Trust and the North American Model, then and now
Part 2 - Career Relevancy of the “user pay – public benefit” System
Chapter 3 Hunter Safety & Education, Awareness, and Agency Responsibility
Part 1 – Agency Responsibility in Hunter Education Distribution
Part 2 – Firearms and Archery Demonstrations Explained
Chapter 4 Methods of Take
Chapter 5 Wildlife Laws, Regulations, and Enforcement
Chapter 6 Biological Basis and Science of Harvesting Wildlife
Chapter 7 Hunter Responsibility and Ethics in Modern Society
Chapter 8 The Role of Hunting and Hunters in Society
Chapter 9 Types of Hunting
Part 1 – Specific Types of Hunting
Part 2 – Dogs and Hunting
Part 3 – Effective Pathways into Hunting
Chapter 10 A Hunt - Before, During, and After
Chapter 11 Wild Game as Food
Chapter 12 Gear, Terminology, and Methods of Trapping and Angling
Chapter 13 Contemporary Management Issues & Challenges
Chapter 14 Effective Communication Skills and Impacts to Leadership
Closing Remarks and Exit Survey
Discussion Sessions Five, 1-hour, small group discussions to explore content
Discussion Board A tool to post and share questions to content experts in real-time