Did you complete your Individual Development Plan?
You still have time! Individual Development Plans (IDPs) are used by Minnesota’s Technical Training and Certification Program (TTCP) to identify priority technical training needs throughout the state. These training needs provide the foundation for TTCP’s annual training plan. Please complete your IDP by Friday, Oct. 13!
Having an accurate assessment of technical training needs is critical to ensure our training delivery will address local needs. There are a couple of things you can do to improve the accuracy of your training needs:
- Review and update your existing training needs. You identified a training need last year, but is it still a training need? It only takes a few moments to either remove outdated training needs or to update them as a current request. For the coming year, we will not consider any training needs dated prior to January 1, 2023.
- Be as specific as possible. When requesting training, there is a space to enter additional comments to identify the topic or content of the training you need, such as specific wildlife species or plant regimes.
- When identifying a practice as a training need, you can select which phases – planning, design, construction – you are requesting training on. There is also an option to identify On the Job Training (OJT), classroom, field, or virtual training preferences.
- If you are a newer employee and need some examples of typical practices by land use, check out the common practices by land use tab in the New Employee Training Guide.
To assist both managers and technical staff in completing IDPs, we have put together several resources. This includes two short videos that have bookmarks so you can jump to the specific section you need help with.
Do you prefer visuals and written instructions? Check out the IDP User Guidance resources.
If you have questions or need further assistance please contact us.
Upcoming Tech Talks
The fall schedule for Tech Talks is filling up fast!
On October 30, Krysten Zummo, Grassland Ecologist, will be presenting on The Audubon Conservation Ranching Program.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently released new practice standards. We will be covering several of these on November 13 and 27:
- Controlled Traffic Farming (CPS 334)
- Conservation Harvest Management (CPS 809)
- Field Operations Emissions Reduction (CPS 376)
- Amending Soil Properties with Lime (CPS 805)
- Annual Forages for Grazing Systems (CPS 810)
More information about these sessions, and links to replays for previous sessions, can be found here.
History of Minnesota Forests
Join Duane Fogard, ABC Forester, on November 28 at 1:00 for a glimpse at what makes Minnesota so great: the forests. Forests provide a multitude of benefits to the environment, wildlife, and human society, and their sustainable management is essential for the wellbeing of the planet and future generations.
A link to join the session on Tuesday, November 28, can be found here.
Kernza, Multipurpose Perennial Cover
Kernza is a perennial grass that can be used as a source of grain and for livestock forage. Join this session on December 5 at 12:30 to learn more about Kernza, including conservation benefits, financial assistance options, livestock forage, seed availability, and market development. Presenters include Jake Jungers, UMN; Cynthia Bartel, Iowa State; Tessa Peters, The Land Institute; and Colin Cureton, Forever Green Initiative.
A link to join this session on Tuesday, December 5, can be found here.
2023 Training Calendar
An updated working version of the 2023 training calendar is now available. This 12-month view of training offerings is regularly updated and provides information about upcoming training events, including potential dates and locations. Please see the legend at the top and note that the further out a training is proposed the more likely adjustments will need to be made. The dates, locations, and other details are always tentative until the event is posted on the Training Calendar.
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