Empowering Voices for Sustainable Rangelands: Expanding communication resources for sustainable rangeland management

Commodities

Practices

• Animal Production: grazing management
• Education and Training: extension
• Farm Business Management: marketing management

Rangeland Extension professionals are tasked with providing science-based practical information to producers and rural communities to support sustainable agriculture. However, these natural resources experts rarely, if ever, receive professional development on how to efficiently and effectively communicate their knowledge to stakeholders. Without such training, rangeland professionals may miss opportunities to engage with producers to promote profitability, good stewardship, and quality of life through sustainable land management practices, especially as the 2026 International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) approaches. This two-year project will expand and reinforce communication knowledge and skills for rangeland professionals and producers. In a train-the-trainer approach, rangeland professionals from Arizona, Washington, the Rangelands Partnership (RP), and the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance will work together to expand on a previous Western SARE project and accomplish the following objectives: (1) enhance and broaden the understanding of communication strategies among a group of producers and RP members through interactive virtual workshops led by a marketing expert, (2) create outreach materials (factsheets, journal article) to share key learnings with other rangeland professionals and producers, (3) develop digital media (Art of Range podcasts, self-paced learning modules, webpage content) that will incorporate factsheets to improve communication skills across the broader rangeland community, and (4) widely market the educational resources to reach multiple rangeland audiences. All project materials will be integrated into RP’s Rangelands Gateway and IYRP’s Outreach Resources webpages to increase learning opportunities and expand access to a broader audience. The RP, a collaborative group of rangeland professionals, agricultural librarians, and technology experts from 19 land-grant universities, is uniquely equipped to facilitate a train-the-trainer communication program for diverse audiences. Communication professional development will empower voices for sustainable agriculture at a time when the IYRP will shine a bright and rare spotlight on rangelands and producers in the west, North America, and the world.

Multiple professional development opportunities will focus on expanding the communication knowledge, skills, and technical capacity of rangeland professionals and producers to increase the visibility of sustainable management principles and systems. Using a train-the-trainer approach, rangeland professionals from Arizona, Washington, the Rangelands Partnership (RP), and AVCA ranchers will achieve the following objective:

By the end of the project, participants will increase their knowledge, skills, and technical capacity to effectively and efficiently communicate with ranchers and the public, while promoting the sustainability of the nation’s natural resources.

The Western SARE Survey and Evaluation Tool will measure success by documenting changes in knowledge, skills, and technical capacity of participants in the communication workshop series, listeners of the Art of Range podcasts, and those who access the learning modules and webpage resources.

The multidisciplinary project team has the knowledge and experience to achieve this objective including expertise in both communication and outreach. PI Dalke has developed a wide variety of online resources and has led multiple collaborative projects. Co-PI Audoin has a robust outreach program, including a project to improve the visibility of sustainable rangeland systems during the IYRP. Major contributors also include King (rancher, AVCA Executive Director), Hudson (creator and host of Art of Range podcast, Board of Directors member for the Society for Range Management (SRM)), and Leroux-Miller (founder of Nonprofit Marketing Guide). Together, this team will identify communication trends, participate in communication workshops, create outreach materials (factsheets, journal article), develop digital media (podcasts, self-paced learning modules, webpage), leverage communication skills to disseminate educational materials, and support the overall project.