Don Howlett
Partnership Coordinator,
Conservation Education Coordinator
Hiawatha National Forest
Escanaba
dhowlett@fs.fed.us

Like many employees in this era of cost-cutting, right-sizing, and doing more with less, I've been asked to take on more than one job. As an employee of the USDA Forest Service, I work half-time in the U.P. as Partnership Coordinator. For other half, I am a "virtual" employee for our Eastern Regional Office in Milwaukee, which serves the national forests in the 20 northeastern states, as the Conservation Education Coordinator.

As Partnership Coordinator I work with a broad range of organizations who want to do cooperative projects which benefit both the national forest and the partnering organization. I also help local organizations, businesses, and communities utilize Forest Service grant and assistance programs. Projects I've worked on recently include developing an emergency evacuation program for a rural community located in a wildfire-prone area, demonstrating and evaluating "light-on-the-land" timber harvesting technology, and then using a variety of communication tools to "get the word out" on the results of the project, helping a community develop a large non-motorized trail network to foster economic development, and helping develop an ecotourism industry/economy in the central and eastern Upper Peninsula. All these projects have required a sound background in natural resource management, an ability to foster win-win situations for all those involved, a willingness to network, and above all, being flexible.

As Regional Conservation Education Coordinator, I help the national forests in the northeastern United States implement programs to increase the environmental literacy of the public, to help sustain our nation's forests and grasslands into the future. The challenging part of this job is working with little or no dedicated budget or staff. So, much of what I do is help National Forest employees become aware of, and effectively utilize, conservation education materials and other resources. I also help them become aware of potential partnership opportunities, grant funding, educational and career development opportunities, and other ways to leverage their scarce resources. A key part of my job is serving as a communication link between national forests, and between the national forests and our national office.