About the ERC

For more than four decades, the Environmental Resources Center (ERC) has offered state-of-the-art applied research, communication, and education focused on the "human dimensions" of environmental issues.

Research and experience have shown that developing a knowledgeable and active environmental citizenry takes more than simply providing information. Successful outreach provides information and education in a context that accounts for human qualities - the social, economic, and cultural differences among audiences.

The mission of the ERC is to empower individuals and communities to make conscious, well-informed decisions about their environments and the social processes involved in caring for those environments. ERC faculty and staff believe that this is the best way to ensure vibrant, sustainable communities with opportunities for growth and development.

The ERC leads environmental research and outreach on topics such as best environmental education practices, bioenergy generation and environmental sustainability, communicating about the environment, farm and home environmental management, training for conservation professionals, volunteer water quality monitoring, water program planning and evaluation, watershed education, and youth environmental stewardship education.

Citizens need tools, skills and knowledge to plan or act with the environment in mind - and tools must be tailored to their particular needs and interests. For participatory environmental management to lead to an equitable outcome, groups and communities need:

A mental model or concept of the natural world, and a model for how communities can integrate social, economic, and environmental needs
Processes, methods, skills, and tools for participating
Help to recognize that people are physically part of the natural world and that their decisions have a significant impact on ecosystem components.

The ERC develops synergies between the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and UW-Extension, and supports both in fulfilling the Wisconsin Idea by:

Initiating, engaging in, and synthesizing research on environmental quality and human behavior. As an integrated, trans-disciplinary center, the ERC brings together UW CALS Departmental faculty and Extension outreach resources to create innovative practical solutions to environmental problems.
Enhancing conscious, well-informed individual and group participation in environmental decision-making by building individual and community knowledge and skills, and creating education and outreach materials and strategies using cutting-edge university research and Extension education and outreach expertise.
Building relationships between the University and federal and state agencies by addressing priority research, outreach, and professional development needs.
Providing leadership for Extension through gap analysis and identification of natural resource management trends.
Competing successfully for or leveraging governmental and private funds for environmental research and outreach.
Providing environmental grant seeking and grant management expertise for UW CALS and Extension faculty and staff.

ERC Reports

ERC Planning Documents

Theoretical Foundations Underlying UWEX ERC Program Initiatives and Development

"The Human Dimension of Resource Management Programs", Pete Nowak and Perry Cabot, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, Nov/Dec 2004

Adaptive Management, A Decision-Making Framework for a Complex World, a power point presentation developed by Rebecca Power

Social Indicators for NPS Evaluation, a project description from Ken Genskow