Wood River Valley Chapter of the Idaho Master Naturalist Program
Course Syllabus January 2011

Course Location – Room 514, CSI, Community Campus, Hailey

Program Contacts

Lisa Huttinger, Environmental Resource Center, 726.4333, 307.399.3906, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Keri York, Wood River Land Trust, 788.3947, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Susan Kranz , SNRA, 727.5018, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Program Overview

The mission of the Idaho Master Naturalist Program is to develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to actively work toward stewardship of Idaho’s natural environment. Participants of the Idaho Master Naturalist Program will finish their training and service with:

1. an increased knowledge of Idaho’s natural environment and ecological principles.
2. an understanding of a variety of views about nature and natural resource management.
3. motivation to continue learning and volunteering toward conservation of Idaho’s natural world.
4. the feeling that they can help make a difference in their community through conservation volunteerism.

There are three components to certification:

1. 40 hours of core curriculum, in both classroom and field settings
2. 8 hours of advanced training
3. 40 hours of service with local agencies and organizations

This must be completed within one calendar year of the program start date to obtain certification and to receive your $50 refund. To maintain certification going forward, you must complete an additional 8 hours of advanced training, and conduct an additional 40 hours of service each year.

Program Logistics for the WRV Chapter

1. Certification Components – Our scheduled class time encompasses the 40 hours of core curriculum, as well as 3 hours of advanced training. The advanced training is training in our “track” – in this case, Conservation Education. Three of the 8 hours will take place during our scheduled class time; the remaining 5 hours will be advanced training hours at a volunteer site. This includes learning more about the operations of the volunteer site, shadowing a program at the site, attending a workshop, etc. The final 40 hours is your service. Your service must be completed at one of the designated sites (see list), or approved in advance by the planning committee.
2. Attendance – each participant may miss 3 hours of class, without requiring a make-up via our instructors. However, these 3 hours are the advanced training hours. In order to certify, you will need to obtain 8 hours of advanced training independently (rather than only the 5 hours if you did not miss class). Our hope is that this will give you greater flexibility in addressing needs and conflicts that arise in your schedule.  You may miss an additional 3 hours of class, but you will be required to propose and complete a makeup assignment to the Chapter Advisory Committee. If you must miss more class time than these 6 hours, we will not be able to grant you Master Naturalist certification (but we still welcome your participation in as much of the program as you are able to attend!). To help us plan appropriately (and avoid purchasing more materials than needed), please contact us if you know you will not be able to attend a class.
3. Communication Regarding Class – updates and information on class will be communicated primarily through email and the chapter website: www.woodrivernaturalist.org. Please check these regularly for information. You will be emailed a login and password for the website.
4. Location – the 3-hour classroom components will take place at the Community Campus, Room 401, unless otherwise announced. For the three field days, we will meet at the Community Campus to arrange carpools, and then depart for our location for the day. For the field days, please come prepared for an entire day out in our glorious, mercurial weather! This is a winter program, so we won’t be deterred by snow and reasonable cold, but will make other plans if the weather will detract from learning. Please bring lots of water, a lunch, snacks, many layers, sunscreen, a journal/notebook, and any other items that will help with your comfort (e.g. Crazy Creek). We will provide first aid/hygiene supplies. More details on field days will be announced as they get closer, including the best equipment for program travel (e.g. xc skis, snowshoes, etc.).
5. Documentation and Resources – you will log all of your training, advanced training, and volunteer hours in the state Master Naturalist website (which can be accessed via www.woodrivernaturalist.org). We will provide a tour of the site and teach you how to use it during the first class.
6. Class Format – in general, our classroom time will be spent as follows (field days will follow a different agenda):

6:00 – 6:10 Journal Sharing
6:10 – 6:30 Participants’ Interpretive Presentations
6:30 – 8:30 Main presentation
8:30 – 8:50 Reading Discussion and Q&A as needed
8:50 – 9:00 Session Feedback Form (online)

Program Schedule

Readings are to be completed for the class under which they are listed, please. If the chapter is in bold font, please read it thoroughly. If it is not, please consider it more as a reference – give it a glance so you know what is there, read in-depth as you would like! Two chapters were extraordinarily long, and not printed to save resources – Geology and Ecological Regions of Idaho. They are available for you here.

Click here to access the weekly class schedule!