Leadership Capacity for Large-Scale Conservation Change
THE Western Conservation Leadership Development Program builds leadership capacity for a broad array of partners to implement landscape conservation for the future.
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”
– Nelson Mandela
The Future of Conservation in the Western United States
Fish and wildlife agencies and conservation organizations across the western United States and Canada are faced with complex social, political, and biological challenges while serving a multifaceted society that holds different values and beliefs on how to manage, conserve, and enjoy natural resources.
Partnerships, collaboration, and meaningful engagement by multiple stakeholders are key to addressing conservation challenges. To be successful, the conservation community needs a workforce where individuals at all levels, regardless of title or position, possess the leadership skills, behaviors, and mindsets that contribute to durable, well-supported solutions and decisions.
Now accepting applications for
Fundamentals of Western Conservation Leadership:
Through the Looking Glass (Cohort 5)!
Deadline May 23, 2025
This program is designed to help individuals gain new capacities in navigating and adapting to uncertainty, complexity, and challenging arenas in landscape-scale conservation where new mental models and ways of seeing the system are required to make progress. The training differs from other types of professional development experiences as tensions, conflicts, and challenges in the room–and the greater conservation system–are surfaced to create adaptive learning related to deeply-held beliefs and values.
Program Sponsors
The Western Conservation Leadership Development Program is collaboratively supported by the following partners:
