Park leaders learn to guide strategic change at National Parks Institute

The third National Parks Institute, a 12-day seminar organized collaboratively by University of California, Merced, National Parks Service (NPS) and Great Valley Center, came to a successful conclusion on April 28. The NPI seminar, which migrated from Fort Baker in Marin County to UC Merced and wound up in Yosemite National Park, brought together 27 leaders in park and protected area management, including 16 from around the U.S. and 11 from countries around the world.  

Under the theme of “Leading Strategic Change”, participants tackled topics ranging from the affects of climate change on national parks to exploring how to build value to the park visit experience in order to compete for scarce resources.  

  

Thomas Lovejoy, Professor of Biology at George Mason University and chief biodiversity advisor to the President of World Bank, spoke to the group during a public plenary lecture at UC Merced. Lovejoy pointed out, "We have twice as much biologically active nitrogen in the world today than is natural, and the consequences are many dead zones in our oceans."

The NPI class also heard presentations from Stanford University Professor of Management and author Charles O'Reilly; Keshav Varma, Program Director for World Bank's Global Tiger Initiative; UC Merced Professor of Technology Management Erik Rolland, and dozens of other experts from the NPS, universities, and community and partnership organizations.  They also heard from past seminar participants who were inspired by their NPI experience to instigate new park programs and initiatives. To view a video of some of this year's speakers click here.

Each class member brought an “individual challenge case” to discuss with their colleagues, and during the seminar they worked on action plans to address their challenges.  Watch brief videos of some of the participants as they discuss challenges they are currently facing in their parks and why they wanted to attend NPI: Tom Leatherman,  Sula Jacobs, Stan Austin, and Judy Forte.

NPI’s third class left with fresh strategic planning and leadership skills and examples of successful partnerships and programs from parks around the country and the other side of the globe. Class members also gained a broader understanding of some of the complex issues faced by their colleagues, and established a network of new contacts.

Steve Thede, Deputy Superintendent of Badlands National Park, said of his experience, "The NPI helps the NPS (and part of the international community) move forward in our thinking, understanding and capacity, with the promise of much more in the future. Without opportunities such as this, we won't take the time, nor have the benefit of the expertise of those who shared with us, to see how what we do fits into the bigger picture...and how we can take more strategic and  effective actions."

Read more about the 2012 National Parks Institute through UC Merced or NPS Digest.